Quinoa, Lentil, and Pea Pot
Two handfuls of quinoa, two of dried vegetables, half a handful of lentils. Boil, wrap, wait.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 5 oz
- cal / oz
- 124
- protein
- 24 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 20 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
- Liquid fuel
- Campfire coals
- Canoe / raft
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Dehydrate ahead
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Quinoa | 2/3 cup | rinsed and dried at home if yours is not pre-rinsed |
|---|---|---|
| Red or brown lentils | 1/4 cup | red split lentils break down fastest |
| Dehydrated mixed vegetables | 1/2 cup | frozen peas and carrots dried straight from the bag; skip corn, it glues the trays |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | dropper bottle |
| Salt | 1/2 tsp | |
| Garlic powder and black pepper | 1 tsp total | optional but it needs something |
Method
- Dump the quinoa, lentils, vegetables, and salt into the pot. Add about 600 ml of water, enough to sit a finger-width above the dry mix.
- Bring it to a hard rolling boil over the stove or on coals. Stir once so nothing welds to the bottom.
- Pull the pot off the heat, lid it, and wrap it in a jacket or sit it in your pack. Leave it alone for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Check it. If it is still crunchy, add a splash of water, boil again for a minute, and rewrap.
- Stir in the oil and the spices and eat out of the pot.
Quinoa and lentils are the two legume-and-grain staples that cook fast enough to be worth carrying raw. No soaking, no pre-cooking, no dehydrator time. That leaves the vegetables as the only home prep, and frozen peas and carrots dry with zero effort because they were blanched before they were frozen.
The wrap is the fuel-saving part. Both ingredients finish on residual heat if you insulate the pot, so you pay for one boil instead of twenty minutes of simmer. Water volume is forgiving here: too much and you have soup, too little and you add more mid-cook. Neither ruins it.
Packing
Dry the vegetables at home: frozen peas and carrots go straight onto the trays, no blanching. Combine everything dry except the oil into one bag per dinner. The oil rides in its own bottle inside a spare ziplock.
Variations
- A bouillon cube in the water instead of salt does more work than any spice you can carry.
- A foil packet of tuna or a scoop of dried refried beans stirred in at the end pushes it past 35 g of protein.
- Curry powder and a spoon of coconut milk powder turn it into something else entirely.
https://www.canoetripping.net/threads/simple-meal-ideas.127295