Dehydrated Carrot, Coconut and Lentil Curry (or Instant Soup)
This recipe consitutes our lightest and yet still filling meal: if we have a long trip you can bet there will be two on the menu. It’s packed with flavour, fibre, protein and, if you love curry, you’ll love this! It’s also one of our easiest recipes to make in one big pot before dehydrating. And if you puree the soup, dry into bark and then powder it, you’ll have another of our instant healthy Cup-a-Soups ideal for lunch on the track, or for speedy rehydration in camp.
Delish!
Ingredients
800g carrots in 1 cm dice
2 onions diced
2 medium sweet potato peeled and in 1cm dice
4½ -5 cups assorted dry lentils*
1 knob garlic chopped
200g ginger grated
Fresh chillies chopped, to taste
1 tbspn garam masala
1 tbspn coriander
1 tbspn cumin
1 tbspn turmeric
6 curry leaves, fried in scant oil till crisp (optional)
3 bay leaves
4 tbspn tomato paste
1L tomato passata
1 bunch fresh coriander, chopped
1 tbspn olive oil
Salt and pepper
Juice of 1 lime or lemon
Coconut milk powder**
Additional olive oil to add in camp (optional)
*A mix of red, green, black and/or puy lentils gives a variety of textures, rather than turning into a uniform mush but, if you prefer a smooth textured soup, choose red lentils and puree the lot at the end before dehydrating.
**Some brands of coconut milk powder contain milk solids, so vegans should order from specialty health food shops
CLEVER CHEAT HACKS TO SPEED AND SIMPLIFY:
Replace individual spices with Indian spice blend
Replace fresh coriander with dried
Replace fresh garlic and ginger with powdered
Method
In a large heavy-based pot, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and fry until translucent. Lower heat to medium and add garlic, chilli, ginger and spices. Fry, stirring constantly until fragrant, then add tomato paste. Fry a few minutes more, scraping bottom of pan so it doesn’t catch. Add potato and carrot, stirring well to coat, then add lentils, curry leaves and bay leaves.
Add tomato passata and enough water to just cover veg and lentils.
Bring to the boil, stirring constantly to prevent catching, then reduce heat and simmer covered for 20-30 minutes until vegetables are cooked and the hardest lentils are soft. Top up with more water only if it gets too dry to cook the lentils.
Remove bay leaves. Add chopped coriander (or dry separately) and a squeeze of lemon or lime. Taste and season well. The curry or soup will probably be thicker than you’ll eat in camp, but you don’t want to add extra water now, only to dehydrate it straight away!
CHEATS HACK: You can skip the next step and place the curry directly onto silicone-lined sheets now to catch the last remaining liquid, or drain the liquid and place the lentils on mesh. Or, make puree using the liquid as below, but add it back in to the vegetables before drying everything on silicone sheets.
OTHERWISE:
Tip vegetables into a colander placed over a second pot and allow to fully drain. Add 4-6 wooden spoonfuls of the vegetables and lentils to the drained liquid and puree: the puree should be thick, not runny.
Spread puree on a silicone sheet or baking paper on dehydrator trays: you’ll dry and powder it, then add it back to the chunky dehydrated vegetables and lentils. This saves all the flavour and makes your dahl rich and saucy rather than thin or watery.
Place one serve of vegetables and lentils in a bowl and weigh. Place double that amount on a dehydrator tray: this is your WET MIX A (2 SERVES). Mark this tray with a teaspoon.
Fill remaining trays with vegetable and lentil mix.
Chopped coriander and drained cooked vegetables and lentil mix loaded into the dehydrator
Dehydrate at 135F (58C) until completely dry, flipping the pureed bark partway.
When fully dehydrated, place bark (the dehydrated puree) into a spice grinder or food processor – it will be quite crumbly already – and powder.
Dry again for 20 mins to condition, then place in a small bowl.
Weigh the chunky veg and lentils mix on your marked tray. This is your DRY MIX B (TWO SERVES). Then put it in a large bowl together with the rest of the vegetable mix.
IF MAKING INSTANT CUP-A-SOUP:
Simply puree everything except the coriander and dry on silicone- or baking paper-lined sheets (invert onto mesh partway through when dry enough to flip and peel off paper). Once dry, make a test batch in your cup as described in our Instant Chicken and Corn Soup recipe, but using coconut milk powder instead of milk powder.
Packaging (for two)
Into each vac seal bag place
50g coconut milk powder (you can empty the sachet straight in if not storing for long)
DRY MIX B
An even portion of the powdered puree (spread across all bags)
An even portion of the dehydrated coriander (if you’ve done that separately)
Vac seal the bags.
On the outside, you can write the minimum amount needed to reconstitute the soup: A-B = W ml.
However, you will need more than this, because the curry was extra thick to begin with, and because of the powders.
We eat this as a thick soup rather than a curry and add 800 ml - 1 litre for two.
However, it doesn’t really matter if you add too much water, because this dahl is so flavourful.
In camp
Open bag, take out coconut milk, and empty powder into main bag. Pour in boiling water.
Close and place in a cosy for 20 minutes.
If you’ve pureed and powdered the soup for instant cup-a-soup, it will rehydrate instantly.
And if you carry olive oil on hikes, a splash stirred in just before serving tastes great and adds calories.
Enjoy!
