Yummiest - No Cook meals

[wildwalks]

HI All

With summer fast approaching I wanted some ideas for yummy no-cook meals.
I am thinking it will also make a nice section on the next edition of the BWA eMag (summer edition).

There is a fairly old thread here with some good ideas -- But I was hoping for a few tried and tested ones.
http://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=10802
The Cous Cous salad sounds like a good one - but I have not tried it yet.

My standard no cook meal is using instant rice.
I would cook up white rice at home - then dehydrate it.
In camp just add some water and it re-hydrates in a few minutes.
To this I can add salami or a flavored Tuna. A few sultanas can works as well. -- nice and refreshing on a hot evening. (works for lunch as well)
I have tried adding curry powder and soup to the water when re-hydrating the rice to add a bit of flavor. But this did not work very well for me.

Any ideas/suggestions.

thanks

Matt

[icefest]

By no-cook meals do you mean no hot water too?

[Nuts]

I don't have a good relationship with couscus. Maybe it was from filling 10 peoples wraps with it before I knew how to prepare properly... Ah, still recall the crunchy, mealy goodness. Unfortunately it was that or hungry!

Sorry, not much help here..

[Mark F]

I make and dry hummus (made with plenty of tahini), process it to a powder. For the meal add water, it rehydrates quite quickly in cold water, and eat with flat bread, sun dried tomatoes, cheese and olives.

[wildwalks]

By no-cook meals do you mean no hot water too?

Yeah, I guess I am thinking no stove/fire meals.

Hey Nuts --> yeah crunchy couscus would turn me off to I think
Mark F --> great suggestion with the Hummus makes good spread or dip - good flavour and nutritious

Thanks

Matt

[Snowzone]

I make and dry hummus (made with plenty of tahini), process it to a powder. For the meal add water, it rehydrates quite quickly in cold water, and eat with flat bread, sun dried tomatoes, cheese and olives.

Mark, would you mind posting your Hummus recipe? I have often thought about doing this but do not have a recipe for it. I would be eternally grateful, well as long as its a good recipe of course.

[GPSGuided]

My standard no cook meal is using instant rice.
Any ideas/suggestions.

Have not seen people mentioning this yet.

Have you tried this pork floss thing from Chinese supermarkets? It's essentially dehydrated, salted/sweetened pork in mince/floss form (not exactly sure though). No refrigeration needed and can keep for a long long time. No preparations required when used, just scoop a few spoonful. Goes very very well with hot steamed rice or plain bread. Chinese pastry shops sell bread buns with various fillings and this is often used as filling in one of their options. Add a bit of vegi/fruit and a fully balanced meal is made. I often use it as a short cut meal at home and out when I am sick of salami and ham slices.

[Orion]

I make and dry hummus (made with plenty of tahini), process it to a powder. For the meal add water, it rehydrates quite quickly in cold water, and eat with flat bread, sun dried tomatoes, cheese and olives.

How well does it dehydrate? Any tricks?

I used to take instant hummus on backcountry trips but the powdered instant available here isn't very good at all. It's too lemony and not enough tahini or garlic flavor. So I've been meaning for some time to try and dehydrate homemade hummus.

Hummus is so easy to make, especially if you use canned garbanzos: 2c cooked garbanzos, 1/3c lemon juice, 3T tahini, 3 cloves garlic, salt, water. Blend, then garnish with olive oil lemon juice, hot paprika and parsely. Serve with sliced vegetables and warmed pita bread. That last part -- the warmed bread -- is critical in my opinion, and means that a stove is a prerequisite.

[perfectlydark]

Call me boring but a good nut mix and jerky is all I need, no cooking required. Admittedly if gone for more than 2 nights though id want a change

[Mark F]

The recipe I use for hummus is largely from The Cooks Companion by Stephanie Alexander

My quantities may seem a bit strange but they are based on portions of the packaged product.

166 grams of chick peas (1/3 of a bag) soaked over night and pressure cooked for 15 minutes. You could use 2 cans of cooked chick peas.
In the blender with the chick peas:
2 - 3 cloves garlic
2 teaspoons cumin
pinch of cayenne pepper
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 jar of unhulled tahini
salt to taste

Blend until smooth. Adjust texture to soft paste using the cooking water. Adjust the taste with extra lemon juice.

Spread thinly on drying trays and dry to remove all moisture. I find I use two rectangular trays for this quantity.

Quickly whip dried hummus in blender to reduce to a powder. This helps it rehydrate quickly with cold water.

[Orion]

1/2 jar of unhulled tahini

How big is that jar?

Quickly whip dried hummus in blender to reduce to a powder.

