Customer Reviews

Kitchens Of India Ready To Eat Rajma Masala, Red Kidney Bean Currry, 10-Ounce Boxes (Pack of 6)

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Vegan. Natural. Kosher Pareve. This rajma masala can be compared to a typical spicy bean chili, India-cuisine style. Was very pleased to try one of my favorite Indian dishes as a vegan product from Kitchens of India. Beautiful & amazing over organic brown rice. Rajma means kidney bean. Masala mean spice. Very flavorful. Indian foodies will find this recipe medium or typical, but others may find it on their spicier side. Highly recommended. Made with tomatoes, onions, red kidney beans, sunflower oil, garlic, spices, salt, & ginger. 300 calories and 12g protein per package. Product of India. This review is out there for those for whom this makes a difference. See all of my reviews and the vegancompassion Profile for more great choices. Check out "Vegan Grocery Favorites" and "Vegan Grocery Top Ten" & all the other helpful "Vegan Grocery" Listmania. Your input counts and will be greatly appreciated to benefit the search of others. Thank you.

When you love Indian food, but don't have the time to cook it, Kitchens of India is a really great alternative. I have yet to be disappointed in one of their dishes and this one is no exception. The great thing about Indian food is that they are mostly sauce (or "gravy" as they say), so I will cook up some meat or steam up some veggies and add one of these packets to make a fabulous meal. Their really aren't much in the way of veggies in these packets, but that is typical in Indian food, no matter where it comes from. American's tend to use gravy or sauce as the secondary component while Indian's use it as the primary component and sop it up with lots of bread or rice. By steaming or sauteing some additional vittles, you can really stretch one of these packets.

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I am not Inidan, so this is not a "professional" opinion. I am away from home for most meals. I was looking for something easy to make at the work site and a change to the "usual". Just open the pouch, squeeze into a microwavable dish and a minute later you have a hot vegetarian meal with plenty of flavor. I like all of the Kitchen of Inida products I have tried so far. And if you are storing up some food for emergencies like a hurricane, these store easily for later use.

This particular curry (red kidney bean) appears to the only one I can find in the series that does not use cream, so the fat is much lower than the others. I wish the other dishes had a lower fat alternative.

This is good on its own with warm pita, rice, or even to season a bowl of plain home-cooked beans. Try it with a piece of grilled fish and a salad - you have a feast!

If you've ever eaten Indian food in a good restaurant in India, you'll especially appreciate KOI's quick-fix packages. These are very tasty, a good value, and easy to prepare. This one's my favorite of the Kitchens of India recipes (neck-and-neck with Dal Bukhara). I like to pressure cook some brown rice (black japonica is even better!) with some lentils and fenugreek seeds (easy on those -- strong flavor), then add a package of the prepared mix. (It's also fine to eat right out of the package.)

For 50% off, this product was a steal... I've even bought at the full price. Excellent vegan Indian meal. Great for college students or people on the run.

The Kitchens of India(KoI) Ramja Masala (Ready to Eat) is just what the doctor ordered for when the Curry Craving strikes. Simply open the package and put it into a small pan, and in under 5 minutes you have hot curry ready to go. Ramja Masala is a Red Kidney Bean curry. It has a nice melody of Soft Red Kidney beans and delicious spiced curry. While the curry is no where near as spicy as some of the other KoI curry's out there, it has enough of a kick to give some added flavor to the mix.

You get approximately 1 1/4 cups of curry out of a single packet. While this may not seem like a lot, do keep in mind that while you could simply devour this curry by itself it is meant to be eaten over some Rice, or accompanied by some bread to help round out the meal. I prefer mine over rice as the rice ends up picking up the flavor of the curry plus acts as a nice filler.

In terms of the quality of curry, the "Ready to Eat" curry by KoI feels like a small step down from their pre-packaged curry pastes. While the Rajma Masala was delicious, it also tasted a bit too salty. However, it is reasonable to expect this as is with most "Ready to Eat" meals. A small element of quality gets lost in packing/processing the product to survive on a shelf yet be instantly available to eat. At 610mg of Sodium per serving (1525mg for just one pouch / 1.25 cups) the product is a tad high in sodium compared to the packaged curry pastes (per serving).

OVERALL, this is a good curry. It isn't "great", but is still vastly superior to some of those generic "Ready to Eat" products or frozen TV dinners that plague supermarkets. Though you only get 1 1/4 cups of prepared curry per package, it is meant to be served over rice or with bread, such as Naan. A simple packet actually goes a long way and is worth the investment. A really good quick meal. 4 Stars!

* Nutritional Information ** (Entire packet)
Each packet is 10oz (285g) and contains a little less than THREE Servings (~2.5 servings). Entire Packet values listed below, individual serving in []

Calories: 300 [120]
Total Fat: 8.75g [3.5g] / Saturated Fat: 3.75g [1.5g] / Trans Fat: 0g
Cholesterol: 0mg
Sodium: 1525mg [610mg]
Total Carbs: 42.5g [17g]
Fiber: 1g [less than 1g] / Sugar: 0g
Protein: 12.5g [5g]
Vitamin C: 75% [30%] / Calcium: 15% [6%] / Iron: 25% [10%]

I eat Kitchens of India several times a week(I'm a bachelor) and their red kidney bean curry is my personal favorite. Over potatoes,dressed with some olive oil its better than my local India restaurant.

I'm always wary when buying food items on the basis of Amazon reviews. I've found the average reviewer (especially when dealing with ethnic foods) still prefers items that are Americanized or similar to American foods...like when reviewers blast umeboshi for (of all things) being too salty or grumble about seaweed tasting too much like the sea.

So when this cropped up as a good seller, I should have known better. It still gets five stars because I found the quality, packaging, and ease of preparation to be great. Almost all of the beans retained their shape and texture, the seasonings were good, it was easy to prepare and had no strange aftertaste from the packaging, and it arrived in an easy-to-store box in which all the individual packets fit in perfectly.

However, I won't be buying again. Why? Because it tastes like chili. Oh, there's a subtle hint of spice and the quality definitely sets it apart from Hormel, but for all intents and purposes, it tastes like meatless chili. I can see why that would appeal to a lot of people who might find stronger and more unique Indian foods off-putting...but I was in search of strong and unique and this just doesn't fit the bill.