Duck and Green Onion Stir-Fry
Freeze-dried duck, soy, ginger, and a pile of scallions in one hot pot over rice.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 113
- protein
- 34 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 15 min
- total time
- 25 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
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Backpacking
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Freeze-dried duck or dark-meat chicken | 3 oz | canned duck confit works at a car camp |
|---|---|---|
| Instant rice | 1.5 cups dry | |
| Soy sauce | 3 tbsp | in a leakproof dropper bottle |
| Sesame oil | 1 tsp | |
| Cooking oil | 1 tbsp | |
| Dried green onion | 1/4 cup | or 4 fresh scallions on day one |
| Dried minced onion | 2 tbsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1 tsp | |
| Ground ginger | 1 tsp | |
| Chicken bouillon | 1 tsp | |
| Cornstarch | 1 tsp | |
| Oyster sauce | 2 tsp | single-serve packets travel best |
| Chili sauce | 1 tsp | optional |
| Sesame seeds | 1 tsp |
Method
- Pour 300 ml of boiling water over the duck, onions, and dried green onion in a mug or spare bag. Let it sit ten minutes while you do the rice.
- Boil 300 ml of water in the pot, stir in the instant rice, cover, and pull it off the heat. Set it aside covered.
- Wipe the pot. Heat the cooking oil and add the drained duck and onions. Fry hard for three minutes to drive off water and get some browning.
- Stir the cornstarch, bouillon, garlic powder, and ginger into 3 tbsp of the soaking liquid. Pour it in with the soy sauce, oyster sauce, and chili sauce.
- Stir until it thickens, about a minute. Kill the heat, add the sesame oil and seeds, and spoon it over the rice.
Duck is fatty enough that most of the flavor survives freeze-drying, which is why it holds up here where lean chicken would not. The rehydrating water is worth keeping: it carries the fat and salt, and it makes a better sauce base than plain water.
The fry step matters. Rehydrated meat comes out wet, and if you pour sauce straight onto it you get soup. Three minutes in hot oil first drives that off and gives the cornstarch something to cling to. Fresh aromatics were replaced with dried, which is the only real change: powder in a bag beats a bruised knob of ginger four days in.
Packing
Dry seasonings, cornstarch, and bouillon premix into one small bag. Duck and onions in another, rice in a third. Soy, oyster, and sesame ride in bottles or packets.
Variations
- Canned duck confit at a car camp skips the rehydrating step and doubles the fat.
- Ramen noodles instead of rice, cooked in the soak water, if you would rather carry less bulk.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/blogs/recipe/stir-fried-duck-with-green-onions