Trader Joe's Malabari Paratha

This is a new item; see Trader Joe's introduction to it here.

The directions are to heat it from frozen on the stove in a lightly oiled pan, adding a bit of browning. I did this, then served it topped with a mixture of Yellow Tadka Dal (which I said I wouldn't buy again, but then forgot) and some fake meat. The result wasn't one of my best culinary creations; it was all kind of dull-looking and dull-tasting.

The TJ's web page explains the difference between paratha and naan, but I sure wouldn't be able to tell which one I was eating if you put one of them in front of me, except perhaps by the spiral pattern on the paratha. Nina said that the paratha wasn't as puffy as they're supposed to be. I wouldn't know, having never ever heard of it before, let alone eaten it.


Will I buy it again? 

No. As a carb base for protein and veggies, I prefer rice or some form of noodles, and I don't think it's good enough to have by itself on the side. It's not that it's a bad product; I just don't see a role for it in my eating.

Trader Joe's Aloo Chaat Kati Pouches

This is one of what must be many, many items at Trader Joe's that have been around for a long time (this one at least since 2013, I've discovered) but that have somehow escaped my attention over dozens of shopping trips. Nina had had them before and was surprised that I had not.

I didn't know what "aloo chaat" meant. (Answer: "savory potato snack," roughly.) I didn't know what "kati" meant. (Answer: "mostly any wrap containing a filling enfolded in an Indian flatbread (roti) is called a kati roll.") But I thought they looked pretty good, so I bought a box.

I liked them even more than I thought I would. First, the kati wrap came out pleasantly crisp. I was simultaneously heating up two other things that called for a 375-degree oven--the same as the directions for these pouches--so it was convenient to use the oven method. People who have tried the microwave alternative have had disappointing results, even with the use of the "crisping sleeves" that TJ's provides.

The filling was surprisingly tasty, having somehow evaded the evil workings of the Trader Joe's Blandification Committee. You get a pleasingly complex panoply of tastes and textures, with some actual kick of a seemingly authentic Indian variety. I was relieved to discover that the included onions were so few and muted as to be ignorable. One pouch was a sufficient main course for dinner.


Will I buy it again? 

Yes. It immediately became one of my favorite TJ's Indian selections.

Trader Joe's Mini Chicken Tikka Samosas

I'm still very much hit-and-miss on Indian food. I approach it skeptically, worried that it will be too spicy or have too much onion. Sometimes I'm right, sometimes I get pleasantly surprised. It's a good strategy, because either I get my prejudices confirmed or I get a tasty meal--and I feel good either way!

These were in the surprisingly good category. I baked them 18 minutes instead of the recommended maximum of 16, based on way too much experience with Trader Joe's underestimating frozen-to-serving cook time. I think I was right to do so. The texture came out perfectly, with delightfully crispy outer pastry (far better than one would expect from a frozen product), but nothing scorched.

The insides were pleasantly spicy--not too much.

Complaints: 1. Serving size of two samosas? TWO? Are you serious? I had six (half of the box) as the main part of my lunch and could have had at least a couple more. On a day with a bigger appetite, I could have eaten all 12--and I weigh only 150 pounds. This is one of the most egregious portion-size misrepresentations I've seen from TJ's. 2. They had an odd sweet note that feels like it doesn't belong. 3. Product of Canada? Really? That's where we get our Indian food now?


Will I buy it again? 

Sadly, no, because chicken. I keep trying to do my small part to reduce the world's industrial poultry-farming, which even the most superficial look will tell you is pretty obscene.

Trader Joe's Yellow Curry Chopped Salad

Let's list what you're getting here. In the main bag are chopped lettuce, red cabbage, and carrots, plus some naan "chips" (some of which were crunchy, and some of which were soft--a strange discrepancy). Then there are small plastic bags inside, one containing some cashews, one with a miserly portion of golden raisins, and one with the dressing--probably four times what you could possibly want for the amount of salad here.

So all of the yellow-curry-ness of this product is in the dressing. It's supposed to be a lime vinaigrette, but I couldn't attest to that, as I noticed not a speck of lime flavor. It does have a full compliment of traditional curry spices, though the overall effect did little to remind me of actual Indian curry dishes I've had.


Will I buy it again? 

No. It's unsatisfying, unconvincing, overly packaged, and a little weird.

