Trail Shrimp Creole
Freeze-dried shrimp, dried holy trinity, and tomato powder over instant rice. One pot.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 113
- protein
- 31 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 15 min
- total time
- 25 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
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Liquid fuel
- Backpacking
- Basecamp
- Car camping
- Canoe / raft
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Dehydrate ahead
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Freeze-dried raw shrimp | 1.5 oz | small ones rehydrate faster; halve any large ones before packing |
|---|---|---|
| Instant white rice | 3/4 cup | the parboiled kind that only needs a soak |
| Tomato powder | 3 tbsp | or 1/4 cup crushed sun-dried tomato, ground |
| Dried onion, bell pepper, and celery | 1/3 cup total | the trinity, dehydrated at home or bought as flakes |
| Dried carrot and zucchini | 2 tbsp | |
| Dried mushroom | 1 tbsp | optional, does the umami work the wine used to |
| Garlic powder | 1 tsp | |
| Bouillon powder | 1 tsp | chicken or vegetable, not beef |
| Ground thyme | 1/4 tsp | |
| Dried parsley | 1 tsp | |
| Cayenne | 1/8 tsp | scale to taste |
| Salt and black pepper | 1/4 tsp each | |
| Bay leaf | 1 small | |
| Olive oil or bacon fat | 1 tbsp | bacon fat holds fine for a few days out |
| Worcestershire sauce | 1 tsp | carried in a mini dropper bottle |
Method
- Pour 400 ml of water into the pot with the dried vegetables, tomato powder, bouillon, garlic, thyme, cayenne, salt, pepper, and the bay leaf. Let it sit ten minutes cold before you light the stove.
- Bring it to a boil, then hold a low simmer for five minutes. The vegetables need that time; the tomato powder needs it to stop tasting raw.
- Add the shrimp and simmer two more minutes. Longer turns them to erasers.
- Kill the heat. Stir in another 200 ml of just-boiled water and the instant rice, cover, and leave it alone for eight minutes.
- Fluff it, pull the bay leaf, and stir in the oil, Worcestershire, and parsley off the heat.
Home shrimp creole starts with a roux and a long simmer, neither of which fits in a 750 ml pot. The roux is gone here. Flour thickens by scorching against the bottom of a thin titanium pot, and it costs a second dish. Instead the tomato powder and the starch off the instant rice carry the body, and the oil goes in at the end so the fat still reads as fat.
Timing is the whole recipe. Dried vegetables want a real simmer; shrimp want almost none. Cook them together and you get crunchy celery next to rubber. Rehydrating the vegetables cold for ten minutes before the stove goes on saves fuel and shortens the simmer. The bay leaf is worth its weightless self.
Packing
Everything dry except the shrimp goes in one bag. Shrimp ride in their own bag so they stay brittle and easy to count. Oil and Worcestershire in small dropper bottles, upright, inside a ziplock.
Variations
- Swap the shrimp for 1/3 cup dried red lentils, added with the vegetables, for a vegan version.
- No tomato powder: a squeeze of tomato paste from a tube works, added at the boil.
- Cook it thick and skip the rice, then eat it with tortillas.
https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/recipe-shrimp-sausage-chicken-creole