Saffron Rice for Camp
Broth, lemon, and a pinch of saffron turn plain rice into a side worth carrying.
- calories
- 330
- weight
- 3.2 oz
- cal / oz
- 103
- protein
- 6 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 18 min
- total time
- 20 min
- water
- 400 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
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Backpacking
- Canoe / raft
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Long-grain white rice | 1 1/2 cups | basmati or jasmine also work; not brown, it takes too long |
|---|---|---|
| Chicken bouillon | 2 tsp | replaces the carton of broth |
| Saffron threads | a generous pinch | |
| Powdered lemon juice or 1 lemon packet | 1 tbsp | shelf-stable acid, no bottle to carry |
| Butter or ghee | 1 tbsp | ghee keeps for weeks without a cooler |
| Kosher salt | a pinch |
Method
- Crush the saffron between your fingers into the pot. Add a splash of hot water and let it sit while you do everything else. Ten minutes of soaking pulls more color and smell out of the threads than dropping them in whole.
- Add 400 ml of water, the bouillon, salt, lemon powder, and rice to the same pot.
- Bring it to a boil, then drop the heat as low as the stove goes. Lid on.
- Simmer 15 minutes without lifting the lid. On a fire, pull the pot to the edge of the coals instead of over them.
- Kill the heat, stir in the butter, and let it sit lidded another 5 minutes before you fluff it.
Saffron rice is a home recipe that needs almost nothing to move outdoors. The original leans on a rice cooker, a carton of broth, and bottled lemon juice. In camp that becomes one pot, bouillon powder, and lemon powder, which weigh nothing and do not spoil. Butter turns into ghee for the same reason.
The saffron is the only expensive part, and it earns its keep only if you bloom it first. Crushed threads sitting in hot water release their color into the whole pot; whole threads dropped into cold water mostly stay yellow specks. The lemon and salt are there to keep the flavor from going flat, which is what happens to plain broth rice after a long day.
Packing
Rice, bouillon, lemon powder, and salt go in one bag. Saffron rides in its own small jar or it gets lost in the rice. Ghee travels in a screw-top tub.
Variations
- Stir in a foil pouch of chicken or a can of chickpeas and it stops being a side dish.
- Swap vegetable bouillon and olive oil for a version with no animal products.
- A handful of raisins and a spoon of cumin added at the start pushes it toward pilaf.
https://www.pinchmeimeating.com/rice-cooker-saffron-rice