Dehydrating (and Rehydrating) Asian Vegetables

I'm thinking of trying a new recipe: chicken teriyake stir-fry with some Asian vegetables, served over rice noodles. My question is this: has anyone here tried dehydrating (and then rehydrating) bamboo shoots? What about edamame (soy beans)? I figure things like water chestnuts and bean sprouts are pointless, since they're almost all water to begin with and will probably shrivel up to nothing. Any other ideas of vegetables I could dehydrate for an Asian stir-fry? Would bok choi (Chinese cabbage) work? What about those little baby ears of corn? Thanks in advance for the help.

I have dehydrated most of them <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Just use cooked versions, and cut small dices of everything for best results!

If you want to know what millions of dollars of research have found about dehydrating asian veggies, buy some noodle bowls from the supermarket. You won't find bean sprouts (they rehydrate into limp, stringy things), cabbage (bok choy) loses its crunch, and broccoli becomes mushy. What works? Tofu, carrots, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, mushrooms, baby corn and lotus roots. Note that some have to be FREEZE-DRIED, like tofu and water chestnuts. Dehydrating tofu leads to something akin to a tofu-colored piece of rubber.

Your recipe sounds intriguing. I'd just skip the elements that don't hydrate well. It's trail food after all.

Haiwee-

You are looking at a higher quality result than I might be aiming to produce, but I've been pretty happy with dehydrating bags of "asian/oriental" frozen vegetable combinations.

Here is how I've done this: Open a bag of frozen mixed asian veggies and dump on a dinner plate, Sprinkle with garlic, ginger, and soy sauce, plus maybe some Splenda. I go by look and smell, usually, but about 1/2-1 teaspoon of each. Then I microwave the veggies until cooked, and taste when slightly cooled. I want the spices to be a little on the strong side so that the rehydrated veggies can flavor the entire meal. Next, dehydrate the veggies. Most of the bags are labelled at 5 servings, so I divvy the dehydrated veggies into 4-5 bags and add broken up ramen or instant rice, some extra dehydrated shredded (regular green) cabbage, and dehydrated shrimp, surimi, or ground turkey/beef. This concoction can be eaten cold after some soaking or hot if boiling water is added.

Regards,

CamperMom

I just cook the whole meal, perhaps to the texture of almost cooked, then dehydrate the whole works, keeping the chunks small and even smaller with fish and chicken. When rehydrating, I put a cup or two of water into the supper ziplock at the last water stop before the camp spot you're aiming for. Usually, that means emptying out one water jug of the last half litre....not a big addition to your carry.

When you get to camp, you need only warm the mixture in your pot. This does require a stove that simmers some, like a Coleman F1 Exponent. Only problem with this procedure is that you dirty your pot unless you find some means of boiling the stuff in a boil sack.