Sesame Ginger Meatballs
Freeze-dried meatballs rehydrated in a sweet-hot soy sauce, thickened with cornstarch.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 4.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 138
- protein
- 32 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 10 min
- total time
- 15 min
- water
- 350 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
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Backpacking
- Basecamp
- Car camping
- Canoe / raft
- One pot
- Dehydrate ahead
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Freeze-dried or home-dehydrated cooked meatballs | 3 oz | beef or turkey, cut in halves before drying so they rehydrate |
|---|---|---|
| Soy sauce powder | 1 tbsp | or 2 tbsp liquid reduced-sodium soy in a leakproof bottle |
| Brown sugar | 1 tbsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Ground dried ginger | 1/2 tsp | |
| Sriracha | 2 tsp | packets, or a small squeeze bottle |
| Cornstarch | 1 tbsp | |
| Peanuts | 2 tbsp | chopped at home |
| Dried green onion | 1 tbsp | |
| Sesame seeds | 1 tsp |
Method
- Put the meatballs and 350 ml of water in the pot. Bring it to a boil, then hold it at a low simmer for six to eight minutes until the meatballs are soft all the way through. Cut one open to check.
- Stir in the soy powder, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, and sriracha.
- Mix the cornstarch with about two tablespoons of cold water in your cup, then pour it into the simmering pot while stirring. It thickens in under a minute.
- Pull it off the heat and stir until every meatball is coated.
- Scatter the peanuts, green onion, and sesame seeds over the top.
The original is an Instant Pot appetizer built on a bag of frozen meatballs, which is two things a pack does not have: a fridge and 1200 watts. Freeze-dried or home-dried meatballs solve the first, and a simmer solves the second. The sauce was already trail-ready — soy, sugar, garlic, ginger, chile — so it converts to powders almost one for one.
The cornstarch slurry is the part worth keeping. Rehydrating meatballs takes more water than you want left in the pot, and the slurry turns that surplus into a glaze instead of a puddle you have to drink or dump. Mix it in cold water first; dropped in dry it seizes into lumps that never dissolve.
Packing
Meatballs in their own bag. Everything else except the peanuts and cornstarch goes in a second bag as a sauce mix. Keep the cornstarch separate or it clumps against the sugar.
Variations
- Pour it over a cup of instant rice or ramen rehydrated on the side for another 300 calories.
- No cornstarch: simmer the water down to about half before adding the sauce mix. Thinner, but it still clings.
- Swap the peanuts for sunflower seeds to keep it out of the nut aisle.
https://domesticsuperhero.com/instant-pot-asian-meatballs