Trader Joe's Masala Simmer Sauce

It comes in a little jar, like tomato gravy(sauce). Add the simmer sauce, half as much water, some chicken, veggies(trader joe's harvest hodgepodge) and 20min later you have a meal.

It's quick and easy and tastes pretty good. It's a good alternative to take out masala.

Is it perfect, no.

It's a little bland. I happened to have some garam masala in the cupboard that I sprinkled over top to add a little traditional spice.

The chicken came out very tender. It melted in the mouth. You could taste the peppers in the sauce. Added a bit of a sweet taste. Tasted similar to chicken cacciatore but with an indian flare, which is pretty much what chicken masala should taste like.

It's a try.

Trader Joe's Indian Fare Dal Makhani...

Dal Makhani is a traditional delicacy from Kashmir, the Nothern hilly province of India. Dal Makhani is a true labor of love. Black lentils and red kidney beans are soaked overnight in and then slowly cooked over low heat with tomatoes, ginger and garlic for hours until the spices are fully immersed, bursting with aromas. -Quoted from the back of the box. (read with an indian accent)

I had to quote the box because I couldn't think of anything to say.

It's not bad and it's not good. It's meh. Yes, meh, sums it up perfectly. It was a lot thinner then I expected. I've had yellow dal from a couple different restaurants and really enjoy it. I expected this to be similar. It isn't. It's a totally different dish. The lentils had a decent consistency and the sauce was ok, it was just really bland. There were hints of spices, but I couldn't pick out any one flavor. It was like they picked out the perfect combination to be meh. It had slight hint of tomato, but very slight. It smelled really good.

This is probably something you'd find on a buffet, toned down for American pallets.

I'm going to quote from Douglas Adams again, it was mostly harmless.

It's a skip. Stick to the punjab brinjal aka the eggplant stuff.

Who's there?

Who's on first?

Eye

Night church

Dad

Lighthouse

Random pic...

Trader Joe's Indian Fare Punjab Eggplant...

Last Trader Joe review for awhile.

I make brinjal bartha myself. I like it when I make it, it's a fairly easy recipe and it's not terribly expensive. During summer/fall the Collingswood farmer's market sets up a stand at the train station on Wendsday nights. You can get a beautiful eggplant for a buck. Anyway I'm getting off point.

This was the best of the Indian Fare food that I've tried. It seems to be a perfect version of brinjal bartha. The spices are absolutly perfect. This was the only dish that was actually a little spicy, not overpoweringly so, but just right.

You could taste the roasted eggplant. The onions where nice and soft and again, just added a subtle taste to the whole dish.

I'll still make my own when eggplant is available, but for a quick lunch or dinner or for when eggplant is unavailable it's a great alternative. Like the other Indian Fare dishs, there's enough for two and it's two bucks. It takes five minutes to cook, minus the rice (20min).

This was better than some Indian buffets I've had.

VCS Developer...?

I've been thinking about taking my atari hobby(obsession?) To the next step, homebrewing my own games.

I've been looking into it. It's notoriously difficult. It's pure assembly programming and you have to control the tv scanlines completly through programming.

So far from my little experience with assembly, I've learned a lot about how chips hardware and computers in general work. It's awseome and answers a lot of questions I've had.

I'm still so far away from creating even the simplest game with dots for characters and a black playing field, but some day.

There's people outhere who'll burn your code onto an eprom and make a cart for you.

I have my idea for a game. I'm pretty sure its possible. You have to take size and memory limits into account. If I have to learn bankswitching it could be years before it gets done.

My plans are to get a game. Have like 20 copies made. Sell it on some atari homebrew forums. Cover my costs and buy my own eprom burner and eraser and do it myself from there on out.

I'm such a fucking geek.

Atari VCS FTW!!!

Trader Joe's Indian Fare Carrot, Lentil and Onion Soup...

Wow. Just, WOW.

This was as good as the Palak Paneer wasn't. The spices are amazing without being spicy or overpowering. It's a good warm mix of ginger and cumin, I think. An excellent garam masala flavor. Apples and carrots add a slight sweetness.

At first I thought it was chunky, but no... those chuncks were Kofta.

A definite try. I'll be buying again. Only issue is that I want more and don't have any.

Trader Joe's Indian Fare Palak Paneer...

To paraphrase the great Douglas Adams, It's almost, but not entirely, unlike palak paneer. It's not bad, it's just not particularly good. Bland. Very bland, the paneer wasn't bad, but the saag wasn't good. Don't give this to someone who has never had indian food. It smells good, which is strange since the only spice I could taste was salt, and it wasn't overly salty.

Anyone with kids probably won't eat this because it looks exactly like...

I recommend you put the $2.19 towards another jar of thai red curry or a some trader joe's salsa, which is, as they say, the shit.

New Recipe...

WOW... This was really good.

A new recipe brought to us by your friendly neighborhood Krunchyfrog and made possible by the good people at Trader Joe's.

Pick up your favorite "meat" product. I happen to have chicken thawed that I had to cook. I image salmon would be fantastic and your favorite firm fake meat should be good as well.

Pick up "Trader Joe's Harvest Hodgepodge" from the frozen vege section. This is basically a frozen stir fry mix.

Finally grab some Thai Red Curry sauce and your favorite non instant rice.

Start the rice in the microwave. 2 cups of water to 1 cup of rice. Add a tablespoon of butter or oil if you like and a pinch or two of salt. Cook in a sealed microwave safe container for 5 min on high then 15 min on medium power.

While cooking the rice, cook the meat. One it's near done, add the veggie, when that's done add the Thai sauce. You should be done maybe 5 min after the rice depending on your "meat."

It's really good. Not spicy at all so if you like heat use some chilli paste or hot sauce.

Quick, cheap, and really good. The sauce really is comparable to quicky Thai restaurants.

And it might be a chick drink, but I mixed some Absolute Mandarin with my peach tea, MMMM.