From Recipes

Laksa Noodle Soup

This is a lovely spicy soup with all the flavours of South East Asia, combined with easy to prepare rice noodles. The dried shrimps are best with a little pre-soaking but otherwise this is a simple and quick soup to make. You can use the selection of spices below or just buy one of those excellent Laksa Soup packets from the supermarket. The fresh spring onions make a nice garnish but you can use those dried fried onions or shallots which are available at most Asian food shops.

Serves 2

½ cup Rice noodles
¼ cup Dried shrimps
¼ cup Freeze Dried Beans
1 tablespoon Dried Onion
1 tablespoon Coconut milk powder
¼ teaspoon Ground Ginger
¼ teaspoon Ground Coriander
¼ teaspoon Red chilli
¼ teaspoon Curry paste
1 Chicken stock cube
Spring onion as garnish

Pour 1½ cups of warm water into a pot, add all the ingredients (except the rice noodles) and soak for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile pour 1½ cups of boiling water over the rice noodles and sit to one side.

While the noodles are soaking, slowly bring the soup mixture to a low boil and simmer for 5 minutes.

Combine soup and rice noodles (including water). Season to taste.

Mushroom and Pepper Stir Fry with Noodles

This is a very simple little stir fry meal from my Fast and Light cook book that serves 2 people and has a dry weight of only 185g, plus noodles. I have used thick egg (Hokkien) noodles, with some interesting background flavours and this makes a pleasant change from other standard pasta dishes. It is very quick and easy to prepare, using only one pot. You can mix and match the vegetables, using either fresh or dehydrated to suit your taste. If you use fresh vegetables, then stir fry them in the normal manner with a little cooking oil. The recipe below is for dehydrated vegetables. Use dried egg noodles if you want to keep the weight down.
Home made stir fry sauce: make up this sauce at home and store it in a small plastic screw top bottle. Combine 1 tablespoon of each of the following – clear honey, sweet soy sauce, oyster sauce and sweet chilli sauce, with 1 teaspoon of crushed ginger and crushed garlic. Otherwise just buy a small packet of stir fry sauce.

½ cup dried mushrooms (try porcine or shitake)
½ cup dehydrated green beans
¼ cup dehydrated red peppers
¼ cup dried onion
2 cups Hokkien or dried egg noodles
1 teaspoon cornflour

Soak all the dried vegetables in 2 cups of hot water for 15 minutes, add the noodles and then bring it all to a low boil for another 5 minutes or until the vegetables are soft.
Drain off any surplus liquid. Mix the cornflour into the sauce, then stir the sauce mixture into the vegetables and noodles. Warm it through gently again before serving into meal bowls.

Camp Oven Bacon and Sausage Risotto

This is an easy no fuss cooking option and has been a long time favourite over many camping trips. Normally we would use a frying pan or camp billy, but sometimes we are lucky enough to find a camp oven left behind in some of the older backcountry huts. These camp ovens are great for cooking risottos, as they retain the heat well and are unlikely to burn as quickly as lightweight cooking pots. Also they are great to use over an open fire.

Serves 2

¼ cup Arborio Rice
¼ cup Rissoni
4 strips of Streaky Bacon (chopped)
2 Kranski Sausages (chopped)
¼ cup dried vegetables (peas, beans, etc)
1 tablespoon cooking oil
1 tablespoon dried Tomatoes
1 tablespoon dried Onions
1 beef oxo cube

If you have the opportunity then add 1 cup of warm water to the dry vegetable mix and stand aside for 10 minutes to rehydrate. Otherwise just add them to the meal after the rice is added.

Heat the oil in a pot and cook the bacon until brown, before lightly cooking off the rice, rissoni and sausage for a minute or two.

Add the rehydrated vegetable mix to the rice pot and bring to a slow simmer. Add more warm water, a little at a time, as the rice absorbs the liquid.

Cook for about 15 to 20 minutes or until rice is tender and enjoy.