Aloo Mattar is a simple Indian dish that works great as a backpacking food as all of its ingredients are available dried or freeze dried. The sauce usually comes from just the juice from the tomatoes, but in this version I added coconut milk to make it a little creamy. You could use powdered whole milk instead or go more traditional with just the tomato sauce. With just the tomato you might want to double the tomato powder. I used a pan without a lid to make this recipe and it came out with a little less sauce than I would like. If you have pan with a lid, use it in between adding ingredients to keep the liquid from boiling off. (With the exception that you want the water to boil off the first time you add water to the potatoes.) Otherwise you may want to add an additional 1/2 cup of water or so, to replace the liquid that boils off. I also experimented with adding dried tofu to this dish, which was definitely an interesting experience, as you'll see below.
1/2 cup Freeze Dried Peas
1 cup Dehydrated Potato Dices or Hash-Browns
3/4 cup Freeze Dried Tomato Chunks
2 1/4 cup Water
3 Tb Coconut Milk Powder
1 Tb Olive Olil
1/2 tsp Chile Powder (amount variable to your spice preference)
1/2 tsp Tomato Powder
1/2 tsp Garam Masala
1 1/2 tsp Yellow Curry Powder
Salt to taste
2 slices Dried Tofu (optional, see below)
1/2 cup Water (optional, to rehydrate tofu)
The first thing you will want to do is to put the peas in a bowl and pour a 1/2 cup of water over them. Set them aside for later. They take 10-20 minutes to rehydrate.
Add the olive oil to the pan and heat on medium heat. Add the potatoes when the oil is hot.
Cook the potatoes until they begin to brown and turn translucent. They will also begin to give off a good fragrance.
Add a 1/2 cup of water to the pan. Let the water steam up out of the pan as it cooks into the potatoes.
After the water has cooked out, let the potatoes brown a little more. Stir occasionally so they don't burn.
Mix 2 Tb of coconut milk powder with a 1/2 cup of water and add to the pan. If you have a lid begin covering the pan between adding ingredients and stirring to retain water.
After letting the coconut milk cook into the potatoes for a little while, add the peas with the water they where sitting in along with the freeze dried tomato chunks.
Once the tomatoes have become rehydrated add in the rest of the coconut milk powder, the chile powder, tomato powder and garam masala as well as 3/4 cup water.
Add in the curry powder and stir everything together. Let the dish simmer for several minutes to the let the flavors meld. At this point the Aloo Mattar is done. Salt to taste. Add more water if there if there is not enough sauce. More coconut milk powder for a richer sauce.
Or if you want to enter the experiential world of dried tofu, continue below...
This was my first time cooking and eating dried tofu. It is a little strange to say the least. Before buying some at a local Japanese grocery, I read an article that it was like eating a sponge. Like the kind you wash dishes with. I found this to be not far from the truth, though my experience of eating sponges is completely hypothetical.
Make sure you break the sponges of tofu into several pieces so that they can more easily absorb sauce from the dish. They absorb a lot of water. I added 1/2 a cup more water at this point and this was still lacking. Some of the pieces had a little crunch in the middle. (When I reheated the dish's leftovers I added more water which brought the sponges to there full capacity.) After letting the tofu soak up the sauce and warm up, the dish is ready to eat.
Was it good? Well, the Aloo Mattar was delicious. Was the tofu good? It was definitely interesting. And I must admit the experience of eating it did grow on me. Its worth a try if you like to try new things. And, it is a good source of protein.
Next time I'll try rehydrating the tofu separately in its own sauce and then frying it in oil. (Update: I tried this in my in my next post on Pad Thai. It turned out really good. If you want tofu for your Aloo Mattar I would soak the tofu in a little coconut tomato sauce and then follow the cooking directions on the Pad Thai page.)
Makes 3 servings. (With the tofu.) Enjoy!
Another option to try instead of tofu is cheese. Cheese works great in the back country, especially in cooler weather. Just add little cubes of a white cheese near the end. Let them warm up, but not melt too much. If you happen to bring queso fresco with you, it is a perfect substitute for Indian paneer.
