Quick Comforting Chili
Nothing beats a good bowl of comforting chili at the end of a long day. Somehow it is one of those meals that works as well when you are sweating it out on the banks of a river or huddled up behind a rock on a ridgeline in the dead of winter. Backcountry cooking usually means sacrificing complex comfort foods, but we've put together a quick trail version that brings serious flavor without weighing down your pack, or taking all day to cook.
Ingredients
This recipe uses an ingredient that we have found to be surprisingly versatile while out on the trail, Sunflower Mince. This ingredient provides the bulk of the protein and is remarkably light for packaging purposes.
Core ingredients
There are thousands of chili recipes out there. The core ingredients for this recipe give you a foundation that you can build off and put your own twists on. The ingredients given are for two servings.
40g Sunflower Mince - Provides the bulk of the protein.
1 stock cube - Provides a good deal of seasoning and provides a good base to build the flavour of your chili off.
1 single serving packet of powdered tomato soup - The soup that we have found works best is just a plain tomato flavour. This provides the tomato richness as well as acting as a thickening agent.
1 onion - We have found that this recipe can work as well with fresh, dehydrated, or freeze dried onion.
1 medium-sized carrot - These can be fresh, dehydrated, or freeze dried, it turns out carrots are quite forgiving.
½ teaspoon chili powder - We have found that a smoked chili can work well.
½ teaspoon cumin powder - Adding a small amount of cumin powder adds a lot of flavour for a small additional weight.
Approximately 0.5 litres water - as all the ingredients can be dry a fair amount of water is needed.
2 tablespoons vegetable oil - Any neutral cooking oil can be used.
Optional Ingredients
Now this is where you can start experimenting. Some ingredients we have found that work well to add, substitute, or serve with are:
Powdered mash potato - A very quick and easy carbohydrate that only requires a small amount of boiling water.
Rice - A good option for providing the bulk of the carbohydrate for this meal. Watch out for the type of rice that you choose as they have different cooking times. This is a good option if you are cooking over a fire and fuel is not limited.
Sun dried tomatoes - If you can find the smoked kind then this brings not only the sweet taste of tomatoes but also a hint of smokiness.
Mixed beans - Are an excellent easy way of bringing extra protein into this meal.
Baked beans - We have had some success with adding baked beans into the chili. When doing this the packet of soup is not needed.
Dehydrated or freeze dried vegetable mix - As with many one pot meals with some strong flavors, adding a handful of dehydrated or freeze dried vegetables to the mix can add a burst of nutrients and fiber to the meal.
Jerky - we have substituted the Sunflower Mince for jerky in this recipe with some success, however we also needed to add a little flour to replace the thickening properties of the Sunflower Mince.
Flat breads - If you want to reduce the cooking time and make this a one pot meal consider using these as your carbohydrate.
Hot sauce - This is helpful if you have people in your team that have differing preferences in spice. Those that want a little more heat in their dish can always add a dash or two of hot sauce to get a bigger kick.
Cooking equipment
This is a two pot meal, one for the rice and one for the sauce.
Camping stove - something that has a controllable heat is preferable. Although possible over a spirit burner it is a bit more of a challenge to not weld food to the bottom. This meal is easy enough to do over an open fire.
2x Saucepans with lids - One big enough to cook the amount of carbohydrate that you need and the second of a suitable size for the sauce. For our Primus pot set the large pot is for the carbohydrate and the smaller one is for the sauce.
Mixing spoon - we tend to use a large wooden spoon.
Knife - almost anything that has an edge on will do.
Cutting surface - something that can be cut onto without damaging you or your knife blade.
Method
The hardest part of this meal is making sure it is cooked without welding any part of it to the bottom of either of the pans.
In one pan cook your carbohydrate of choice (be that powdered mash potato, rice, pasta, or whatever else you think will pair well with the chili). Set to one side. A pan of carbohydrate will only cool a little in the time it takes to cook this quick chili.
Finely dice the onion and carrot. If using dehydrated or freeze-dried then rehydrate with a little water and drain off any excess water.
In the second pan add the oil and fry off the onions and carrot until soft.
Add the spices (chili and cumin) and fry for a few seconds to help release the flavours.
Add in the Sunflower Mince and mix around.
Add enough water to the pan to cover the mixture. The Sunflower Mince soaks up a surprising amount of water. It is at this point if we have any additional beans or vegetables we tend to add them.
Crumble the stock cube into the pan and mix through thoroughly.
Once the Sunflower Mince has softened, slowly sprinkle in the powdered soup while stirring continuously. Dumping it all in at once causes stubborn clumps. You may need a splash of extra water here, but add it with caution as too much liquid will leave you with a watery chili or force you to spend extra precious fuel boiling it down.
With the sauce and carbohydrate cooked, combine and enjoy.
Trail tips
Cooking rice well on a camp stove or over a fire is a skill. The first part is making sure that you stir it well enough to ensure that any hot spots in the bottom of the pan does not result in a solid burnt patch of rice. This results in the whole pan tasting of burnt rice, and we have unfortunately had more than a couple of rice based dinners on expeditions where one of the team has not been paying attention, resulting in a solid burnt patch that means the burnt flavor dominates the whole dish. Even writing this brings back those visceral experiences of just having to get the disgusting burnt flavored food down because we needed the calories and could not afford to waste the food. Lesson learned: keep stirring!
It is surprising how long a pan of rice can stay warm once it is cooked. Even in sub zero conditions in winter we have managed to make this meal on a single burner stove. By cooking the rice first and letting it stand in the pan while we quickly knocked the sauce together.
