Two-Burner Van Skillet Dinner
A double-burner camp stove meal: rice on one flame, sausage and beans on the other.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 9 oz
- cal / oz
- 80
- protein
- 30 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 25 min
- total time
- 30 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
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- Real dishes
- Grab and go
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Long grain white rice | 1 cup | parboiled cooks faster and forgives you |
|---|---|---|
| Dry cured sausage | 6 oz | chorizo or summer sausage, no cooler needed |
| Canned black beans | 1 can, 15 oz | drained |
| Tomato paste | 2 tbsp | tube, not can |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | |
| Dried onion flakes | 2 tbsp | |
| Smoked paprika, cumin, garlic powder | 1 tsp each | |
| Salt | 1/2 tsp |
Method
- Set the stove on level ground and open both windshields. Light the first burner.
- Bring 600 ml of water to a boil in the pot, add the rice and salt, drop the flame to its lowest setting, lid on. Fifteen minutes, then off the heat to sit.
- Light the second burner. Heat the oil in the skillet and brown the sliced sausage until the edges crisp, about five minutes.
- Add the onion flakes and spices to the sausage fat and stir for thirty seconds. They need oil to bloom, not water.
- Stir in the beans and tomato paste with a splash of water. Simmer eight minutes, until it thickens.
- Fluff the rice and spoon the sausage and beans over it.
Two burners is the whole point of a van stove, so this recipe uses both at once. Rice takes fifteen unattended minutes at low heat; the sausage and beans take about ten of active attention. Run them in parallel and dinner lands in twenty-five minutes instead of forty.
Everything here is shelf-stable on purpose. Dry cured sausage renders enough fat to cook the spices in, which is where most of the flavor comes from — dumping powdered spice into liquid gets you a dusty broth instead. Tomato paste from a tube keeps after opening and binds the beans without adding the water a can of tomatoes would.
Packing
Rice, onion flakes, and spices go in one jar so the whole seasoning step is a single pour. Sausage and the bean can ride in the food crate; nothing here needs the cooler.
Variations
- Swap the beans for a can of hominy and you have a rough pozole.
- A packet of instant refried beans stirred in at the end thickens it further if the tomato paste runs thin.
- Vegetarian version: drop the sausage, double the beans, and add 2 tbsp oil back for the calories.
https://casambu.com/products/rechaud-a-gaz-2-cook-3-pro-stove-cadac