Wild Mushrooms and Noodles Trail Soup
Me and my husband are keen hikers. We love nothing more than packing our bags on a Friday evening, heading into the Icelandic wilderness. It usually isn't very warm during the summer, with temperatures around 10 degrees Celsius on a "hot" summer evening (that's 50 degrees Fahrenheit). So packing something to make a hot meal on location is essential. When you are tired, cold and hungry, the best cure is to prepare a simple and easy meal such as this one. This meal is actually so good that I wouldn't mind eating it in a restaurant, although sitting by a small creak, with excellent mountain views, eating a bowl full of lovely, warm noodles is preferred to any fancy restaurant. Life almost can't get better than that! This meal is vegan although if you are a meat lover, you might pack some dried meat to add to the soup for a more substantial meal. Just make sure you buy organic soup, without sugar, gluten or yeast.
Just to toot my horn a little...I submitted this recipe to an online recipe competition for Alpkit (outdoors store) and won! I had made a three course meal using just one pot which was a real challenge and this was the "main course". I was very proud since there were more than 100 entries. Indeed this is my favourite meal in the mountains.
A filling yet light meal full of complex carbohydrates and energy.
This recipe is:
- Egg free
- Gluten free
- Lactose (dairy) free
- Nut free
- Vegan
Wild Mushrooms and Noodles Trail Soup
Ingredients
- 2 packs mushroom soup (bought from a health food store) to make 1 litre (34 fluid oz) of soup
- 1 litre (34 fluid oz) cold water
- 10 grams (¼ oz) dried, wild mushrooms, chopped into small pieces
- 100-150 grams (3½-5¼ oz) brown rice noodles (or any noodles you like)
- Pinch salt and pepper
- Pinch dried parsley
Preparation
- Before you head out into the wilderness, combine the soup ingredients into a plastic bag or box: ingredients of 2 packs organic mushroom soup, dried mushrooms (chopped) and pinch of salt and pepper. Add other herbs if desired.
- At your destination, stir the soup into the 1 litre cold water (or as directed on the packet) until it is completely smooth. Bring to a boil.
- Add the 100-150 grams rice noodles and cook for a couple of minutes.
- Serve immediately with roasted chapati bread or any other bread you might prefer.
Tips
- Make sure you have sufficient propane/fuel for the remainder of the trip.
- You can add whatever you wish into this soup base. You can add dried peppers, dried sweetcorn, dried and minced soy meat and more.
- You can also add more spices and even try to find some wild herbs if you are feeling adventurous. Just watch out for those poisonous mushrooms!
- You can also use whichever noodles you prefer like soba,- udon,- or egg noodles. I prefer rice noodles because they are light weight and take short time to cook (saving propane/fuel).
- If you have carnivores on your trip you can prepare the soup base and add slices of meat into the saucepan when the vegetarians have been served.
- Keep the lid on at all times when cooking outside since otherwise you will waste valuable propane/fuel.
- Keep the stove away from wind. If the wind is blowing (as it does continuously in Iceland) create a make shift shelter for the stove out of rocks, pieces of wood or whatever other materials you can find.