Dehydrated Chicken Minestrone
This delicious filling soup is one of the few recipes that I make partially by recombining separate ingredients. This is because I make up large batches of mixed dried vegetables to use with ramen for breakfast. These mixes include peas, corn, carrots, potatoes, swedes, turnips, plus numerous green vegetables – whatever takes your fancy. I also make up a mix of leafy green vegetables (kale, Tuscan spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, leeks, brussels sprouts, plus mushrooms, green beans and peas) that rehydrate relatively quickly. Any vegetable mix can be used.
Ingredients
2 leeks, finely sliced
500g ditalini (small macaroni) OR instant noodles
Mixed dried vegetables
Mixed dried herbs (spring onion, parsley)
Packs of cream of chicken or country chicken soup powder, stock powder OR home-made chicken stock powder
*Use more protein for longer distance hikes
1-3 kg* lean chicken mince (or 1kg chicken + 1kg turkey)
2 large onions finely diced
2 carrots
200g peas
3 corns, kernels removed
4 cloves garlic
Recipe Hacks:
Dehydrate mince (or use dry TVP) + Commercial mixed dried vegetables + Instant pasta + Soup sachet (chicken, minestrone, cream of chicken, chicken and vegetable, vegetable)
Method
1.Brown lean chicken mince in scant oil.
2. Blot or rinse if desired to remove fat*.
*Unless you rinse or carefully blot your chicken mince after cooking, this dehydrated soup needs to be stored in the freezer so the chicken fat doesn’t go rancid. Vac-sealed, it will still last several months outside the freezer.
3. Caramelise leeks, onions, corn and garlic in a small drizzle of oil.
4. Return chicken to pan. Add peas. Season.
5. Meanwhile parcook ditalini in chicken stock (or chicken rinse water which has had the fat blotted from the surface).
If using instant noodles, simply package them separately and either add to the soup towards the end of rehydrating in camp, or rehydrate separately.
6. Make a test serve: you only need to do this once if you record all your quantities. Measure about 100g of the cooked chicken mince and vegetable mix and place in a small saucepan. Add 1-2 tablespoons (weighed) of mixed dried leafy vegetables. Add measured amount of water to reconstitute veg, and simmer till veg are soft.
Add measured extra water and soup powder; stir well to prepare the soup for your test serve.
7. Add about ¾ cup weighed par-cooked macaroni (or cooked noodles). Cook a few minutes more until soft. Adjust seasoning. Put into soup bowl and correct proportions of meat, veg, pasta, water/concentration of flavours to your taste and appetite, recording adjustments. Taste and adjust until it’s yummy!
My back-of envelope calculations.
Note test dry calculations bottom left. These will vary depending on the vegetables in your mix.
8. Dehydrate a single serve of the meat, vegetable and pasta mix on one tray, label the tray with a tea spoon. Fill the rest of the trays with the meat, vegetable and pasta mixed in the same proportions as your single serve test mix, but leave out the leafy vegetables if you are using them.
A big batch of chicken minestrone ready for dehydrating
9. Measure the dried weight. You now have dry weights of all ingredients, as well as amount of water added. Calculate difference, and proportion up the quantities for two serves. Add 2 - 4 tablespoons of the dried leafy vegetables for each two serve portion.
The mixed dried product ready for packaging.
If you don’t have mixed dried vegetables, you can cook your onions and chicken mince, and add fresh diced mixed raw veg after step 3. Then cook soup as you normally would but with minimal amount of stock. Drain. Blend the drained water with just enough veg to thicken it; dry it separately and powder. For a test serve, add a weighed measure of par-cooked pasta to veg and meat. Add water, stock powder/soup packet to make up a test serve.