India from the Microwave

Yesterday's weather was the type of gloomy winter weather - cold, unending rain - that makes one not want to leave the house. Instead of ordering delivery, we decided to make dinner out of the growing stack of Indian convenience meals in our pantry. Unfortunately, since we've been pretty bad about keeping track of the pantry, most of what we had was past its best by date, but we hoped that they would still be tasty (or, at the very least, edible).

The one thing we made that hadn't yet passed its best by date (although the date was coming up at the end of this month) was this box of Punjab eggplant that we got from Trader Joe's. On the box it was described as "braised eggplant cooked in a distinctively flavored sauce." The phrase "distinctively flavored" doesn't really clue you in to what this would taste like, but the back of the box says that Punjab eggplant is a traditional recipe that should have a barbecue or smoky flavor from grilling the eggplant over open flames before combining it with spices. We've had stuff like this from Indian restaurants before, which was part of the reason I picked it.

The other reason I chose it was because I could recognize all the ingredients - eggplant, tomatoes, onions, sunflower oil, pumpkin, garlic, salt, coriander, chilies, cumin, ginger, turmeric, and cloves. All natural, all things I could buy if I wanted to make this from scratch. It was a great feeling being able to read a box and know everything in it. It was also super easy to make - empty the contents into a microwave safe bowl, cover it (I didn't do that and it went all over the microwave; don't follow my example), and microwave on high for 2 minutes.

We really liked this eggplant dish. It didn't really taste very smoky, at least not like smoky grilled eggplant we've had in the past, but it had a nice flavor overall. You could definitely tell that it was made of "whole foods" as there were bits of eggplant and onion and tomato that were easily recognizable. It's not spicy, if that's a concern to anyone, but the spices used were very balanced. We would get this again.

The second dish we tried was gongura dal ("tempting sorrel leaves lentils") made by Kohinoor that we had bought on a whim from a South Asian grocery store last May. I neglected to check the best by date while we were in the store (I was mostly consumed by a search for asafoetida), and didn't realize until a couple of weeks or months ago that the best by date was back in July. Usually when you buy these types of sealed convenience packages, they give you more than 2 months to make them, so I was really surprised. But that date was less than 6 months ago, so I figured that, while it might not be as fresh as it would have been earlier, it shouldn't be too bad. I was mostly interested in this one because I don't think I've ever had sorrel leaves before and I love trying new flavors. A has had Caribbean sorrel leaves drinks before, so he's much more familiar with the flavor than I am.

The Kohinoor brand advertised itself as providing "healthy authentic Indian delicacies" because they used olive oil instead of ghee or butter. I was excited for that, but when I opened the package, it seemed a little watery to me. I couldn't imagine that using olive oil would be the cause of that, but hoped that maybe it would thicken up when microwaving. After all, the ingredient list - water, pigeon pea, spinach paste, olive oil, salt, chopped green chili, chopped onion, chopped garlic, mustard seed, cumin seed, red chili powder, turmeric, sambhar powder, tamarind paste, whole red chili, lemon powder, cumin powder, gongura leaves, and maize starch - seemed like it should have some sort of body and texture and not just be colored water, as it appeared to be when I poured it into the bowl.

Nope. It was almost completely liquid when it went in, and it wasn't any better once it was microwaved for 2 minutes. The box said this was supposed to be "yellow lentils flavored with tamarind and Indian spices" but we saw no lentils. Even if this was 6 months past its best by date, the lentils shouldn't have disintegrated into water in 6 months. I have a hard time believing this would have been any better 6 months ago. We decided to try it anyway even though we were suspicious about the texture and the consistency, and it didn't taste good to either of us so we poured it down the sink. It was so liquidy that it went straight down the drain with nothing left behind. And it's not like gongura dal is supposed to be that watery. I looked up pics and recipes after dinner, and it was nothing like this yellow oily water. Oh well. That was a waste of $2.

The last package (which we ended up making 2 of, thanks to the sorrel leaves disaster) was Tasty Bite channa masala. We buy this on and off at Costco but it always ends up in the back of the pantry and we forget to make it, although we do enjoy it. The best by date on these was back in December 2013, and while we know they taste better when fresher, they were still pretty tasty and way better than that gongura dal water.

The channa masala was chickpeas that had been slow-simmered with onions, tomatoes, and traditional Indian spices. Similar to the Trader Joe's one, the ingredient list here reads like a list of whole foods - onions, water, chickpeas, tomatoes, sunflower oil, coriander, salt, spices, chilies, bay leaf, and turmeric. The chickpeas had a nice texture, even a year after we should have eaten them, and the spices were good. Also, one of the best parts of the Tasty Bite pouches is that you can stick them in the microwave without even having to get a microwave safe bowl. You cook it right in the pouch for 90 seconds and they're done. 

Overall, dinner was pretty good, at least our dinner of chickpeas and eggplant. It's nice having these packages in the pantry for days when we need a quick and nutritious meal that has lots of flavor and that also feels like you're eating "real food." We don't have too many left, so we'll probably need to stock up soon, but first I'm going to check to make sure we haven't missed any more in the back of the closet!