Trader Joe's Tikka Vegetables

This is the second of two new heat-and-serve pouches of "Indian Fare" sauces Trader Joe's has recently released. (For the first, see here.) I liked this one much more than the first. Not too hot, with a variety of flavors and textures, all with virtually no work of preparation (except for cooking the rice to go under it).


Will I buy it again? 

Yes. It's hard to beat the combination of price ($1.99), convenience, and flavor.

Trader Joe's Yellow Tadka Dal

Nina bought and served both this new product and its shelfmate. (See Trader Joe's introduction to these items here.)

This one, oddly, was simultaneously spicy and bland. That is, it had a fair amount of peppery heat, but otherwise was nearly flavorless. I found nothing objectionable in it, but also nothing to make me actually enjoy it.


Will I buy it again? 

No.

Trader Joe's Tandoori Naan

I had never had naan at home before Nina served this at dinner; my only experience of it was in restaurants. I liked it enough that I bought a package myself on my next TJ's run. I think it's much better than you might expect a frozen bread product to be.


Will I buy it again? 

Yes.

Trader Joe's Yellow Jackfruit Curry With Jasmine Rice

I have tried jackfruit in a few different ways, both in grocery products and in restaurants. With one exception (as part of a dried-fruit medley), it has been a disappointment. There's a lot of hype about how perfectly it can replace meat, but I have not yet found a usage in which that has been true.

This new product from Trader Joe's is no exception. It's bland, uninteresting, and kind of weird. In its favor (?), the serving size is large for the specified one person. But it's hard to say whether my difficulty finishing it is because there was too much food or because it wasn't very pleasant to eat. Probably a combination of both.


Will I buy it again? 

No.

Trader Joe's Mango Ginger Chutney

I've never bought any kind of chutney before this. In fact, if asked, I would have been able to give you only an extremely vague definition or description of what "chutney" was. I've probably eaten chutney as a condiment on something at an Indian restaurant a time or two, but I have no specific memory of it.

So my reasons for buying this were just that (1) it was on the new-products shelf, and (2) I attempt to buy virtually every new TJ's product, unless it's a food category that I don't ever eat or something I can be positive I won't like.

I had no idea what to do with the stuff. I tried it on a vegetable-patty burger, and it didn't work very well.

My next idea was better: a topping for fake chicken nuggets on a rice bed. I told Nina that this was what I'd be serving for her next dinner at my house. She came up with what proved to be the key contribution: add some lemon juice to make it into sort of a sweet-and-sour sauce.

I did, using a roughly two parts chutney to one part juice--and it was great! I seriously loved it. The mango comes through less specifically as mango and more as a general fruitiness. The ginger adds a definite bite and tingle, especially in a brief aftertaste. The lemon juice makes for a simultaneously contrasting pucker. There are some raisins scattered in the chutney for an interesting texture contrast. Overall, the combination perfectly tarted up the otherwise quite bland nuggets and rice.


Will I buy it again? 

Definitely. It's a new favorite thing in my life.

Trader Joe's Curry Simmer Sauce

I used this just at the name implies, as the liquid in which to simmer an otherwise bland fake-meat product, which was then served on a bed of rice. The result was entirely acceptable, even mildly pleasant, but far from wowing me with wonderfulness. Nor did it make me feel as though I had made something genuinely Indian. It lacked zip. It lacked freshness. It lacked complexity.


Will I buy it again? 

No. I would much rather use Trader Joe's excellent Thai Green Curry Simmer Sauce.

Trader Joe's Bollywood Popcorn

I've been neglecting to write about a bunch of new items that Trader Joe's has released lately, so it's time for another New Products Week. 


I want to know who at Trader Joe's sits around and thinks up these things. Because they're certifiably insane--but also maybe a genius.

This is a crazy mashup, but it works. At least it works for a little while. I liked the flavoring, and it absolutely did call to mind the tikka masala flavor I've come to expect from the various TJ's frozen tikka masala products.

However, it was a little heavy-handed on the spiciness. After two handfuls, I had had enough. There's a weird sort of cumulative effect, so the burn seems to keep building, and I had to call it quits.


Will I buy it again? 

No. But if they reformulated it with maybe two-thirds the amount of seasoning, it could become a favorite.

For a different view, see the review from the "What's Good at Trader Joe's" blog, where this item received a rare perfect 10/10 score.

Nina's View

NOM. Nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom.

