Wild Greens Rice and Lemon Soup
Foraged dock, rice, and an egg stirred in at the end. A camp version of avgolemono.
- calories
- 330
- weight
- 3.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 94
- protein
- 9 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 25 min
- total time
- 35 min
- water
- 900 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
- Lunch
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Campfire coals
- Backpacking
- Basecamp
- Car camping
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Tender dock leaves | 4 to 6 oz | young leaves only; older ones turn to slime |
|---|---|---|
| Long grain white rice | 1/4 cup | basmati cooks evenly at altitude |
| Bouillon | 2 cubes or 2 tsp | chicken or vegetable |
| Olive oil | 2 tbsp plus extra | dropper bottle |
| Dried minced onion | 2 tbsp | |
| Granulated garlic | 1 tsp | |
| Dried oregano | 1 tsp | |
| Ground cumin | a pinch | |
| Powdered whole egg | 2 tbsp | reconstitutes with 3 tbsp water |
| Citric acid or dried lemon powder | 1/2 tsp | a real lemon if you are car camping |
| Salt | to taste |
Method
- Sort the dock. Take only the tender leaves, strip the thick stems, and rinse the grit out in cold water.
- Bring about 500 ml of water to a boil. Drop the leaves in for ten seconds, no longer, then pull them out and press the water off against the pot rim. Dump that water.
- Chop the wilted greens crosswise into short pieces so they fit on a spoon.
- Wipe the pot, add the oil, and warm the dried onion and garlic in it for a minute until they smell like onion and garlic again.
- Add 900 ml of water, the bouillon, rice, oregano, and cumin. Simmer covered about 15 minutes until the rice is soft.
- Stir in the greens and cook two more minutes. Taste for salt.
- Whisk the egg powder with 3 tbsp cool water in your cup, then pour it into the pot in a slow spiral. Do not stir. Let it sit off the heat one minute to set.
- Add the lemon powder and a last pour of oil at the table. Both fade if you boil them.
Dock is one of the easier wild greens to find and one of the easier ones to ruin. It goes soft fast and holds a lot of grit, so the blanch does two jobs: it cleans the leaves and it stops them before they turn to pudding in the soup. Toss the blanch water. It carries the sourness and the sand.
Everything else here is a swap for what a kitchen would give you. Dried onion and garlic rehydrate in the oil, bouillon stands in for stock, and powdered egg does the same thickening work as a fresh one as long as you mix it with cool water first and add it off the boil. Lemon powder and the last glug of oil go in at the end because heat flattens both.
Packing
Rice, bouillon, onion, garlic, oregano, and cumin go in one bag. Egg powder and lemon powder ride separately in small bags so they stay dry and go in last.
Variations
- No dock? Any tender wild green works the same way, or carry a handful of dried spinach and skip the blanch.
- Skip the egg and stir in 2 tbsp of instant potato flakes for body instead.
- A foil packet of chicken turns it into a full dinner.
https://foragerchef.com/mediterranean-dock-soup-with-rice-and-lemon