Pork Chili con Carne, Dried and Rebuilt
A Norwegian pork stew rebuilt as a one-pot rehydrate: dried pork, beans, and peppers with tomato powder.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 5 oz
- cal / oz
- 104
- protein
- 34 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 12 min
- total time
- 14 min
- water
- 500 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
- Backpacking
- Basecamp
- Car camping
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Dehydrate ahead
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Dehydrated cooked pork | 2 oz | lean loin, cooked and dried in small cubes |
|---|---|---|
| Instant refried or dried chili beans | 1/2 cup | flakes rehydrate faster than whole beans |
| Tomato powder | 3 tbsp | stands in for the can of tomatoes |
| Dried bell pepper, red and green | 1/4 cup | |
| Dried minced onion | 1 tbsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Chili powder | 1 1/2 tsp | |
| Ground cumin | 1/2 tsp | |
| Red pepper flakes | 1/4 tsp | replaces the fresh chili |
| Salt | 1/2 tsp | |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | stands in for the frying margarine |
| Lime powder or a dried lime wheel | 1 tsp |
Method
- Boil 500 ml of water. Kill the heat and stir in everything except the oil and lime.
- Cover the pot and let it sit ten minutes. Stir once at the halfway mark so the pork does not clump at the bottom.
- Put it back on low heat for a minute if it is still soupy or has gone cold. It will thicken as the beans finish.
- Stir in the oil and the lime. Taste, add salt if the pork was unsalted.
The original is a skillet stew: pork cubes browned in margarine, then canned tomatoes, canned beans, and two fresh peppers simmered down. None of that carries. The rebuild swaps every wet ingredient for its dry equivalent — tomato powder for the can, dried pepper for fresh, flaked beans for canned — so the whole dinner weighs about five ounces and needs one boil.
Dehydrating your own pork is the part that takes planning. Cook it lean, cube it small, and dry it hard; fat left in the meat goes rancid in a few weeks. The oil goes in at the end instead, which puts the calories back without risking the shelf life. Lime at the end matters more than it sounds — the powdered tomato is flat, and acid is what makes it read as chili rather than bean mush.
Packing
Everything dry goes in one quart freezer bag. Oil rides in a dropper bottle. If you are cooking in the bag instead, use a freezer bag and a cozy, and add the oil last.
Variations
- Half a cup of instant rice added with the water makes it two servings and drops the protein per bite.
- A packet of fried onions or crushed corn chips on top gives it texture the rehydrated version loses.
- Swap the pork for a foil pouch of chicken if you are not dehydrating at home.
https://www.matprat.no/oppskrifter/sunn/chili-con-carne-med-svinekjott