Skip to main content

I hate being trendy part 2 or "Bombay Potatoes"

    


    Although no one asked for it, I thought it might be fun to do another food review (my blog, my rules).  I figure that eventually we American's are going to have to adapt to a more plant based diet and if I do nothing more than convince two people to try something new...then they can convince two people to try something new...I've done my job as concerned and decent human being.

   In some ways we are already moving that way as the sale of plant based food items recently reached a peak.   I think it has dipped currently due to a lot of different reasons, but the market will only rebound in the future.  

    So yesterday I decided that it was a good day to try and go meatless for the entire day.  I've been trying to incorporate a few more meals per week into my "Meatless regime" and thought I would make some Tasty Bite Bombay Potatoes as a quick late lunch/early dinner.  

   

    I found these before in my local grocery store and this is actually the third or fourth time I've enjoyed them.  The come already cooked in a pouch that takes about 60 seconds to microwave or you can warm them in a pot in under 5 minutes.    A pouch is supposedly going to feed two people but I've found that entire pouch makes for a satisfying meal just on its own.      

    It really is a tasty mix of potato, chickpea, tomato and onion along with various spices.   It's got some heat but is not overwhelming, the way some Indian food can be.  In addition to it being vegan, it's also gluten free and kosher.  In some ways it reminds me of a chili in consistency and heat.

    If I have one complaint it's that the sauce has a brown color to it, meaning that when it first comes out of the pouch it does not look that appetizing, nor does it have any particular aroma to it until once it starts to warm up.  Once warmed the coriander and chili spices light up the room however.     

    I have bought this several times now and served it over rice, mixed in with ramen noodles (creating a weird Vegan Indian version of "Cincinnati Chili") and simply eaten it by itself.  It can be incorporated into other foods like a "Frankie;" which is the Indian version of a burrito.  I even found a recipe for a  Shepherd's pie.  I've found it to be a quick and easy lunch or dinner item when my lovely wife is at work.

    There does seem to be a lot of recipes online for "Bombay Potatoes" and they seem rather easy to make at home.  However I am not a cook and am a big fan of convenience, processed food however can be less healthy than making something yourself.  I suppose as I'll have to learn more about cooking in the future.

    Since I ate the whole package yesterday (basically 1.50 cups of food) I'm going to go over some of the nutritional information.   Like a lot of processed goods, the salt content is high, in this case up to 910 mg which is about 40% of your salt intake based on a 2000 calorie diet.   Thankfully there are only 270 calories in the entire package.

    It also is low in saturated fat - that's the "bad fat" - and high in fiber thanks to the potatoes and chickpeas. It's also high in iron   The label does not mention protein at all, nor can I imagine this dish having much.  It would serve as a tasty side dish however.

From the company's website.


     Overall it's a good dish and can be used as a base for a few different things, always a plus in my book.   Plus the company has a very nice selection of other products, such as their Madris Lentils which I have also tried, and is nice and clear about how the process their foods.

    So if it sounds like I'm a fan, that's because I am.  Try them, you will be to.

**Please note that this blog receives no compensation in any way, shape or form from the product or producer mentioned.  Thank you.**

 **Some additional info on chickpeas can be found here.**

Comments

What all the cool kids are reading.

Unplanned and Unprepared. Life Happened.

 It's been a bit.   When I started this blog I was in a stable place and a stable condition.   I thought that I was done with moves and surprises.   I would have been perfectly happy to just work for another five or ten years till I retired.    If I'm being completely honest with you but since moving back to Western PA just about six years ago, things have been odd at best and difficult at worst.   I've questioned why we moved but for better or for worse, this is home. Then I lost Facebook and that was one of the drivers, if not the main driver that drove people to this site.   Then my job situation changed drastically.   At first it was fine but it was clear that the company really didn't have a spot for me, and as they transitioned from "work from home" to "return to the office" it became hard for me to justify a commute of over 100 miles each way.   The jobs that I worked after that were temporary in...

Acting in our best interest.

** The majority of this column was written nearly two years ago, however for a lot of reasons, has been updated and ready for publication now.** Recently a friend of mine and I were talking about some changes in our area.  We have had three solar farms built recently and there is talk about a wind farm. She brought up how wind turbines are responsible for killing birds.  That's a known fact that everyone can agree to, however exactly how many birds and what to do about the bird strikes is up for debate.   This conversation tells us a bit about the type of people we want to be.  We are going to have to make trade offs in the future and we need to determine what those tradeoffs will be.   Wind turbine's are constructed in a location that meets certain criteria to meet it's full effectiveness.   What happens if location X is also the breeding ground of a nearly extinct bird?  Can they still breed if the tower, or solar panel or geothermal ...

Who knew Cheese would be this fun? Cheese folly's Part 2

      I'm slowly but surely moving ahead with my cheese hobby. Recently I found some Facebook groups and other resources that are helpful in how to make cheese and what equipment I need,  including how to build a cheese press and make a cheese "cave."   Although I swear they are all hiring professional photographers to take pictures of their cheese!     I'm still trying to keep it simple, however after the success of the Insta Pot Paneer cheese , I could not help but wonder what other cheeses I could make in an Insta Pot.   I found three different types of cheeses actually.   Cottage Cheese, which frankly I never really liked the taste of and wasn't interested in making.  Mozzarella and Ricotta were the other two.  I picked the recipes that I did simply because they didn't require any rennet or starters like many of the other recipes I found.     I was unsure if I was ready for Mozzarella yet. ...