Cold Gazpacho From the Pack
Blender soup rebuilt around tomato powder and a foil pouch of peppers. Cold water, no stove.
- calories
- 480
- weight
- 3.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 137
- protein
- 7 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 0 min
- total time
- 5 min
- water
- 350 ml cold
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Lunch
- No cook
- Cold soak
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Day hike
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- Eat in the bag
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Tomato powder | 1/3 cup | stands in for two cans of diced tomatoes |
|---|---|---|
| Dried red bell pepper flakes | 3 tbsp | dehydrated roasted peppers if you make your own |
| Garlic powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Olive oil | 2 tbsp | dropper bottle |
| Cider vinegar powder | 1 tsp | or a small bottle of vinegar, 1 tsp |
| Dried basil | 1/2 tsp | |
| Salt and black pepper | to taste | |
| Croutons or broken pita chips | 1/2 cup | gluten unless you pack a rice cracker |
Method
- Pour the dry mix into a wide-mouth jar or a freezer bag. Add 350 ml of cold water.
- Seal and shake for thirty seconds. Lumps of tomato powder will hide in the corners, so work them out with a spoon.
- Let it sit twenty minutes. The pepper flakes need that time to soften and the soup needs it to stop tasting like dust.
- Stir in the olive oil, then taste. More salt and more vinegar are the two dials that matter.
- Crush the croutons over the top and eat straight from the jar.
The original is a blender recipe: canned tomatoes, jarred peppers, oil, and two hours in the fridge. None of that travels. Tomato powder and dried pepper flakes carry the same soup at a fraction of the weight, and the cold soak does the work the blender used to do — twenty minutes of hydration gets you a thick, drinkable soup instead of grit in water.
The oil is not optional. It is most of the calories and it is what keeps a tomato drink from reading as a snack. Vinegar is the other half of the seasoning; without acid this tastes flat and sweet, which is the usual failure mode of powdered tomato. Add it last so you can judge how much you need.
Packing
Everything dry goes in one bag at home. Oil rides in its own bottle, croutons in a second bag so they stay whole until you crush them on purpose.
Variations
- A cold stream or a lake makes this better. Sink the jar for the soak.
- Add a tablespoon of powdered hummus for body and a few more grams of protein.
- Skip the croutons and pack rice crackers to keep it gluten-free.
https://mealswithmaria.site/gazpacho-recipe