Trail Tom Kha
Red curry paste, coconut milk powder, and freeze-dried tofu. A pressure-cooker soup rebuilt for one pot of boiling water.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 4.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 138
- protein
- 22 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 8 min
- total time
- 10 min
- water
- 500 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
- Winter / snow
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Coconut milk powder | 1/3 cup | the fat and the body of the whole thing |
|---|---|---|
| Thai red curry paste | 1 tbsp | single-serve packet or a squeeze from a tube |
| Freeze-dried tofu | 1/2 cup | or 1/3 cup TVP chunks |
| Dried shiitake slices | 1/4 cup | |
| Dried bell pepper and onion flakes | 3 tbsp total | |
| Vegetable bouillon | 1 cube or 1 tsp powder | |
| Soy sauce powder | 2 tsp | liquid soy sauce leaks; the powder does not |
| Brown sugar | 2 tsp | |
| Ground ginger | 1 tsp | |
| Lime powder or crystallized lime | 1 tsp | a lime wedge from home works for night one |
| Sesame oil | 1 tbsp | dropper bottle |
| Dried cilantro and sriracha packet | to taste |
Method
- Boil 500 ml of water. Dump in the mushrooms, peppers, onion, tofu, bouillon, ginger, sugar, and soy powder.
- Simmer five minutes, or kill the heat and let it sit ten minutes covered if fuel is short. The mushrooms decide when it is done.
- Stir in the curry paste until no clumps remain.
- Off the heat, whisk in the coconut milk powder. Add it dry to a boiling pot and it will seize into lumps.
- Finish with sesame oil, lime, cilantro, and sriracha.
The original is a pressure-cooker recipe with fresh onion, peppers, and a block of tofu that has to be pressed under a stack of cast iron for twenty minutes. None of that survives a pack. Dried vegetables and freeze-dried tofu rehydrate in the same pot of boiling water, and they skip the pressing entirely because they are already dry and will take on whatever flavor the water is carrying.
Coconut milk powder replaces the can, which is the real weight savings and the reason this works at all. It goes in off the heat: the fat separates and clumps if you boil it. Fish sauce is gone, so this stays vegetarian, but check the curry paste anyway since some brands include shrimp. The sugar, lime, and salt are doing balance work, not sweetening it. Skip the lime and it tastes flat and heavy.
Packing
Everything dry goes in one quart freezer bag except the curry paste and the oil, which ride in their own containers. Freeze-dried tofu is bulky and light, so pack it last and let it fill the gaps.
Variations
- A packet of chicken adds 20 g of protein and turns it into a heavier dinner.
- Drop in a nest of rice noodles for the last three minutes if you want it closer to a meal than a soup.
- Half the water makes it a curry over instant rice instead.
https://domesticsuperhero.com/instant-pot-thai-coconut-soup