At a recent winter hut trip, I was packing food for just myself. It was going to be cold, so I wanted something warm, savoury and of course, filling!
To keep things really simple and basic, I put together
- packaged instant polenta and porcini mix as the base
- dehydrated soy crumbles (or texturized vegan protein i.e., TVP) for protein and textural variety
- and a bit of seasoning
Everything goes into a pot and boiled with some water. If you have a heat-safe bag, you can even pour boiling water directly into it, and 7-10 minutes later, the polenta should be fully cooked through.
The result is the perfect winter backcountry dish.
Mushroom Polenta and Vegan “Sausage”
A hearty and comforting dish that's perfect for a winter backcountry trip.
Ingredients
- 100 g porcini and instant polenta mix1
- 25 g soy crumbles or TVP
- 1 tbsp veggie soup powder or bouillon cube
- 1 sachet flavoured oil2 saved from a pack of ramen
- 2 tsp salt3 or as per taste
Instructions
At Home
- You can mix all dry ingredients into one pack and throw the oil sachet in with everything.
At Camp
- Dump all the dry ingredients into a pot and cover with 1 inch of water. Stir to make sure everything is getting hydrated.
- Bring to boil. As the water heats up, the polenta will thicken and start sputtering.
- At this point, give it a good mix, turn the stove off, and let it sit with the lid on for about 5 minutes. This helps everything complete cooking in the residual heat, while preventing the bottom of the pan from starting to burn.
- At the end of 5 minutes, give it a taste to ensure everything has cooked through. Then add the oil and enjoy!
Notes
- I used a mix somewhat like this, with just two ingredients: instant polenta and dehydrated porcini mushrooms. You can also use plain instant polenta instead.
- The oil is mostly for flavour and to boost the calories a bit. It also gives the polenta a creamier mouthfeel. A tablespoon of coconut oil or vegan butter will do the job too, but make sure it’s either cold enough for it to stay solid throughout, or you’re carrying it in an airtight container.
- It’s a bit easier in the backcountry to have more salt than less. If the resulting dish is too salty, you can always add a bit more water to dilute it. On the other hand, if you’re worried about under-seasoning, I like to carry a sachet of soy sauce to help fix that.
- The overall weight for this was ~175g.