Wandering about in space and time.
Sushi is so easy to make, and once you have given it a go, it is a quick meal to knock together.
Sushi is a long and difficult word to spell, that is all I have to say in my confused defence!
Make and enjoy this, the ultimate store cupboard dish for two hungry campers.
Grab a packet of tortilla wraps. Any size will do, but they must sit flat in the bottom of your cast iron pan and under your saucepan lid, ideally.
Before you strike a match, prepare all vegetables, including your salad.
Gather all the tools and pans you will need.
*1T Oil
*1 Tin of tomatoes
*1T tomato puree
*1T herbs – any Italian
*1 finely chopped onion
*1 grated garlic clove
1. Put oil in the saucepan and heat gently
2. Add all the other ingredients and simmer for 2 – 5 minutes without a lid. The more finely that things are chopped, the faster they will cook and the smoother the look. At home? Whizz it.
3. Once reduced a little, mash with a spud masher, turn off the and allow to cool.
*3 or 4 types of thinly sliced, quick cook/Mediterranean vegetables; have what you fancy.
*Cheese – sliced or broken Mozzarella, goats. Grated cheddar, parmigiana, smoked; as much or little of the one/s you like.
*Fish or meat – ready or quick cook is best
*Fun bits – Herbs, freshly squeezed lemon juice, chilli flakes, pepper. Scatter all over each pizza just before popping it on the heat.
1. Put the lid on your cast iron pan and heat gently until you think it’s medium hot.
2. Build your first pizza. Do not over pile with stuff, as the bottom will overcook before the topping has fully warmed. Less is more with these little critters.
3. Place the built pizza into your pre-heated, cast iron pan and cover with the smallest lid you have. You have now made a tiny oven. You can place a folded tea towel on top of the lid to help conserve the heat.
4. Build the next pizza while the first one cooks.
4. Give your first pizza a few minutes and then check and adjust the heat to get a perfect finish; crispy, brown bottom and hot, gooey top. You know they are cooked when the cheese has melted.
5. You will now have a production line.
Plain English – lettuce, Cucumber, Tomato
Moroccan – Finely diced tomato, red onion, cucumber
Tropical – Vegetables; a little of what you fancy, plus fresh and/or dried fruit, diced in, apple, orange, mango, pear …. one type of fruit or a mixture.
Tropical nut – As the ‘Tropical Salad’ but with added diced nuts and seeds ….. any combo works.
There wasn’t a lot of choice in Morocco for a hungry vegetarian, or so it seemed. Generally we could have a Vegetable Tagine, or nothing, apart that is for a good range of meat and fish dishes, usually served as tagines.
If that sounds a bit dull, it was not, as every Vegetable Tagine was different. The vegetables are those that are available locally on the day and the sauce is what ever the cook decides to use; meat stock, fish stock, vegetable stock, who knows! I expect this is why Wally’s is similar to the ones we ate; but not the same.
*A pint of hot, thin stock, do not worry about the colour, but it must have a good flavour.
*A selection of vegetables cut into 1” by about 5” strips. Choose for colour and flavour. Prepare enough to make one or two layers in your pan, depending on it’s depth and your hunger.
* 2 Tomatoes, part of a red onion, 2ins of cucumber, to make a Moroccan salad.
* A small loaf of bread.
1. Place the vegetable into your cast iron pan so that they radiate from the centre, like the spokes of a wheel, or panels in an umbrella. Arrange the colours so that it looks pretty.
2. Pour over the Stock
3. Put on a lid and simmer until the vegetables are cooked to a meltingly soft state.
4. The stock should go thick and sticky on the bottom. If it gets too thick before the vegetables are done, add a little hot water. If the stock is thin and runny when the vegetables have cooked through, take off the lid and let it simmer away until ready.
*Make your couscous. *Make a Moroccan salad. *Put the bread and knife on a cutting board.
1. 2 or 3 Tomatoes
2. 2” or 3” cucumber
3 . 5” cube of red onion – more if you love it
4. Fresh parsley, coriander or mint
5. Curry powder (optional)
Dice the vegetables and herbs finely
Toss together in a bowl
Sprinkle over the curry powder
Serve the meal with bread to dunk and mop.
There are one or two things that happen in most meals, so let’s store them here, where we can all find them! That way I wont have to bore you and me with longish repeats.
