Quinoa Chickpea Meatball Mash
The bones of a freezer meatball recipe, rebuilt as a one-pot pasta dinner that needs no oven and no fridge.
- calories
- 790
- weight
- 6 oz
- cal / oz
- 132
- protein
- 26 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 12 min
- total time
- 22 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
- Backpacking
- Basecamp
- Car camping
- Vegetarian
- Dairy free
- One pot
- Dehydrate ahead
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Quinoa flakes | 1/3 cup | flakes, not whole grain, so it rehydrates in minutes |
|---|---|---|
| Chickpea flour | 3 tbsp | stands in for the canned chickpeas |
| Walnuts | 2 tbsp | chopped fine at home |
| Panko breadcrumbs | 2 tbsp | |
| Dried minced onion | 1 tbsp | |
| Dried carrot | 2 tbsp | dehydrated or freeze-dried |
| Garlic powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Dried parsley, oregano, and basil | 1 tsp total | |
| Salt | 1/2 tsp | |
| Tomato powder | 3 tbsp | replaces the sauce and the tomato paste |
| Vegetable bouillon | 1 cube or 1 tsp | |
| Small pasta | 2 oz | orzo or ditalini, nothing that needs ten minutes |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp |
Method
- Bring 600 ml of water to a boil with the bouillon in it. Add the pasta and cook until it is nearly done, about eight minutes for orzo.
- Do not drain. Stir in the quinoa flakes, chickpea flour, panko, walnuts, onion, carrot, and herbs all at once.
- Cut the heat, cover, and let it sit five minutes. The carrot needs that time more than anything else does.
- Stir in the tomato powder and the oil. Add hot water in splashes if it seizes up into a paste.
- Taste for salt. Chickpea flour is bland until it is salted.
The original is a freezer project: cook quinoa, grind walnuts and chickpeas, bind with eggs and flour, roll, bake, freeze. None of that survives a trail kitchen. Eggs, a food processor, and an oven are all out, so the meatball becomes the mash. Every ingredient that was doing structural work in the ball is doing flavor work here instead.
Chickpea flour replaces the can and thickens the pot at the same time. Quinoa flakes rehydrate in minutes where whole quinoa wants fifteen and a covered simmer. Tomato powder covers both the paste in the binder and the sauce that was supposed to come from a separate jar. The walnuts are the only real fat besides the oil, so keep them.
Packing
Everything dry except the pasta and oil goes into one bag at home. Pasta rides in its own bag so you can time it. Oil in a leakproof bottle, packed upright.
Variations
- A hard cheese grated over the top adds fat and salt if you are not skipping dairy.
- Freeze-dried spinach stirred in with the tomato powder bulks it out for almost no weight.
- A splash of soy sauce covers the same savory ground as the worcestershire in the original.
https://ohmyveggies.com/make-freeze-quinoa-chickpea-meatballs