Curried Rice with Cashews and Apricots
Instant rice, curry powder, dried apricots, and enough cheese and nuts to make it a dinner.
- calories
- 700
- weight
- 6 oz
- cal / oz
- 117
- protein
- 21 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 15 min
- total time
- 17 min
- water
- 600 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
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Vegetarian
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Instant rice | 2 cups | the parboiled kind that rehydrates, not raw rice |
|---|---|---|
| Powdered milk | 1/4 cup | whole milk powder if you can find it |
| Curry powder | 1 tsp | more if yours is old |
| Salt | 1/2 tsp | |
| Dried apricots | 2 tbsp | chopped small at home |
| Cashew halves or pieces | 1/4 cup | |
| Hard cheddar | 2 oz | grate at home or break it up in the pot |
| Water | about 600 ml |
Method
- Put the milk powder in the pot with a splash of water and stir it into a smooth paste. Doing this first keeps it from clumping later.
- Add the rest of the water, the curry powder, and the salt. Stir and bring it to a boil.
- Stir in the rice, cover, and drop the flame as low as it goes. Simmer about 10 minutes.
- Add the apricots and keep it going until the water is gone and the rice is soft, roughly 10 more minutes. Stir now and then so the bottom does not scorch.
- Off the heat, stir in the cashews and cheese. Put the lid back on for a minute and let the cheese melt in.
Milk powder makes this work. Whisked into the water before the rice goes in, it gives the pot enough body to carry curry powder and melted cheddar instead of leaving both sitting on top of plain rice. Mix it as a paste first or you will spend the whole simmer chasing lumps.
The apricots go in late on purpose. Add them at the start and they dissolve; add them with ten minutes left and they soften into something you can still bite. Cashews and cheese go in off the heat, which keeps the nuts crisp and the cheese from breaking. Two ounces of cheddar rides fine for a few days in cool weather, and it is where most of the fat comes from.
Packing
Rice, milk powder, curry, and salt go in one bag at home. Apricots and cashews in a second, cheese on its own. Chop the apricots before you leave; doing it in camp with a pocketknife is a chore.
Variations
- Swap the cashews for peanuts and the cheese for a foil packet of chicken if you want more protein per ounce.
- Raisins or dried mango work if apricots are not in the bin.
- A spoon of oil at the end adds calories the cheese alone does not cover.
https://camprecipes.com/classic-recipes/cashew-rice-curry-with-apricots