Yes, I basically ate the whole bag. And then I came back the next time and finished off the crumbs.

Delicious.

I do not concur on Bob's description of cumulative spiciness. I find the heat level just right.

I wish I had some right now.

Trader Joe's Indian Fare--Palak Paneer

This is Day Seven of Indian Food Week: 


This is one of the most visually unappealing foods I've ever had from TJ's. It's green slime. It ends up not tasting nearly as bad as it looks--it's pretty decent, actually--but it's really hard to take that first bite when the stuff looks like you skimmed it off the top of a swamp.


Will I buy it again? 

No.

Nina's View

IF ONLY this looked like the picture on the front. It does not. It looks like sewer sludge, and the bits of paneer are mere tiny lumps of congealed sludge in a sea of sludge.

It does taste passable, but seriously NOWHERE near as good as palak paneer should actually taste. TJ's frozen version is much better, but any half-way decent Indian restaurant will blow both of them out of the water.

Trader Joe's Dal Makhani

This is Day Six of Indian Food Week: 


Of the three new canned Indian sauces, this was easily the best. Hearty, tasty, just the right amount of spiciness. Poured over rice, it's basically a complete meal in a can.


Will I buy it again? 

Yes--and it's the only one of the trio for which I can say that.

Nina's View

I give this product a resounding meh.

Trader Joe's Chana Masala

This is Day Five of Indian Food Week: 


This is the second of three canned Indian sauces that Trader Joe's released several weeks ago.

It's acceptable, but dull. Its flavor is Indian, but toned way down to the point of lifelessness. I blame that damned Blandification Committee.


Will I buy it again? 

No.

Trader Joe's Matar Paneer

This is Day Four of Indian Food Week: 



Several weeks ago, Trader Joe's introduced a trio of canned Indian sauces. My first introduction to the new products was somebody on Twitter posting a photo of all three cans, and declaring them "inedible." I was certainly sympathetic to the view that "canned Indian food" seemed like an intrinsically questionable concept. But I was willing to give them a try.

This was the first one I opened. I heated it and poured it over some rice as the centerpiece of a dinner with Nina.

I thought it was better than canned Indian food could be expected to be--but that's a pretty low bar. It was kind of boring, and, as you'd probably guess, not particularly fresh-tasting. But it's far from the "inedible" that I had first been informed--at least if you have crude, uneducated taste buds like mine.


Will I buy it again? 

Nope. Not good enough to bother with. Also, a little birdie tells me that all three of these products have been halted temporarily for reformulation. If that's really true, it's surprising--the fastest introduction/withdrawal I've ever seen for TJ's products.

Nina's View

I give this product a resounding meh.

Trader Joe's Indian Fare--Punjab Choley

Day Three of Indian Food Week: 



The prominence of the onions in both the photo and the description of this product made me suspicious. But I had already tried and liked the sister product, Madras Lentil, despite having the same concern, so I decided to give it a try.

I'm glad I did. It's really good. I didn't like it quite as much as the Madras Lentil, but it's pretty close. Lively without being too spicy.

There's a good chance these two things are the best heat-and-serve Indian foods you can buy. Both of them are far better than the one other product in the same line that we've tried, the Jaipur Vegetables. There are--or at least at one time were; I don't know if they're all still available--seven different varieties of TJ's "Indian Fare" in pouches. (See here for the rundown.) I have liked two out of three, which gives me hope for trying the others.


Will I buy it again? 

Yes.


Addendum: 

I heard recently from a reasonably reliable source that this entire line of boxed Indian food is being discontinued. If so, it's a shame--they're tasty, cheap, and easy to prepare.

Nina's View

Surprisingly decent for something that's basically an MRE. 

Trader Joe's Chicken Tikka Masala

Day Two of Indian Food Week: 



I bought this on my next trip to Trader Joe's after discovering how good the Vegan Tikka Masala was.

This is very similar, and every bit as good. I think I like it a little bit better, just because the chunks of chicken breast have a better taste and texture than the vegan version. But the latter is close, and allows me to make one more reduction in my overall meat consumption, so that's going to be my default choice.


Will I buy it again? 

No--but not because it's not good. See above.

Trader Joe's Paneer Tikka Masala

I've decided that it's time for another theme week--this time, Indian food. Here's Day One:  



I bought this after finding that I really liked Trader Joe's Vegan Tikka Masala. I confess that I didn't even know what "paneer" was when I bought it. (It's cheese!)

