| Product: |
Marks and Spencer Chicken Jalfreizi |
| Date: |
18/11/08 (159 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Failry decent taste
Disadvantages: Full of fat
INTRODUCTION
For those of you that read my previous ready curry review a while back, again I have to blame my mum for warming this up for me. I wouldn't personally pick a ready made curry for a ready meal often, but I seem to have been served them rather a lot. In this case, rather than a whole meal, it's just the meat part of it, and so it's interesting to see if this improves or otherwise the product. I must say though, from an early age I have been thoroughly indoctrinated into the M&S food hall; from being dragged around Warrington town centre as a kiddie on a Saturday afternoon, through to shopping myself in Guildford town centre. I don't remember ready meals so much as a kid, but I do know I have always been convinced of the quality of their produce, no matter what product.
And so we come to this chicken dish from another food hall further South, the family indoctrination continuing into the credit crunch. Being from a Sri Lankan family, our curry tastes are a bit milder than say, Indians, and our knowledge slightly different, and so perhaps this helps our tolerance of such unauthentic dishes. Still, if it's good enough for my mum, who am I to argue?
PACKAGING AND RECYCLING
A purple cardboard sleeve also has a picture of the curry prominently on the top. It doesn't really look much like it in reality if truth be told, although this isn't actually a bad thing as the picture makes the concoction look rather dry and sparse. The sleeve contains a black plastic tray which houses the curry, the tray sealed by a transparent plastic film.
The curry is "hot" according to the label. We shall test that claim shortly! It's described as "marinated chargrilled chicken breast in a tangy tomato curry spiced with coriander & chlli ".The sleeve, tray and film can all be recycled.
PRICE
One serving cost £3.49 from my local M&S in Guildford.
INGREDIENTS
Cooked marinated chicken makes up 40% of the dish.. This is followed by onions and tomatoes, weighing in at 12%. Other notable ingredients are garlic and ginger puree, salted butter, red and yellow peppers, red chilli puree, double cream, cider vinegar, coriander, ground cumin, fresh green chilis, garam masala, tumeric, cumin seeds and fenugreek.
The chicken marinade is made up of low fat yoghurt, vegetable oil, single cream, garlic and ginger puree, lemon juice, cornflour, salt, tomato puree, coriander, Punjabi garam masala and ground tumeric.
The curry weighs 350g.
ALLERGY INFORMATION
The curry contains cow's milk.
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
A summary of the nutrition per half pack:
Energy kcal - 1120kJ
Protein - 21.7g
Carbohydrate - 8.6g
Of which sugars - 5.6g
Fat - 16.3g
Of which saturates - 3.5g
Fibre - 3.9g
COOKING
This can be cooked either in the oven or microwave.
Microwave - 4 minutes at 750w
Oven - 180 degrees centigrade / 450 degrees Fahrenheit / gas mark 4 for 20 minutes.
APPEARANCE
After cooking, the first thing of note is the thick, dark gravy, flecked with tomato. It looks perhaps a tad oily, with little pools dotted around. There are plenty of spots of green chilli and coriander. Large pieces of onion and some chunks of tomato can be clearly seen as you mix through. When you dip a spoon in and drop the mixture off it, it's so thick that it drops off the spoon in large blobs, which personally I really like as I'm no fan of runny gravies. Had I not read the ingredients that show 40% of the meal consisting of chicken, I would have actually said it was 50:50, so the impression is rather favourable with regards to the meat content.
SMELL
Even before cooking there is a deeply fragrant smell to the dish; spicy and aromatic. It is a very spicy smell, reminiscent of a takeaway reception and extremely appetising. Interesting to note that the curries I make from scratch don't have quite the same depth of smells; I'm really not sure what that tells you about my cooking skills.
TASTE
For something labelled as "hot" this is in fact mild to medium - at least to my taste anyway, which, to be fair, is fairly hot but I'm no fan of a phal. A very pleasing level of heat is augmented by a very tasty sauce that has a very tomatoey tang. I like think gravy and the consistency of this, along with the tomato, gives it a rich flavour. You can taste the chilli in a very pleasant but not overwhelming manner. The chicken is lean and also has an excellent taste to it thanks in part also to the marinade.
CONCLUSION
I would say this tastes more tomatoey than anything, and this isn't a bad thing. There is some heat there but nothing overwhelming, just enough to make it interesting. To me, the "hot" label is a bit misleading, but I think this is a subjective judgement.
As an aside, I was served this with some with Marks & Spencer Pilau Rice, which made an excellent accompaniment. On taste alone I would recommend it, on fat content I would err on the side of caution.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Marks and Spencer plc,
PO Box 3339,
Chester.
CH99 9QS
www.marksandspencer.com
Summary: Decent taste and handy if you're pushed for time
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