Basic Kit
In a camper you’ll generally have a small under counter cupboard, am I right? This will mean that every pot, pan and kettle will be crammed in there when travelling, so make every item count. No shirkers on this ride.
Your Basic Pan Kit: could be, a wok with lid, a cast iron pan (la Creuset is best dwarlinks- posh shops and charity shops are the places to hunt them down), a large lidded saucepan, a little lidded saucepan, a large chefs lid, a metal rack (from a bbq kit/cooling rack etc) and an electric kettle (wild camper? Hob top kettle).
Your Basic Cutlery Kit: 1 teaspoon, 1 tablespoon, 1 cup or mug (your drinkng mug will do), 1 large sharp knife, 1 small sharp knife, a couple of thin plastic chopping boards, a flat fine grater, large stirring and serving spoon, a good metal fish slice, a spud masher, a pair of scissors. With these things you and your camper van can take on the world.
Your Fancy Kit – made from your basic pan kit above
Wallys Pan-Oven: use your cast iron pan, your grill rack and the wok lid. You can also pop a couple of folded tea towels on top of the lid as insulation.
Heat the ‘oven’ on a high heat. When the pan is good and hot, turn down the flame and you’re ready to bake.
Griddle Baking: miss out the rack and wok lid from the Pan-Oven and plop your bakes straight onto the pan’s surface. Use a lid that will sit in the BOTTOM of the pan without squashing your creations. This method suits thin food; pizzas, flat breads etc. You need to watch them like a hungry hawk, as this is a good way to cremate the one you love. And we don’t want that, do we?
The 3 Food Skills
As we’re trying to use as little gas as possible, it makes sense to do all prep before you strike that match. It’s not always easy to find space to lay out all that food, but you’ll find a way!
Skill number 1: get everything ready, chop food, put pans in place on the stove, and all other ingredients laid out ready to start. Add cooking cutlery and matches and you’re good to go.
Skill number 2: rather than opting for the usual rice, pasta and potatoes, try something new, healthy and hob free such as :-
Bulgur Wheat or Cous cous – both come in whole grain versions, should you fancy having a healthy gut biome (google it, we haven’t gone nuts … yet) and are ‘cooked’ in the same way as each other; half the learning, twice the food options.
Skill number 3: One Pot Wonders – are often based on a good carbohydrate, this one needs very little cooking, which is why it’s made the cut.
Small Red Lentils – a staple food in many countries, this is a chameleon in terms of colour and flavour, it all depends on what you do with it. Red lentils cook more quickly than other lentils. Additional ingredients will vary according to what’s on the menu! These are the lentils that lentil haters hate to admit they like!
There’s a problem with camper buses and a lot of motor homes, let alone back packing with just a burner for your hot meal needs; fuel. We never gave this a thought as mountain walkers and backpackers. In those days it seemed natural to carry a tiny cooker, a couple of pots and a few simple recipe ideas and ingredients. But, later, when we were looking for a motorhome, a HOME on wheels, it was obvious an oven was a necessity, until a salesman said something that was game changing, he said, “You don’t need an oven, you need to change the way you cook.” Suddenly, selecting the a motor home based on it’s kitchen kit became an irrelevance. We had been set the challenge of cooking on only a hob: and we loved it.
All of our ‘cooking’ posts are meals that are very quick to make and can be adapted by you for the kinds of food you eat. From baking to sushi, after the preparation of the ingredients, you can make these meals inside 15 minutes cooking, plus the boiling of about 2.5 cups of water (with hook up and an electric kettle, this is effectively free).
There are a few rules that we follow:
Abbreviations:
t = teaspoon
T = tablespoon
c = cup
.5c = half a cup
Here you will find – please give us time to post them – pizza, wraps, pies, breads, hearty soups, stir fries, pasta, noodles, sushi and so on and on and on ………
Not a traveller? Maybe this will save you time and money at home!
Weird ideas/substitutions? Yes, maybe, but taste any food about 10 times and you’ll get to like it!
Travel is about discovering things that are new to us. If you discover a quick way of feeding yourself on the road, let us know. We love to gather in ideas and we try to share as much as we can to our wider community. We will always credit you if you give us a great idea.
Here’s to The Fun Of Cooking On The Run.
The Wandering Wallys 