This was all right, but not nearly as good as the vegan. The main thing that bothered me about it was the strong taste of spinach in the spinach rice. It seemed out of place--clashing with the other flavors.


Will I buy it again? 

No. I would always choose the vegan one over this--not because it's vegan, but because it's better.

Trader Joe's Indian Fare--Madras Lentil

This has happened more times than I can count: I spot something in Trader Joe's and think, "I can't tell if I'll like that or not, but I should probably try it." Then I bring it home. Then it sits in my cupboard forever because the little blip of adventurousness that hit me at the store has left, and every time I think about trying it, I second-guess myself and choose instead some safer, better-known entity.

But that story has many different endings. Sometimes my hesitation was justified and it proves to be as awful as my worst fears. Sometimes it's just okay. And once in a while, I end up kicking myself for waiting so long to try it, after discovering a new love.

I'm pleased to say that Madras Lentil joins that last category. I waited so long to try it that it was actually three months past its freshness date by the time I finally opened it. Oh well.

It's not obvious from the packaging, but inside the box is a foil pouch with the whole mess already blended and cooked. You can heat the pouch in boiling water on the stove, or dump the contents into a microwave-safe bowl and zap it. I took the latter, easier route, then spooned it over some of TJ's lovely Brown Jasmine Rice.

I liked it immediately, and liked it more with every bite. It's milder than I had anticipated. In fact, being just a tad on the bland side might be its main fault. That factor makes it a little shy of the excellence needed to become a member of my Top Ten list, but I nevertheless liked it very much.

Tasty, nutritious, super easy to prepare, and cheap. With those qualities, how could it not be a winner?


Will I buy it again? 

Definitely. I think it's going to become a staple that I keep around all the time.

Nina's View

I'm going to try very, very hard not to let my own food prejudices color this comment. 

Given that this dish is something you might find in a (non-xenophobic) prepper's bunker, it's quite good. It's even possible that it's got a decent amount of nutrition in it. I find it quite dull in flavor, especially as it is claiming Indian heritage.

Dal (or dahl, as you prefer) is one of my favorite foods. There are a zillion kinds of lentils, Indian cuisine has a zillion different ways to spice them, and they are pretty much all delicious.  These are not those lentils. As long as you're aware of that, and are looking for a quick, acceptable meal, they'll do.

Lentils are easy to cook—although some varieties take quite awhile or need soaking beforehand. I realize that I need to make some lentils for Bob.

Trader Joe's Vegetable Pakoras

I have had vegetable pakoras twice in my life--and both were this week. The first time was Sunday night, when Nina and I were out at one of our favorite Asheville restaurants, the excellent Kathmandu Cafe, which offers Indian and Nepali food. Nina selected an appetizer sampler plate for us, and it included several pakoras. I liked them.

TJ's announced the arrival of its newly reformulated, re-sourced vegetable pakoras on March 14. I kept asking about them at the Asheville store, and was told they weren't able to get them yet. But last week they finally showed up, so they became a main feature of Wednesday's dinner with Nina. They're cheap--just $1.99 for a box.

It's surely unfair to compare them to the fresh, handmade ones I had had three days before from a good restaurant. But what else can I do? The frozen ones suffer greatly in the comparison. The outer shell is tough rather than tender. The ingredients convey a generic veggieness, but it's hard to discern individual flavors as I could in the fresh ones.

Despite the unfortunate comparison, I thought they were decently good. The included tamarind sauce complemented them nicely. My biggest complaint was that I kept biting into something unpleasantly hard. Nina, having the same experience, grabbed the box to check the ingredients, hoping to identify the culprit. She guessed--rightly, I think--that it was the pomegranate seeds, which apparently do not soften with baking as much as I would have imagined.


Will I buy it again? 

Maybe. Not often, but it's a different kind of thing than I usually serve, so might make a nice change of pace occasionally.


Nina's View

The inclusion of pomegranate seeds in these pakoras is a deal-breaker for me. For one thing, they are even more annoying than raspberry seeds. For another, there is no discernible flavor contribution of pomegranate to compensate for the aggravation. 

Even without the seeds, however, these pakoras do not impress. The dough is excessively bready, the taste of the vegetables muddled.

Nah. Try again, TJ's, try again.