This was our first dry meal we made ourselves and definitely still our favorite due to its great flavor, ease of prep and fast rehydration, and strong nutritional profile with tons of protein for plenty of energy on longer trips. The origin of this one was when our favorite off-the-shelf dry meal (Pad Thai from Backpacker's Pantry) dramatically increased their pricing at REI and removed ~20% of the calories and ~50% of the protein by removing the textured vegetable protein. We were so frustrated that it finally convinced us to try to make the meal ourselves! We think this version is a material improvement and you can easily change the ingredient mix around to suit your group's palate and portion size.

To assemble, just mix all of the ingredients except for the noodles, curry paste, and garnishes together in your container and toss to combine. This mix is dried and will last as long as you need it to. The only ingredient that will spoil is the curry paste so we add that right before we head out camping. In any case it's heavily preserved in its can so as long as you're not in a very hot climate on a very long trip you should be fine for at least a few days. We leave the noodles on top or separately in case we want to soak them in advance to accelerate the cooking process.

We go very heavy on the textured vegetable protein (TVP) for the added protein. It has no taste but will make the texture a bit less authentic, so decide for yourself what the right balance is or emit entirely if you prefer. Other choices would be more coconut milk powder or peanut butter powder for a creamier taste and more curry paste for more spice. We generally prefer our food quite salty, so feel free to dial-back on the "chicken" powder which is an American-Chinese staple for savory broths and basically consists of salt and MSG. You can easily substitute with salt or emit if you don't have it handy.

The cooking process itselfis very straightforward. Just add boiling water to an insulated container and wait until the noodles reach your desired consistency and stir, typically about 15 minutes. Then top with the peanuts and eat! One of our (in Dan's opinion) silliest splurges was a titanium sealing canister which when combined with a koozie lets us actually throw the meal in our bag and keep hiking while the hot water does its magic. You can even boil water directly in it to save some weight as well, although anything too solid will burn. We previously washed out and reused old dry meal bags as another option or you could just bring any other plastic or metal sealing jar or pot.

For hardier noodles, we recommend either adding them while you boil your water or soaking at the camp site to save a little time and maintain maximum heat in cold climates.