Kashmir Spinach Instant Meal

Grr. I don’t know what my stomach wants.

It’s hungry for something specific for dinner but has no mouth to communicate what that is.

Flick through the cupboard. Canned soup? Nope. Baked beans? Nah. Instant noodles? No.

Hmm, what about this pouch of palak paneer? It saves microwave and serve with rice but I could just eat it on toast.

Stomach says close enough.

The toast is cooking. I rip open the pouch and it flows into a bowl. It’s very runny, nearly soupy. Time to nuke!

Sitting down at the table with my bowl of spinach soup and bread. Really, this is very much a puree verging on liquid. There are five little pieces of paneer cheese.

Where’s the box? I count fourteen paneer cubes in the picture. I guess false advertising is part of the deal with instant meals.

But how does it taste?

I get a forkful, trying to keep it from running between the tines. In it goes and… hmm, salty and peppery. That’s what it tastes like, salt and pepper.

The natural bitterness of the spinach is kind of there, but well-hidden. There is a warmth after swallowing, maybe there’s a bit of chili.

Let’s try one of these tiny cheese squares. It squishes between my teeth and then… gone. No flavour at all, the only difference between it and the sauce surrounding it is the texture and appearance. It has no taste of paneer whatsoever. I guess then you could say it doesn’t taste bad, but they may as well have just given me a spinach sauce and skipped the paneer altogether.

I was going to pile it on my toast but considering how wet it is I dip my bread in instead. The toast helps soften the salt and adds the bulk that the paneer failed to do.

Palak paneer is hard to cook. I’ve tried a few times and never pulled it off very well. Mine is always too dry, rather than liquid, but I do feel sorry for Tasty Bite for trying to put such a tricky dish in a pouch.

Anyway, not a scratch on tasty palak paneer from a restaurant but I suppose as far as pre-cooked goes it’s pretty standard. Salty and short-cutting on contents.

Oddly enough, my stomach is satisfied. Strange, strange beast.

Rating:

Specifics: Kashmir Spinach by Tasty Bite, bought at Coles Macquarie Fields