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Saucy Sundays: Brown Rice and Dehydrated Veggies (Broccoli, Carrots, Peas)

When we made this meal I wasn’t thinking about posting it here but later figured I should since it included some dehydrated vegetables, specifically broccoli (they might all be gone by now), carrots, and peas. These veggies, in particular, are included because that’s what I started dehydrating a few weeks back and will likely be the last of the veggies I dehydrate for a while now.

Anyway, the photo below is of leftovers being re-heated over the stove… I was feelign a bit too lazy to break out the alternative cooking options just yet. 😉

broccoli-dehydrated-veggies-1

It’s a simple matter of cooking the brown rice as normal and re-hydrating the vegetables. I know it’s hard to tell from the above but the vegetables did re-hydrate a bit, though, they never really do look like “normal” when done. FYI, here’s what the broccoli, carrots, and peas look like after being dehydrated and before being cooked:

broccoli-dehydrated-veggies-2

It always amazes me that the carrots shrivel up so much… and that the peas do not. 🙂

As for making the meal, we used 1.5 cups of brown rice which means you would normally use about 3 cups of water, bring to a boil, and simmer 50 minutes. Because we decided to add the vegetables right from the start, we ended up using about 5 cups of water and let it cook for at least another 20 minutes (maybe more) because the rice hadn’t fully cooked… guess the veggies interfered.

We also added some soy sauce to taste and that’s about it. You could certainly spice this meal up to your preferences and definitely add chicken or maybe beef too. Since my wife’s generally a vegetarian that means I am too and most ALL of our meals will be as such.

I think one day this sounds like a good meal to use with the wonderbox cooker! Going to have to try it.

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Damian Brindle

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Comments

6 responses to “Saucy Sundays: Brown Rice and Dehydrated Veggies (Broccoli, Carrots, Peas)”

  1. Brian

    I have been trying the dehydrating too with my Nesco.
    I suspect that we have both “overdried” the food, but I am not sure it is really over- because it lasts longer.
    I have found, at least for the carrots and broccoli that if you you ust cover them with tap hot water and let them soak for a few hours (about 8 hours gets close), they actually do rehydrate back to a close to normal and are very close when cooked. Of couse, when cooking rice, you should be using the water the veggies rehydrated in as it contains at least part of the vitamins from the veggies.

    Reply
    1. Damian Brindle

      Yes, it does take a while for them to rehydrate and cooking them speeds up the process. Good point on saving/using the water veggies were rehydrated in. Of course, if you just cook the vegetables in a soup then it works out great. As for your other point, I’m not sure it’s possible to “over-dry” the veggies. In fact, the drier the better when it comes to long term food storage, in my opinion.

      Reply
      1. Brian

        I agree, for storage, the drier should be better. I think that the over-dry really just refers to the time to rehydrate. For example, most sources say the carrots should be like “leather” while the picture, like mine, were clearly drier.

        Wet cooking such as soups, stews and curries, are likely fine. Since I was testing, I decided instead on a stir-fry over rice about 3 months after dehydrating. To tell the truth, the brocolli was not much different from the fresh, the carrots were slightly softer — but I think because I blanched them before dehydrating. I will try again in another couple of months to see how much change there is due to time.

        Reply
        1. Damian Brindle

          You’re supposed to blanch veggies before dehydrating but that takes too much effort and why I dehydrate frozen veggies these days… learned that trick from Dehydrate2Store.com if I remember right.

          Reply
          1. Brian

            I don’t normally blanch the fresh vegetables in my stir fry before they are put in. The blanching is necessary for the storage — and to get the water out of cripsy veggies — but I suspect that the dehydrated carrots end up a bit more cooked at the end of the stir fry that I usually would have cooked fresh carrots and hence softer.

            Peas and beans I have done via frozen, but the broccoli and carrots are less expensive bought “fresh” at Costco, at least here. However, you should get a mandoline with adjustable thicknesses for things like carrots and potatoes though — it makes a lot of difference in end result and mandolines are quite inexpensive. However, use caution as they are very sharp.

          2. Damian Brindle

            Yeah, I’ve used them before and darn near tried to take my fingertips off! I’ll stick with the frozen veggies for now. Thanks for the advice!

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