Dehydrated Mexican Pork Stew
Spiced pork, beans, and rice dried at home, brought back with one pot of boiling water.
- calories
- 610
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 111
- protein
- 34 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 45 min
- cook
- 20 min
- total time
- 65 min
- water
- 325 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
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Liquid fuel
- Backpacking
- Thru-hike
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Dehydrate ahead
- Shelf stable
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Ground pork | 400 g | 9% fat or leaner, or the dried meat goes rancid |
|---|---|---|
| Paprika | 2 tbsp | |
| Chili powder | 3/4 tsp | leave it out for a mild version |
| Dried oregano | 1 tsp | |
| Ground coriander | 1/2 tsp | |
| Ground cumin | 1 tsp | |
| Black pepper | 1/2 tsp | |
| Salt | 1 tsp, plus 1/2 tsp for the rice | |
| Coconut oil | 1 tsp total | split between the meat and the sauce |
| Canned chickpeas | 1 can | canned, not dry-soaked |
| Canned lentils | 1 can | |
| Garlic | 5 cloves, minced | |
| Red chili | 1, finely chopped | |
| Bell pepper | 100 g, diced | |
| Onion | 1, chopped | |
| Fresh cilantro | 15 g, chopped | |
| Crushed tomatoes | 1 can | |
| Chicken stock cube | 1 | |
| Water | 200 ml | for the sauce at home |
| Whole grain rice | 220 g dry | |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp per serving | carried separately, added at camp |
Method
- At home, melt half the coconut oil and brown the pork, stirring the paprika, chili, oregano, coriander, cumin, pepper, and salt into it as it cooks. Cook it all the way through, cool it, and dry it on one lined tray at 63C for 3 to 5 hours.
- Cook the rice with the extra salt, spread it over two lined trays, and dry at 63C for 4 to 6 hours.
- Rinse and drain the chickpeas and lentils. Soften the onion, garlic, and chili in the rest of the coconut oil, then move it to a pot with the water, stock cube, bell pepper, and crushed tomatoes. Simmer 10 minutes, add the beans and lentils, simmer 5 more, then take it off the heat and stir in the cilantro.
- Cool the sauce and dry it on two lined trays at 57C for 8 to 11 hours. It should snap, not bend.
- Split meat, rice, and sauce into four equal portions and seal each set in one bag.
- In camp, boil 325 ml of water per serving and pour it over the contents of one bag in the pot. Stir, lid on, and let it sit 15 to 20 minutes. Insulate the pot in a jacket or sleeping bag while it works.
- Stir again, add the olive oil, and stir once more before eating.
This is a home-dehydrator meal, not a camp-cooking one. All the real cooking happens before the trip, which is why the trail side is one boil and a wait. Drying the meat, rice, and sauce on separate trays matters: each one needs a different temperature and time, and pork fat dries slowest of the three. Lean pork is not a preference here. Fat is what turns dried meat stale, so the leaner the grind, the longer the bag keeps.
Use canned chickpeas and lentils rather than dry ones you soaked. Dry legumes that were only soaked overnight tend to come back gritty in cold conditions, while canned ones have already been cooked soft and rehydrate on schedule. The olive oil goes in at the end because dried food absorbs water better without fat coating it, and because the sauce lost most of its calories in the dehydrator. Insulating the pot while it sits is doing half the work: 325 ml of boiled water cools fast, and rice needs the heat to hold.
Packing
Each portion is meat, rice, and sauce sealed together in one bag so there is no measuring in camp. Vacuum-seal and freeze anything you are not eating within a month. Olive oil rides in a dropper bottle.
Variations
- Skip the chili and the chili powder and it is still a full meal, just quieter.
- Swap the pork for ground turkey or a can of drained black beans; drop the stock cube for bouillon without meat.
- Add a crushed handful of corn chips at the end for fat and crunch.
https://wolgast.no/en/recipes/dinner/mexican-stew