Turmeric Chickpea Orzo
A yellow, lemony one-pot dinner built from dried chickpeas, orzo, and freeze-dried spinach.
- calories
- 640
- weight
- 5 oz
- cal / oz
- 128
- protein
- 22 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 12 min
- total time
- 17 min
- water
- 650 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
- Car camping
- Winter / snow
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Orzo | 1/2 cup | whole wheat works, it just takes a minute longer |
|---|---|---|
| Freeze-dried or canned-then-dehydrated chickpeas | 1/2 cup | freeze-dried rehydrate in minutes, dehydrated ones need the full simmer |
| Freeze-dried spinach | 1/4 cup packed | or a handful of dried kale flakes |
| Vegetable bouillon | 1 cube or 1 tsp powder | |
| Ground turmeric | 1 tsp | |
| Ground cumin | 1/2 tsp | |
| Dried minced onion | 1 tbsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Salt and black pepper | to taste | pepper is not optional, it pulls the turmeric forward |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | dropper bottle |
| Citric acid or a lemon juice powder | 1/4 tsp | a real lemon wedge if you are car camping |
| Red pepper flakes | a pinch | |
| Dried parsley or cilantro | 1 tsp |
Method
- Bring 650 ml of water to a boil with the bouillon, dried onion, garlic powder, turmeric, cumin, and pepper.
- Add the orzo and chickpeas. Simmer, stirring often so the orzo does not weld to the bottom, about 8 minutes.
- Drop in the spinach and stir. It comes back in under a minute.
- Pull it off the heat when the orzo is soft and most of the water is gone. It should be thick, not soupy.
- Stir in the olive oil, the citric acid, the herbs, and the pepper flakes. Taste for salt.
The original is a home soup with cans, fresh spinach, and a lemon. On trail it becomes a thick one-pot dinner instead: the orzo cooks in the broth and soaks up nearly all of it, so you are not carrying fuel to boil water you then eat as liquid. Freeze-dried chickpeas replace the cans, dried onion and garlic powder replace the sauté, and citric acid stands in for the lemon.
The acid at the end is the part people skip and shouldn’t. Turmeric and cumin go flat and dusty without it. Black pepper matters for the same reason, and the olive oil carries the spices and adds the calories that orzo and chickpeas alone don’t.
Packing
Everything dry goes in one bag: orzo, chickpeas, spinach, bouillon, and all the spices premixed. Oil rides in its own bottle. The citric acid is worth a separate tiny bag so you can add it by feel at the end.
Variations
- Swap the orzo for instant rice or quinoa to make it gluten-free.
- Freeze-dried chicken or a foil pouch stirred in at the end adds another 20 g of protein.
- A spoonful of powdered coconut milk at the end makes it closer to a stew.
https://www.bowlofdelicious.com/turmeric-soup