Stuffed Pepper Soup
Beef, rice, and peppers in one pot, rebuilt out of dried parts so nothing needs a cooler.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 5 oz
- cal / oz
- 124
- protein
- 33 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 20 min
- total time
- 22 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
- Basecamp
- Winter / snow
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- One pot
- Dehydrate ahead
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Freeze-dried ground beef | 2 oz | or dehydrated cooked beef crumbles from home |
|---|---|---|
| Instant white rice | 1/2 cup | parboiled instant only, raw rice will not cook in time |
| Dried bell peppers | 1/4 cup | dehydrated at home from fresh, mixed colors |
| Dried minced onion | 2 tbsp | |
| Tomato powder | 3 tbsp | or a crushed sun-dried tomato half plus tomato paste from a tube |
| Chicken bouillon | 1 tsp | |
| Dried oregano, parsley, and mint | 1 tsp total | |
| Kosher salt and black pepper | 1/2 tsp salt, several grinds | |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | dropper bottle |
| Grated hard romano or parmesan | 2 tbsp | the dry shaker kind, optional |
Method
- Bring 700 ml of water to a boil. Dump in the peppers, onion, beef, tomato powder, bouillon, herbs, salt, and pepper.
- Hold a low boil for five minutes. The peppers need that head start or they stay leathery.
- Stir in the instant rice, cover, and pull the pot off the heat.
- Wait ten minutes. Stir once at the halfway point so the rice does not weld to the bottom.
- Check it. If the rice is still firm, add a splash of water and put it back over low heat for two minutes.
- Off the heat, pour in the olive oil and shake the cheese over the top.
The original is a stovetop soup built on a long sauté: peppers and onions cooked down until they brown, then beef, wine, broth, tomatoes, rice. On trail there is no time and no fuel for fifteen minutes of browning, so the sauté is gone and the wine with it. What is left is the part that carries — the tomato-oregano-mint frame, beef, and rice.
Dried peppers go in with the boil rather than at the end. They are the slowest thing in the pot and the instant rice is the fastest, which is why the rice waits until the heat is off. The olive oil at the end is not garnish. It is a third of the calories and it also mutes the tinny edge of tomato powder.
Packing
Everything dry goes in one bag except the oil and the cheese. Peppers dehydrate best sliced thin and dried until they snap; they rehydrate faster that way.
Variations
- Swap the bouillon for vegetable and the beef for dried textured soy crumbles to make it vegan.
- A pinch of smoked paprika stands in for the browning you skipped.
- At a basecamp with a real pot, brown fresh onion and pepper in the oil first and cut the water to 500 ml.
https://www.bowlofdelicious.com/stuffed-pepper-soup