[Backpacking Food] Cuban Rice and Beans

While I have some favorite backpacking recipes that I return to year after year, this past summer was the first time we had ever tried this one!  It was delicious and we have affectionately named it Cuban Surprise!
Fair warning, this is probably the fanciest thing we have ever made on a backpacking trip!

For this recipe, we used:
-Cuban style parboiled rice and beans
-water
-olive oil
-spices
-leeks
-lime
-avocado
-blue corn chips
-canned salmon and mackerel

A lot of these ingredients are pretty optional, it just depends on what you like.

Follow the directions for cooking your rice and beans.  To measure how much water you will need, pour your rice and beans into a cup or whatever you have on hand and make a note of how full the container is.  Pour the rice and beans into a different container and set it aside, then use the cup they were in to measure how much water you will need.

Cut your leeks into slivers.  We happened to have a wooden bowl that worked well as a cutting board and made us feel fancy.  Pour about two table spoons of olive oil in the pot you are going to cook everything in and put it on your camp stove.  Save some of the leeks out to garnish at the end and put the rest of them in the pan with the oil.  Cook them for a few minutes until they are soft, then add the rice and beans.  Stir thoroughly and make sure the rice, beans, leeks and oil are all combined evening.  Cook this mixture for about 3 minutes, making sure to stir constantly so you don't burn it.

Remember that water you measured out?  Add that now and bring to a boil.  Stir in the spices you want to use.  We used the spice packets that came with our beans and rice.  Let it cook until the rice is done.  Since it's parboiled, it shouldn't take as long as raw rice.

We topped our rice and beans with two different kinds of canned fish (salmon and mackerel), the rest of the leeks, lime juice, avocado and crumbled blue corn chips for some crunch!
Eat your fancy, delicious dinner and enjoy the sunset!