Sweet-and-Sour Shrimp Over Instant Rice
A juice-and-cornstarch sauce built from powders, poured over shrimp and minute rice.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 113
- protein
- 32 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 12 min
- total time
- 17 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
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Freeze-dried or dried small shrimp | 2 oz | a shelf-stable pouch of cooked shrimp also works |
|---|---|---|
| Instant rice | 3/4 cup dry | |
| Powdered orange drink mix | 2 tbsp | stands in for the 2 cups of orange juice |
| Powdered pineapple juice or freeze-dried pineapple, crushed | 1 tbsp | |
| Cornstarch | 1 tbsp | |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp | |
| Soy sauce | 2 tsp | takeout packets or a small dropper bottle |
| Vinegar powder or a packet of vinegar | 1 tsp | |
| Lemon or lime crystals | 1/2 tsp | |
| Worcestershire powder | 1/4 tsp | optional, but it is what makes the sauce taste cooked |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | |
| Garlic powder and black pepper | 1/2 tsp total |
Method
- Pour 250 ml of the water over the shrimp in a mug or bag and let them sit ten minutes. Skip this if you carried a wet pouch.
- Boil 350 ml of water in the pot. Add the instant rice, cover, kill the heat, and set it aside off the stove.
- Wipe the pot. Warm the oil, add the drained shrimp with the garlic powder and pepper, and stir for one minute. Turn them out onto the rice.
- Pour the shrimp soaking water into the pot with the whole sauce premix. Bring it to a bare simmer, stirring the whole time.
- It thickens in under a minute once it heats. Take it off as soon as it coats the spoon, then pour it over the rice and shrimp.
The original is a marinade recipe, and a marinade is dead weight on trail. What actually matters is the sauce: fruit juice, acid, soy, and cornstarch, cooked down until it clings. All four are available as powders, so the whole thing collapses into one premix bag and one boil.
Cornstarch is the piece that needs attention. It sets fast and only once, so mix it dry with the sugar and juice powders at home and pull the pot off the moment it coats the spoon. Reheating past that point breaks the sauce back to water. Soaking the shrimp first and reusing that water for the sauce saves both fuel and the flavor that leaches out.
Packing
Everything dry except the shrimp and oil goes into one bag as the sauce premix, so camp is one pour. Cornstarch clumps if it hits hot water loose, so it must be premixed with the sugar and powders.
Variations
- Freeze-dried chicken or a pouch of pork works the same way; give it a longer soak.
- Dried bell pepper and onion flakes added to the sauce rehydrate while it thickens.
- No cornstarch: instant potato flakes will thicken it, though the sauce turns cloudy.
https://www.hunttalk.com/threads/need-a-good-shrimp-recipe.215981