Thai Curry With Noodles

My inspiration for this recipe came from discovering coconut cream powder in a grocery store. Thai curry is something I make on a fairly regular basis at home. It’s my classic fridge clean-out recipe: whatever’s going bad soon, needs eating up, doesn’t fit in any specific dish, goes into a large pot with whichever Thai curry paste I have at hand, and some coconut milk. That you could make anything like that in the backcountry, I could not have thought until I saw that packet of coconut cream powder…

If I’m being honest, the coconut cream is probably not essential. The curry paste is though. It doesn’t matter whether you use red, green or yellow curry paste, bring a gob of it and you don’t need any other spices. But don’t let the short (and relatively light) ingredient list fool you: the end result is incredibly delicious!

Another reason this recipe is great for long backcountry trips: curry pastes keep surprisingly well without a fridge! Well, depends on the specific type/brand you have, and whether it’s shelf-stable. I made this dish on day 5 of a week-long summer backpacking trip, and the paste I had was totally fine.

You can make this as soupy or saucy as you like (and as your pot allows). You can chop up some vegan sausages or tofu instead of the soy chunks as a protein alternative, though at the cost of a slightly heavier pack. If the curry paste isn’t hot enough for you, you can bring and add some red chilli or cayenne pepper powder to spice it up even more! And finally, to make it even easier to transport or quick to cook, you can swap the noodles out for couscous.

Serves: 2
Ideal for: Long backcountry trip
Type: Dinner
Cuisine: Thai

Ingredients

4 ramen noodle blocks (280g)*
20g curry paste (red, yellow or green)
¼ cup dried vegetables of any kind**
¼ cup soy chunks or textured vegan protein (TVP)
10g coconut milk powder (or more for a creamier texture)
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional: 1 tsp dried minced onion
Optional: coconut oil

Instructions: At Home

To pack this, you need 3 containers for ingredients grouped as follows,

• dry ingredients (noodles, soy chunks, dried vegetables, coconut powder, dried onions if using)
• curry paste and, coconut oil (if using)
• a mix of salt and pepper

You could combine the last two, but I like to keep the salt-pepper mix separate, as you will add it to taste, and it can be used in different dishes. Additionally, you can keep the noodles separate but I find it easy enough to fish them out when cooking.

Instructions: At Camp

1. Put the curry paste into the pot with a dash of water and fry it lightly. When it starts sticking and gets hard to stir, add a bit more water. It should have the consistency of a thick sauce at this stage. Be careful as the paste will start to sputter as it cooks.
2. Add some more water, then add all the dry ingredients, breaking the noodles up so they fit in the pot. Pour enough water to cover, leaving a bit of room for when it gets to a boil.
3. Bring to boil, add salt and pepper to taste and cook until the noodles are done and the dehydrated stuff is fully rehydrated, usually no more than 10 minutes.

Recipe Notes

• You can use half a soup broth cube to add more flavour. Make sure to adjust the salt accordingly.
• *I like using these ramen blocks/cakes as they’re pretty compact, but you can substitute that with Minute Rice or even couscous, for faster cooking times.
• **I used a dried vegetable soup mix, but feel free to use whatever you can easily find in a grocery store, for example, dried mushrooms. Other optional add-ins can be seaweed or garlic.