Garden Surplus Stew
A dried vegetable stew built from whatever the garden gave you too much of.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 113
- protein
- 21 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 12 min
- total time
- 14 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
- Basecamp
- Bikepacking
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Dehydrate ahead
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Dehydrated garden vegetables | 3/4 cup | zucchini, carrot, green bean, sweet corn, sliced thin before drying |
|---|---|---|
| Split red lentils | 1/3 cup | red only, they break down in about ten minutes |
| Tomato powder | 2 tbsp | dried tomato slices run through a spice grinder |
| Vegetable bouillon | 1 cube or 1 tsp | |
| Dried onion and garlic | 1 tbsp | |
| Instant potato flakes | 1/4 cup | |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | dropper bottle |
| Dried oregano, black pepper, salt | 1 tsp total |
Method
- Bring 600 ml of water to a boil. Add the lentils, dried vegetables, onion, garlic, bouillon, and herbs all at once.
- Simmer on the lowest flame the stove will hold, stirring every couple of minutes so the lentils do not weld to the pot.
- At ten minutes, taste a lentil. If it still has a center, give it two more minutes and a splash of water.
- Cut the heat. Stir in the tomato powder and the potato flakes. It thickens fast.
- Pour the oil over the top and stir once. Let it sit a minute before eating; the vegetables keep softening off the heat.
This is a garden-clearing recipe more than a designed one. Dry whatever came in heaviest that summer, thin and on screens, and the mix changes every year without the recipe changing at all. The one rule is uniform slices. Thick pieces stay leathery no matter how long you simmer them.
Red lentils do the structural work. They cook in the same window the dried vegetables need to rehydrate, so one pot and one boil covers both, and they carry the protein that a bag of dried squash does not. The potato flakes go in last, off heat, to pull the whole thing together into something that stays on a spoon. Tomato powder after the boil keeps its acidity intact; boiled hard it goes flat and dull.
Packing
Everything dry goes in one quart freezer bag at home. Oil rides in its own bottle inside a second bag. Label the bag with the vegetable mix, because dried squash and dried cucumber look identical in February.
Variations
- Swap in dried mushrooms for a third of the vegetables. They carry more savory weight than anything else you can dry.
- A spoonful of instant refried beans in place of the potato flakes thickens it and adds protein.
- Chili flakes and a squeeze of lime powder turn it into something closer to a soup than a stew.
https://www.theseasonalhomestead.com/growing-a-years-supply-of-food-incorporating-variety-in-your-diet