Cashew Chicken with Yogurt

So a few years ago, Max's mom discovered that you can dehydrate yogurt!! for dinner like curries and things like that. It works amazingly well. A quart of yogurt dehydrates down to about a half cup or so of powder and is the perfect complement to spicy foods, serving the important role of breaking up food monotony on the trail. It tastes a lot tangier than it does when fresh, so it's better for adding to dinners than eating straight for breakfast (at least I think). On a recent trip, I paired it with a Cashew Chicken dish that I made up and it was so good.

Cashew Chicken 
Serves 2

1 small butternut squash

1 cup cashews
1 onion
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 1-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled
1 tsp ground cloves
1 TB ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 TB cumin
2 TB coconut oil
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 cup water

3 stalks celery, diced
2 large carrots, diced
1 lb ground chicken

1/2 bag frozen peas
1/2 bag frozen spinach
juice of 1 lime

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Cut squash in half, remove seeds, and place face down on oiled baking tray. Roast about 45 minutes, or until soft.

In a food processor, grind the onions, garlic, ginger, and cashews into a paste.
In a saute pan over medium-high heat, add the coconut oil and cashew paste. Cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring, until it turns golden brown.
Add the cinnamon, cumin, cloves, and coriander, and stir until well combined.
Stir in coconut milk and water and season with salt and pepper to taste.

In a deep pot, heat more coconut oil over medium heat. Add celery and carrots and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add ground chicken and cook until meat is cooked through, stirring and breaking up chunks often.

When squash is done roasting, let it sit until it's cool enough to handle, then scrape out the flesh. Add squash, cashew paste, frozen peas, frozen spinach, and juice of the lime to the chicken pot. Stir to combine. 

Let cool about 20 minutes, then spread on dehydrator trays covered in parchment paper and dehydrate 8-12 hours at 150 F, checking several times during this process to break up clumps and turn over. More dehydrating directions found here. 

Dehydrated Yogurt
Makes enough for 2 dinners for 2 people

1 quart grass-fed yogurt

Spread yogurt with the back of a spatula on parchment paper-lined dehydrator trays. Dehydrate at low temperature (or use yogurt setting if your dehydrator has one) for 6-8 hours. 
Once dry, use a food processor or spice grinder to grind flakes into a powder (rehydrates better if smaller).

To rehydrate - put powder in a ziplock or bowl and just cover with water. Start with less water because you can always add more. If rehydrating in a ziplock, you can just squish the bag until it starts to rehydrate (kind of takes a while). If doing it in a bowl, use a spoon to mix well.