Poha: A Lightweight Hiking Breakfast

Apr 3

This tasty recipe doesn’t require dehydrating - the vegan and gluten free ingredients are already dried and simply brought together and rehydrated on the track. You can adjust the protein by increasing the nuts or pulses. The flat rice (also called rice flakes or flattened rice) is available at good supermarkets, or try your local health food store or Indian grocer. Poha is not rice cereal. With only a small amount of cooking prep beforehand, it’s pretty simple. In camp, you can even cold soak this recipe because the rice rehydrates so quickly! Plus, we include cheat hacks at the end for those who prefer ease above all else! Cast aside your doubts about this spicy, flavoursome Indian breakfast: a billion people can’t be wrong!

pot of yellow flat rice with green peas and nuts cup of tea all on granite rock with crystal clear water in large pool behind — The rehydration process on the track is the key to a yummy meal. Use food grade Chux or cheesecloth.

Ingredients (two serves):

90 g flat rice
20g freeze dried peas
40g dry roasted peanuts (you can vary for protein content), or roasted edamame or roasted chickpeas*
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds **
¼ tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp dried fried shallots (from supermarkets)
1 tsp dried crushed chillies (or to taste: we use 2)!
½ tsp salt to taste
currants to taste (reader suggestion)
Olive oil – optional, added when you’re on the track***

*Fitness trainer and hiker Travis Nemeth suggests swapping the peanuts and peas for dried edamame to provide significantly more protein. Carnivores can add jerky.

** You can use any seeds. Fennel and coriander would also go well.

***We normally carry a small bottle of olive oil to add to meals. It lifts the taste and is extremely energy efficient per gram – see “Food on the Bibbulmun.

green packet of edamame beans — Roasted edamame beans!

They are lightweight, vegan, gluten free and high in protein and fibre.

table of statistical composition of edamame beans — And look at that protein, nearly 50% by weight, and nearly 30% fibre.

However, they are extremely salty so, if you use these, roasted chickpeas or fava beans, omit the seasoning in your mix.

Method

At Home:

Dry fry mustard and cumin seeds until they start popping. Set aside to cool.

Combine the peanuts, currants, mustard and cumin seeds with the turmeric powder, dried shallots, chillies and salt. Wrap in a small piece of biodegradable cling wrap.

Wrap the peas in a separate piece of cling wrap.

Put the rice into a small zip loc bag. We eat about 45g grams of rice flakes per person ie 90g total. Add the wrapped spices and peas to the ziploc and seal.

In Camp:

You will need an open weave cloth. We use a sieve at home, but a foodsafe chux or cheesecloth is lighter on the track.

Put about 500 ml of water in a pot. Add peas and bring to the boil.

Next, run half of the hot water through the rice. This is a bit tricky but important to get right for a fluffy texture.

smiling man holding small cup with cloth drapped in and over the sides forming pouch rice is in pouch — Put the cloth in large cup and drape the sides of the cloth over the rim to form an open pouch.

Put the rice in the pouch.

pouring water from steel pot into cloth lined cup — Pour half the water through the rice in the pouch, keeping the peas in the pot with the remaining boiled water to continue rehydrating.

Immediately draw the top the cloth together and pick up the cloth to extract the rice from the cup and let it drain.

close up of closed purple cloth pouch being extracted from cup — Don’t let the rice soak in the pool of water in the cup or it will go gluggy instead of fluffy.

Throw away or drink the starchy water in the cup.

close up of purple pouch in clear pot with condensation inside — Put the cloth pouch (with the rice still wrapped in it) back in the cup and cover.

Leave for a few minutes.

green peas and water being poured from steel pot into purple cloth lined cup — Repeat the process but this time pour the peas into the rice as well.

Drain immediately, then empty the rice and peas back into the pot.

nuts currants and yellow coloured powder being tipped into pot with white rice and green peas in it — Add and mix through the dry ingredients.

If you have it, add a tbsp of olive oil.

Mix again.

Enjoy!

Hack 1: For Those Who Cook on The Trail:

If you cook in camp, rather than just boil water, this recipe is even yummier when you prepare it in the classical fashion, which includes frying onion, spices and potato in a little oil, and then adding in the rehydrated rice. Mix well, cover and let the rice absorb the flavours for a minute. This would make an excellent dinner as well as breakfast.

Hack 2: For Cold Soakers:

A reader told us that poha rehydrates so quickly that it’s ideal for cold soaking. Cover poha scantly with water. Stir occasionally with a fork. The texture isn’t at all fluffy, unpleasantly chewy and heavy, with a strangely acidic flavour: not at to our liking, so don’t expect the same result. Our reader’s brand of poha rehydrated in less than five minutes, but ours took much longer, about 35 minutes, so test at home first. Mix in spices, oil, nuts, edamame and peas.

Cheat’s Hacks

Instant poha, very much like two minute noodles, is available in specialist grocers and you prepare it by adding a small amount of water and allowing it to rehydrate. Like instant noodles, these aren’t particularly healthy or nutritious, but you could easily toss in some dried edamame, jerky or peanuts for a quick and easy breakfast.