DIY Dehydrated Meals - Lentil Dahl & Rice

I decided early on that the food for my trip had to be easy - minimal washing up. This meant finding meals that only required hot water to be added.

Yes, there are those ready-made meals, but they are expensive, few vegetarian options (I'm a vego), and I was worried that I would feel rotten if I ate processed meals for a week.

So began many an hour in the supermarket isle studying my options. And there are quite a few easy dinner ideas: coucous, potato powder, cuppa soup, 2 minute noodles, and sachets of tuna or salmon.

But I thought I'd try my hand at making my own dehydrated 'just-add-water' meals.

So far I have had success with Lentil Dahl and Rice, and Mexican Quinoa. I currently have a Mushroom Risotto on the go in the dehydrator, so I'll be keen to see how long it takes to dry out and how well it re-hydrates. For each meal I am doing a test run at home - I would hate to be out in the wilds and find my dinner just won't re-hydrate! I do not fair well on an empty stomach!

What I have discovered is, if you leave your food out in a covered bowl for 20 mins you end up with re-hydrated but cold food for dinner. So after some more research I made myself a heat pouch - instructions on this to follow....

Lentil Dahl and Rice

Lentil Dahl and Rice are perfect hiking food - filling and full of flavour.

My first trial of the Lentil Dahl revealed that I needed to ensure my tinned tomatoes were well chopped as the big chunks took way longer to dry out than the rest of the meal. I also added extra veg to the recipe for added nutrients.

Ingredients

1 tsp black mustard seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 onion

1 clove garlic

1 carrot

1 zucchini

1 tin tomatoes

1 tin coconut cream

2 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 tsp (or to taste) chilli powder

1 tsp garam masala powder

230g red lentils, rinsed

1 packet (200g) frozen spinach

Method

In a food processor, grind the mustard seeds and cumin seeds to a powder. Add the onion, garlic, carrot and zucchini and blitz. Add the mixture to a pan with 1-2 tbsp oil and saute for 5 minutes.

In the food processor, blitz the tinned tomatoes. Add to the pan along with the lentils and coconut cream. Use one of the empty tins and fill with water. Add the water to teh pan.

Cook for 15 mins, occasionally stirring.

Add in a packet of frozen spinach and cook for a further 5 mins, stirring.

Leave the dahl in the fridge overnight.

In the morning, spread thinly on baking paper sheets, cut to size for your dehydrator. Dehydrate at 55 degree c for about 7 hours.

I found if I spread it too thickly it took a lot longer, just keep drying until it's crispy. Leave to cool thoroughly. Bag and label.

I also dehydrated cooked Basmati Rice - spread thinly it took 5 hours at 55 degrees c.

For a hearty meal I used 85g dehydrated dahl and 30g dehydrated rice mixed into the one bag.

To re-hydrate I added hot (just off the boil) water to the bag, covering the mix and giving it a stir, and let sit in my heat pouch for 20 mins. After 20 mins, if it is a bit too thick still, add a little more water, stir and let sit for a further 5 mins in the pouch.

Yum!