When it comes to backpacking meals, I like a challenge: how can I make something that’s delicious, calorically dense, flavourful, light-to-carry, quick-cooking, and yet – not just another kind of pasta?
Enter polenta or cornmeal. It’s not something I cook with frequently, but I like experimenting with new ingredients. I wanted to attempt a backcountry version of this fancypants recipe, another winner by my favourite vegan blogger, RainbowPlantLife. I modified this by swapping the coarse-grained polenta (that typically takes about 45 minutes to cook) for a quick-cooking type, and converting the creamy ragu into an oily sauce.
I had originally developed and tested a version of this recipe more than a year ago but never took any photos and the post remained a draft. It was delicious though! This version is a new and improved recipe, which packs in more protein and is easier to prepare than before.
Finally, I suggest preparing this meal for an overnight trip, or towards the beginning of a longer backpacking trip. This is mainly because carrying the sauce mix around for many days is a little inconvenient.
Whenever you make it, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did on our recent camping trip near Pemberton!
Creamy Polenta with Mushroom and Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 150 g quick-cooking polenta ~5 minutes
- 50 g red lentils
- Handful of dried mixed mushrooms broken into smaller pieces
- 3-4 tbsp coconut milk powder
- 20 g nutritional yeast approx 1/4 cup
- Salt and pepper to taste
Sauce Mix
- 3 tbsp oil from a jar of sundried tomatoes
- 1/4 cup oily sundried tomatoes chopped
- 2 tbsp tomato soup powder
- 1/2 tbsp dried thyme leaves
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 tsp dried minced onion
- A pinch of red chili flakes
Instructions
At Home
- Package the 2 types of ingredients separately. Make sure the sauce mix is in an air-tight container!
At Camp: 2-pot Method
- In the larger pot, pour 3 cups of water and the dry ingredients. Let them hydrate for a bit as you prepare other things. If you have the time, let it hydrate for 30-45 minutes while you set up camp – this will reduce the cooking time, but is totally optional!
- After it has hydrated a little, bring the pot to boil. Cook until the polenta is done and the red lentils are al dente. Stir and add more water if needed. It will continue cooking in the residual heat if you cover it and let it sit for 5-10 minutes before serving.
- In the mean time, pour the sauce mix out into a smaller pot or pan. While the polenta mix is resting, fry the oily sauce mix until it sizzles a little.
- Add about 1/4 cup of water and mix to create a sauce consistency. Add more water if needed.
- Cook just enough for it to heat through, then it's ready to be served over the polenta!
At Camp: 1-pot Method
- The main change here is to put everything into one pot with a little more water, mix properly, keep stirring, and add more water if needed.
- Cook until the polenta is done and the red lentils are al dente. It will continue cooking in the residual heat if you cover it and let it sit for 5-10 minutes afterwards.
Notes
- You could use instant polenta instead of quick-cooking polenta. It would reduce the cook time, but would be heavier due to greater water content. I haven’t tried this and cannot recommend, but if you do, let me know how it goes!
- The recipe specifically calls for split red lentils because they cook relatively quickly. Other lentils generally do not.
- You can substitute oily sundried tomatoes with the desiccated kind, but you might want to rehydrate them a little before putting them in the sauce.
- The tomato soup powder replaces the tomato paste from the original recipe. It also contains salt and other seasoning.
- You can use any combination of dried herbs: rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil, etc.
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