Spanish Rice and Beans

Ingredients (Serves 2 People):

• 1-1/4 cups cooked & dehydrated Spanish rice. Cooking and dehydrating instructions below. Ingredients for a large batch of Spanish rice are:
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1.5 cups Basmati rice
  • 1 cups tomato sauce
  • 2 Tbsp dried parsley
  • 2.5 cups water
  • 2.5 tsp vegetable bouillon
• 1/3 + 1/4 cups dehydrated pinto beans
• 1/3 + 1/4 cups dehydrated mixed vegetables (broccoli, peppers, onions, and zucchini are all good options)
• 2.5 cups water to rehydrate

Before the Trail

Step 1: Cooking the Spanish rice.

1. With no or minimal oil, saute diced onion in a large nonstick or cast iron pan for about 3 minutes.
2. Add garlic. Saute for about 30 seconds.
3. Add uncooked rice. Fry mixture until rice turns slightly brown.
4. Add tomato sauce, parsley, water.
5. Transfer to a rice cooker if you have one and cook until done.
6. If you don’t have a rice cooker, bring to a boil, then cover and cook on low to medium heat for approximately 20 minutes

Step 2: Dehydrating

• Spread Spanish rice on dehydrator trays. Dehydrate at 135°F until it is hard (~5+ hours) breaking up clumps a couple of times.
• Spread canned or self-prepared refried beans on the fruit-roll sheets that came with your dehydrator, or use parchment paper. Dehydrate at 135°F until crispy (~8+ hours), flipping after about 5 hours.
• Cut fresh bell peppers into 1/2″ pieces. Cut fresh onions into 1″ square pieces. Slice mushrooms into 1/4″ slices. Chop broccoli into bite-size pieces. Cut fresh spicy peppers width-wise into thin circles. Slice zucchini into 1/4″ circles. Use frozen or alternate veggies if desired. Dehydrate veggies separately at 135°F until they are crispy (~8+ hours).

Step 3: Assembly

Combine all ingredients in a bag. Vacuum seal bag if not eating soon.

On the trail

Put all ingredients in pot with water and cover. Soak for 5 minutes. Bring to a boil, and boil for 1 minute. Soak for 10 more minutes. Enjoy!

Tips

• This recipe can also be cold soaked on the trail.
• Do not vacuum seal bags completely to prevent pointy dehydrated veggies and rice from puncturing the bags. They will also fit better in your resupply boxes, backpack, and bear box if they are still somewhat flexible.

Photos:

Making the rice:

Before the trail preparation:

On the trail: