Okay, I know that pre-packaged food is basically marketed as the devil in our Facebook feeds and in the media in general. That's fair, processed foods can contain very shitty things like:
And the list goes on....
But the reality is, schedules get crazy, life gets busy, kids need to get to soccer practice and there are times where planning your meal, getting to the grocery store and preparing said nutritious meal is just not in the cards.
For those times, ready-to-eat products are just, you know, EASIER! As long as it is on a rare occasion, it's not going to kill you.
So with all that said, I came across these pre-packaged Indian sauces at the grocery store in the ethnic aisle. They were only $1.89 CDN and all that is involved is heating up the sauce and serving it over either rice or Naan bread. I loves me some Indian food and was skeptical that this sauce would live up to any expectations I had. However for those busy times, these might be an option.
I tried the Paneer Butter Masala that promised "tender chunks of cottage cheese or paneer cooked in rich butter just the way the North Indians like it". Okie dokie....
Serves 2
So here is what I thought:
Instructions were simple, heat up the sauce in either the microwave or by placing the sauce packet for 5 mins in boiling water. As I just moved and am currently without a microwave, I did the boil in water option.
Also, I made some quinoa to serve with it which takes about 20 mins to make.
I boiled the water and immersed the space-travel type package of the sauce for 5 mins in the water.
I chopped up a couple of plum tomatoes to add some freshness to the Masala and placed these on top of the sauce and quinoa.
The verdict.......
I was pleasantly surprised! The sauce had a lot of flavor, the paneer wasn't mushy, and it tasted unexpectedly fresh. In looking at the packaging, there are no preservatives and the ingredients were ones I could pronounce so there isn't a lot of garbage in this product. All this really is, is a freshly made sauce, vacuum sealed and re-heated.
I was pleasantly surprised! The sauce had a lot of flavor, the paneer wasn't mushy, and it tasted unexpectedly fresh. In looking at the packaging, there are no preservatives and the ingredients were ones I could pronounce so there isn't a lot of garbage in this product. All this really is, is a freshly made sauce, vacuum sealed and re-heated.
So would I buy this again? Yes, I would!
It's easy
It tastes good (if you like Indian food)
It's inexpensive and...
It's preservative free
If were to use a star rating system (why the hell not), I would give it a 4 out of 5 as the sauce is fairly simple and doesn't have all of the complexity of a "real" Indian dish but it was still very good, VERY easy and you can't beat that price.
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