camp meals

Pierogi Ramen

Ramen noodles and freeze-dried pierogi dumplings in a garlic-ginger broth. Two starches, one pot.

calories
780
weight
5.5 oz
cal / oz
142
protein
21 g
serves
1, scales
prep
2 min
cook
8 min
total time
10 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
  • Alcohol / Esbit
  • Liquid fuel
  • Backpacking
  • Car camping
  • Basecamp
  • Winter / snow
  • One pot
  • Pre-mix at home
  • Shelf stable
  • Basic

Ingredients

Instant ramen 1 block throw out the seasoning packet
Freeze-dried cheese and potato pierogi 1/2 cup or dried mini cheese tortellini
Chicken bouillon powder 2 tsp stands in for the stock
Garlic powder 1/2 tsp
Ground ginger 1/4 tsp
Olive oil 1 tbsp dropper bottle
Freeze-dried scrambled egg 2 tbsp replaces the soft-boiled egg
Salt to taste

Method

  1. Boil 600 ml of water. Stir in the bouillon, garlic, and ginger and let it sit off the flame for a minute so the powders dissolve.
  2. Bring it back to a boil and add the pierogi. Simmer four minutes, or until they stop being hard in the middle.
  3. Drop in the ramen block. Two more minutes, stirring once so it does not weld to the bottom.
  4. Kill the heat. Sprinkle the egg powder over the top and stir it in slowly or it clumps.
  5. Pour the oil over and salt it. Eat from the pot.

The home version uses frozen pierogi and chicken stock, neither of which survives a pack. Freeze-dried filled pasta is the substitution that keeps the point of the dish: a dumpling with a starchy, cheesy middle floating in ramen broth. Bouillon powder replaces the stock at a fraction of the weight, and garlic powder and ground ginger do the same job as the fresh aromatics because the broth is boiling anyway.

The pierogi go in first. They need four minutes of real simmering to rehydrate all the way through, and the ramen only needs two, so adding them together leaves you with mush and gravel in the same pot. Egg powder stirred in at the end thickens the broth slightly and replaces the soft-boiled egg you cannot carry.

Packing

Bouillon, garlic, ginger, and egg powder go in one small bag. Ramen and pierogi in another, since the pierogi need a head start in the water and you do not want to be separating them by headlamp.

Variations

  • Vegetable bouillon in place of chicken makes it meat-free, though the pierogi still have cheese.
  • A packet of chili crisp or a spoonful of miso turns the broth from thin to worth drinking.
  • Dried mushrooms added with the bouillon soak in the same time the pierogi cook.

https://homeandkind.com/blogs/food-recipes/mini-pierogy-ramen