No pre-trip prep is required for this simple ingredient combination

Camping food is often associated with being quick, easy, and bland. It doesn’t have to be though if you add Coconut Curry and Rice Noodles to your backcountry cooking repertoire.

“The preparation to reward ratio is high on this simple recipe,” says Sydney Badger, from Taste + Balance who hosted a food workshop with Power To Be staff to help redefine our camping menus. “You get to have this really fresh, bright flavour while you are camping, and you can really experience cooking in the wilderness.

The key success on this meal is packing a decent knife and a cutting board surface. This meal is best suited for an overnight hiking trip, car camping or a longer boating adventure where you can distribute the weight a little as it calls for fresh veggies and a few cans of coconut milk.

Her tips? “You have to sauté the curry paste and be mindful of buying a quality paste. It is also really good over noodles rather than rice. Noodles are way easier to cook using a camp stove!”

Setup and equipment
  • Large pot
  • Wooden spoon
  • Cutting board
  • Knife
  • Can opener
  • Tasting spoon
Ingredients
  • Red or green curry paste, 4 tbsp
  • Coconut milk, 3 cans
  • Zucchini, 2
  • Yellow and red peppers, 1 each
  • Japanese eggplant, 1 (if none available add another zucchini)
  • Mushrooms, ½ a brown bag
  • Lime, 1
  • Pad Thai size rice noodles, 1 package
  • Easy Protein Options: Canned chick peas or diced tofu.
  • Oil (vegetable, coconut or olive), 2-4 tbsp
  • Salt and pepper, to taste

Recipe

  1. Chop everything in advance! This meal happens quickly. Have the ingredients ready to use (including opening the coconut milk).
  2. Q: “How big do I cut the veggies?” A: It doesn’t matter, as long as you cut them roughly the same size! Mushrooms are great just in half – use that size as a guide.
  3. Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in your pot and add the curry paste.
  4. Smash and stir the paste around (don’t let it sit, it will burn), until it smells incredible. This takes about two minutes.
  5. Add coconut milk and stir. Bring to simmer. You now have a curry broth!
  6. Add all the veggies and optional protein.
  7. Add salt and pepper.
  8. When the veggies are cooked, it’s done!
  9. Adjust flavour (perhaps add more salt, pepper or hot sauce), and finish with the zest (if possible) and juice of a lime.