Cooking by numbers! (Ainsley Harriott Bengali Keema Masala Dinner Kit)

Member Name: Darkstar101

Product:	Ainsley Harriott Bengali Keema Masala Dinner Kit
Date:	15/06/09 (91 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Quick and easy to cook

Disadvantages: Problems with the roti bread dough being too sticky despite religiously following the directions.

My family loves a good curry, but usually when I try to make one from scratch, it ends in complete disaster, either because it is too spicy for the children or too bland for my husband. I find it difficult to get the combination of spices balanced, so when I saw this new Ainsley Harriott dinner kit, I thought I would give it a try, particularly as it was on special promotion at Asda priced competitively at just £1 a box.

The Bengali Keema Masala Kit is attractively packaged boasting that a delicious meal can be achieved in four easy steps and ready in 20 minutes. The kit suggests adding 250g of lean minced lamb and 150ml yoghurt. As my husband is vegetarian, I substituted Quorn mince for the lamb and followed the simple instructions on the box.

Upon opening the box I found 5 clearly labelled sachets of ingredients.

Step one in the preparation was very simple - I just had to add the contents of sachet 1, which was the raita seasoning to 150mls of natural yoghurt, mix and put in the fridge. Easy. Even I couldn't mess that up.

To begin step two, I heated 1-2 tsp of vegetable oil in a saucepan and browned the mince for approximately 2 minutes. As I said earlier, I used Quorn and at this stage I also added a few chopped peppers. I then reduced the heat and added the contents of sachet 2 which contained the spice mix followed by the contents of sachet 3, the vegetables. This was cooked gently for a couple of minutes before I added 300ml of water to the pan. The instructions then say to bring the mixture to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes - I left mine for 15 minutes until the consistency looked right, probably due to the excess moisture from the peppers I added.

While the mince was cooking, I put 350mls of water in a separate saucepan and added the contents of sachet 4 which contained the spices and basmati rice. I brought this to the boil and simmered it for 12 minutes until the rice was lovely and fluffy. Stage 3 completed with no fuss.

Stage four of the meal preparation was to make the roti bread. The instructions said to empty the contents of sachet 5, the bread mix, into a bowl and add 150ml of warm water and stir into a dough. When this was ready, I added 1 tbsp of olive oil as directed and kneaded the dough until it was soft and pliable. The instructions then say to divide the dough into 4 balls and roll out into thin circles ready for frying.
It was at this point, things started to go wrong because the rolled out dough seemed too sticky and became fused to the worktop. I eventually managed to roll the dough into circles but only by lightly flouring the worktop first - it didn't say to do this in the directions. I then dry fried the roti breads in a hot frying pan until each side was brown as directed.

I served the masala with the rice, raita and warm roti breads and the general consensus was everything smelled and tasted delicious except the bread which had the texture of cardboard. This was probably due to me introducing the flour but I couldn't see any other way of rolling the dough out without it sticking. Maybe a more accomplished cook will have a better idea what to do in this sticky situation without compromising the end product.

On balance, I felt the kit was good value for money, the instructions were easy to follow, and the pre-measured blends of spices took the guesswork out of the cooking - it was just a shame about the bread.

Summary: Overall this kit enables you to create a tasty, visually appealing dish in under half an hour.