Thanks, that's what I was wondering about.

[Mark F]

The tahini I buy is the unhulled from Coles or Woolies, 375g. The hulled version is fine to use but not quite so "wholefoods".

The recipe makes about 750g before drying. The batch has about 7,500 kJ so around 1,000 kJ per 100g.

[Snowzone]

Thanks so much for the recipe and directions Mark. I'm looking forward to trying it out.
Has anyone tried adding mashed pumpkin to their Hummus?

[vieve]

Another good variation is cauliflower hummus. I roast my cauliflower and garlic then add tahini, lemon juice, olive oil, cumin, etc. I haven't tried dehydrating it yet though.

[Orion]

The tahini I buy is the unhulled from Coles or Woolies, 375g.

That's a lot of tahini, 2-4 times what most recipes call for. Nice and rich and tasty, I'll bet.
Is the unhulled tahini also unroasted?

[Mark F]

Nothing on the jar to indicate whether the sesame seeds in the tahini are roasted or not.

[ofuros]

A very appropriate topic...After checking several of my favourite N.P's for a weekend wander, total fire bans are in place in
many ot the parks I wish to visit.
No gas or liquid stoves allowed.
Looks like my small thermos will see some action for an overnighter.

Take care out there.

[Mountain Rocket]

As far as lunch goes I have had lots of success using falafel mixture as a spread. The Kings branded one you can buy at the two majors seems to soften up the quickest. Available, cheap, tasty and light. Not so sure how it goes re calories etc.

[Snowzone]

Thanks so much for the recipe and directions Mark. I'm looking forward to trying it out.
Has anyone tried adding mashed pumpkin to their Hummus?

I just finished a four day walk on the Bogong High Plains which was the perfect place to try out my Hummus. It worked beautifully. I followed Marks recipe directions (but added roasted pumpkin) then did as he suggested and blended the dehydrated hummus into a powder. It rehydrated easily in a ziplock bag and was able to be used straight away. It was really nice to add something so tasty to my dry biscuits.

[sim1oz]

We've dehydrated lots of homemade and store-bought dips. As long as they don't have too much oil in them, it works great. The tomato salsa turned into a fruit leather but I chopped it up into bits for re-hydrating. Combine with corn chips, fresh guacamole (ok, heavy), tomato salsa and grated cheese. It was a great lunch 'nachos on the track'. Yummy even survived without the sour cream. Dips that have dehydrated well: hummus, tahini, sweet potato and cashew, tomato salsa, beetroot, pumpkin, cream pesto (no oil, add oil when rehydrating,... actually, I just try anything.

I like wraps and laffa bread filled with any of these. We sometimes take a packet of the supermarket coleslaw for the first two days as extra filling, with kababa or biltong.

[walk2wineries]

Call me boring but a good nut mix and jerky is all I need, no cooking required. Admittedly if gone for more than 2 nights though id want a change

Frozen smoked salmon will usually keep for that long...or filled rolls made with stuff like cold cuts with interested chutneys or creamcheese/smoked salmon/capers - finely sliced sundried tomatoes are okay but no fresh salad stuff - wrap in foil and freeze hard.....

[Snowzone]

I've had success dehydrating a rice salad. I made up my normal rice salad at home, cooked rice and vegies of choice, capsicum, spring onion, corn, crushed pineapple, chopped parsley and finely grated lemon rind. Do not add any dressings before dehydrating.
Once dehydrated I added a handful of sultanas and some mustard powder.
On the track at breakfast I added cold water and by lunch it was perfect.
This was particularly brilliant on hot days, a very refreshing lunch.

[ofuros]

Have been experimenting lately, with a wide mouth thermos for use during total fire ban days
on day/ overnight explorations.
Favourite meal so far, has been thermos made vanilla yogurt with a sweet & juicy dragon fruit
& finger lime from my garden.

A nice homemade tomato soup or similar & wholemeal buns with a scraping of butter are a close second.
Soup & bread made the day before, bread frozen overnight. Mmmmm

Next experimental phase,
curry over rice....rice is coming out gluggy, so might make that separate the day before,
ziplock & freeze it for the next day, and just concentrate a nice warming curry sauce to add to
it, in evening.

thermos food 20131216_084117 (2) (Small).jpg (42.52 KiB) Viewed 36946 times

Not lightweight, but no cooking required in the bush...

[Jag]

Lol you guys. are anal.

[Snowzone]

Lol you guys. are anal.

Unsure whats anal about wanting to eat tasty and easy to prepare meals?

[GPSGuided]

I think it's relatively easy for short period. What possible that can be sustain for months to years? Salad every day?