Cheesy Couscous with Herbs
Couscous, beef bouillon, and a wedge of shelf-stable cream cheese. Ten minutes from cold water to dinner.
- calories
- 550
- weight
- 3.6 oz
- cal / oz
- 153
- protein
- 16 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 4 min
- total time
- 9 min
- water
- 250 ml boiled
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Lunch
- Canister stove
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Backpacking
- Thru-hike
- Bikepacking
- Day hike
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Couscous | 60 g | durum wheat has more flavor than the cheap stuff |
|---|---|---|
| Full-fat milk powder | 2 tsp | |
| Italian herb blend | 1.5 tsp | |
| Beef bouillon powder | 1 tsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Chili flakes | to taste | |
| Shelf-stable cream cheese wedge | 1 wedge (31 g) | Laughing Cow or any foil-wrapped equivalent |
Method
- Bring 250 ml of water to a boil.
- Dump in the dry bag: couscous, milk powder, herbs, bouillon, garlic, chili. Hold the cheese back.
- Return to a boil and cook one to two minutes, stirring, until the couscous is soft rather than chewy.
- Off the heat, unwrap the cheese wedge and stir it in until it disappears.
- Lid on, five minutes. Use a cozy if it is cold out. Fluff and eat once the water is gone.
Couscous is not really cooked so much as rehydrated, which is why it works on a stove that only has one good boil in it. The milk powder and the cream cheese wedge are what keep it from being wet semolina. Fat carries the herbs and the bouillon salt, and it gives the whole thing enough body to feel like dinner instead of a side.
Hold the cheese until the heat is off. Boiling it just makes it break and stick to the pot wall. The five minutes under the lid matter too: that is when the last of the water goes into the grain rather than pooling at the bottom.
The bouillon is beef, so this is not vegetarian as written. Vegetable bouillon swaps in cleanly. The milk powder and cheese mean it is never dairy-free, and couscous is wheat.
Packing
Weigh the dry ingredients at home and put them in one bag. The cheese wedge goes in with them or beside them, wrapped in a scrap of foil so it survives being sat on.
Variations
- Swap the beef bouillon for vegetable to make it vegetarian.
- A tablespoon of olive oil or a second cheese wedge pushes it past 700 calories.
- Crumbled jerky or a chunk of shelf-stable sausage adds real protein.
- Crispbread on the side, smeared with another wedge.
https://www.hikeforpurpose.com/trail-meal-cheesy-couscous