Cold-Soak Edamame and Vegetable Salad
Freeze-dried edamame, dried peppers, and a shaken lemon dressing. Soaks in the jar while you walk.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 4 oz
- cal / oz
- 130
- protein
- 21 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 0 min
- total time
- 5 min
- water
- 300 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
- Dinner
- Cold soak
- No cook
- Backpacking
- Thru-hike
- Bikepacking
- Day hike
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- Eat in the bag
- Dehydrate ahead
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Freeze-dried shelled edamame | 1/2 cup | rehydrates in about 30 minutes cold |
|---|---|---|
| Dried sweet corn | 3 tbsp | |
| Dried diced red and yellow bell pepper | 1/4 cup | |
| Dried diced carrot | 2 tbsp | |
| Sun-dried tomato | 2 tbsp | snipped small, oil-free kind |
| Dried minced onion | 1 tsp | |
| Dried chives or green onion | 1 tsp | |
| Dried parsley and cilantro | 1 tsp each | |
| Garlic powder | 1/4 tsp | |
| Sea salt and ground black pepper | 1/4 tsp each | |
| Chili flakes | a pinch | |
| Olive oil | 2 tbsp | dropper bottle |
| Lemon juice powder or crystallized lemon | 1 tsp | |
| Dijon mustard | 1 tsp | single-serve packet |
| Maple sugar or brown sugar | 1 tsp |
Method
- Pour the dry mix into your jar and add 300 ml of cold water. Water should just cover everything.
- Seal and shake. Let it sit 45 minutes, longer if the water is cold. Shake again halfway.
- Pour off any water still standing. The vegetables should be chewy, not soupy.
- Add the oil, mustard, sugar, and lemon powder. Shake hard for ten seconds and eat from the jar.
The original is a fridge salad built on cucumber, fresh peppers, and cherry tomatoes. None of that carries. What survives the swap is the structure: a bean with real protein, a lot of crunchy vegetable, and an acidic dressing holding it together. Freeze-dried edamame does the first job, dried peppers, corn, and carrot do the second, and lemon powder plus mustard and oil do the third. Cucumber is gone entirely; there is no dried version of it worth eating.
Dressing goes in last, after the soak. Oil coats the vegetable pieces and slows rehydration if you add it early, and the acid makes everything taste flat once it has been sitting in water for an hour. Salt is the same story in reverse: a little in the dry mix helps the soak, the rest belongs at the end where you can taste it.
Packing
All the dry ingredients go in one bag or straight in the soak jar. Oil, mustard packet, and lemon powder ride separately so the dressing does not start working in your pack.
Variations
- A foil packet of tuna turns it into a heavier dinner and drops the vegan tag.
- Swap in cooked-and-dried chickpeas for half the edamame if freeze-dried soy is hard to find.
- Instant couscous stirred in at the end soaks up the leftover dressing, but it is no longer gluten-free.
https://blog.9jakitchen.com/edamame-bean-salad-healthy-salad-recipe