Dehydrated Lentil Salad
Cold Soak Meal for Backpacking
For over two months now, every day that I have been home, a dehydrator has been running nonstop in my kitchen.
My daughter is currently hiking the Continental Divide Trail.
And soon I will leave town to meet her somewhere in New Mexico to hike and camp with her for a couple of weeks on her grand adventure.
At some point after I made the decision to go, I decided I would make dehydrated camp meals for us like Kandace did for our Ouachita Trail Trek back in 2020.
Cut to me texting Kandace three days into this project:
I don’t think I thanked you enough for making all of our food for the Ouachita Trail.
I had NO IDEA HOW MUCH WORK IT WAS.
She reminded me that we went on our hike in the middle of a pandemic when we all had more free time.
But still!
It’s a lot of work.
And also the first used dehydrator I bought was a waste of space and did not work properly.
After three days of blowing slightly warm air around, I threw it out and bought another one.
This time I went in for a much more serious model. I had meals lined up and waiting their turn to fill up the 9-tray appliance when it arrived.
It takes up like half of my kitchen space and runs all day and all night.
Today it’s dehydrating a lentil salad that I remember enjoying mid-afternoon on the trail like half a decade ago.
A lot of the meals I am working on are dinners that will need hot boiling water to be rehydrated.
But this week I’m focused on some protein-powered lunches that can be reconstituted with cold water.
I used French speckled lentils for this salad because they hold their shape better than regular brown lentils.
The dressing is a lemony fresh thyme flavor.
I hope we like it because I have nine trays of it dehydrating at the moment, which wildly, is just 8 servings.
So on 4 different days, we will pour a half cup of water into little ziplock bags of dried out bits, and hopefully it will taste heavenly.
Or at the very least, I hope it will power us through the rest of the day’s miles.
I’m nervous about my ability to walk the long miles with a big backpack again. (I’m worried about the purple bruises that appear on my hips at night when I take the pack off.) But I’m also excited.
There’s nothing in the world like being out in the middle of nowhere, far away from civilization for days (weeks) at a time.
I wrote these words from Walt Whitman down in my journal this week:
Now I see the secret of the making of the best of persons,
It is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth.
It’s almost time for me to go eat and sleep with the earth again.
Wish me luck!
PS. Here’s the recipe for the Lemony Lentil Salad just in case you’re planning a backcountry adventure of your own.
Cold Soak Lentil Salad Recipe
Adapted from The Dehydrator Cookbook for Outdoor Adventures
by Julie Mosier
Ingredients:
4 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons rice vinegar, unseasoned
4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1 teaspoon agave, or ½ teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon fresh thyme
¾ teaspoon salt, divided
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1½ cups lentils, picked over and rinsed
3 celery stalks, cut into ½-inch dice
1 cup matchstick carrots
¼ cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
Directions
In a small bowl, combine the oil, vinegar, lemon juice, lemon zest, agave, thyme, ¼ teaspoon of salt, and the pepper. Mix thoroughly and set the dressing aside.
Put the lentils and the remaining ½ teaspoon of salt in a medium pot over medium-high heat. Cover the lentils with the water and bring the water to a boil. Partially cover the pot and reduce the heat to a gentle simmer. If needed, add another cup of water while the lentils are cooking. Cook the lentils for 25 to 30 minutes or until they are soft but not mushy. Drain the lentils, rinse them in cold water, and set them aside to cool.
When the lentils are cool, transfer them to a large bowl with the celery, carrots, and parsley. Place all the vegetables in a large bowl.
Add the dressing to the vegetables and mix well to combine.
Dehydrate
Spread the salad out evenly on the dehydrator trays fitted with sheets of parchment.
Place the trays in the dehydrator. Set the dehydrator to 135°F and turn it on. If your dehydrator has a built-in timer, set it for 6 hours.
At the 6-hour mark, check the vegetables. They should be firm and should not feel moist. If necessary, continue to dry the salad for another 4-6 hours.
Measure the total amount of salad, divide it into four portions, and place each portion in a zip-sealed bag. Label and date the bags. Store for up to 1 year.
To Rehydrate, add a scant ½ cup of cool water to the bag. Mix it well, cover, and let it sit for 15 to 20 minutes. Stir the salad again before eating.
Enjoy!
