Smoky Chorizo and Fish Stew with Couscous
Spanish chorizo, tomato powder, and a pouch of fish over couscous. One pot, no cooler.
- calories
- 880
- weight
- 8.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 104
- protein
- 48 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 15 min
- total time
- 20 min
- water
- 700 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
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Bikepacking
- Basecamp
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Couscous | 1 cup | instant, the fine grain |
|---|---|---|
| Chicken or vegetable bouillon | 1 cube | |
| Dried Spanish chorizo | 4 oz | the hard cured kind, sliced thick at home |
| Dried onion flakes | 3 tbsp | |
| Tomato powder | 1/3 cup | or 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped |
| Foil-pouch white fish | two 5 oz pouches | cod, tuna, or salmon |
| Dehydrated white beans | 3/4 cup | instant refried-style flakes rehydrate fastest |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | |
| Red wine vinegar | 2 tsp | a small dropper bottle |
| Salt, pepper, chili flakes | to taste | |
| Dried parsley | 1 tsp | optional |
Method
- Boil 350 ml of water. Crumble in the bouillon, add the couscous and the oil, stir once, and lid it. Set it aside off the stove for five minutes while you cook the rest. If you only have one pot, pour the couscous into a freezer bag instead and let it hydrate there.
- Dry-fry the chorizo slices over medium heat until the edges brown and red fat pools in the pot. That fat is the base of the stew, so do not pour it off.
- Add the onion flakes and 2 tbsp of water. Cook two minutes until they soften.
- Add the tomato powder and 350 ml of water. Stir until smooth, then season with salt, pepper, and chili flakes.
- Stir in the bean flakes and simmer low for three minutes. Add water a splash at a time if it goes past stew and into paste.
- Fold in the fish in large pieces and heat through for two minutes. Do not stir hard or it turns to mush.
- Kill the heat. Add the vinegar and the parsley. Fluff the couscous with a fork and spoon the stew over it.
The original is a fresh-fish dish built around a can of tomatoes, which is two pounds of water you would be carrying up a hill. Tomato powder does the same job at a fraction of the weight, and bean flakes stand in for the tin of cannellini. Fish is the one thing worth buying wet: a foil pouch is shelf-stable, needs no cooler, and stays in recognizable pieces.
The chorizo is the whole reason this works. Cured sausage keeps for weeks without refrigeration and renders enough paprika-red fat to season everything that follows, which is how you get depth out of a pantry that is mostly powder. The vinegar at the end is not a garnish. Dried tomato reads flat and sweet, and the acid is what makes it taste like a stew instead of sauce.
Packing
Couscous, bouillon, onion flakes, tomato powder, bean flakes, and the dry seasoning go into one bag per meal. Chorizo travels whole and gets sliced in camp, or pre-sliced at home in its own bag because it weeps oil. Fish pouches and the vinegar bottle ride separately.
Variations
- Skip the fish and add a handful of dried bell pepper and zucchini with the onion flakes.
- Pouch chicken works the same way and holds its shape better than fish.
- Instant rice or ramen noodles in place of couscous if that is what the resupply had.
https://www.advrider.com/smoky-fish-stew