Simon Gault Home Cuisine - Indian Spice Rub product reviews

I follow Simon Gault on Facebook, so when he posted a recipe for Indian Spiced muffins, I just had to try it... which meant purchasing some of his Indian Spice Rub - something I had not heard of, or come across before then.

I found the spice easily at Countdown and initially resisted buying his other spices (Italian and Kiwi) until I'd tried this one out - although they all looked good! The muffins were my first chance to try the spice... and the speed they disappeared at a family lunch was testament to how good they were! People were raving over them and I found myself having to confess that it wasn't me who'd managed to create that perfect blend of flavour... it all came out of a container!

Before the week was out I'd also jazzed up a devilled egg recipe by using the spice instead of normal curry powder, and I've also made several Indian Spiced Potato salads ... which get devoured very quickly! In fact I've already gone back and stocked up on a couple of more containers of Indian Spice... and bought the other flavours too!

I do notice there is definitely a saltiness to the blend, but I'm a fan of salt for bringing out flavour - blame Masterchef for that! My main gripe would be the container - although it's designed with a sprinkle and a pouring hole, I find myself getting a knife under the lid and lifting it right off so I can just dip my teaspoon right in - so much easier! And recently as I took the spice on holiday to assist in making potato salads, the lid managed to spin around and open itself during travel - luckily there wasn't too much mess!

So yes, I highly recommend the Indian Spice Seasoning - it really does give food that extra 5% magic (as Simon Gault would say)... something I probably couldn't manage to do all on my own! It's not cheap, and I do go through it quite fast if I use it in potato salads, but I happily pay well for good flavour. I look forward to trawling through Simon's website for some more recipe ideas...

When it comes to making Indian-style meals, quite honestly an utterly hopeless. I can appreciate the flavours of almost any Indian cuisine put in front of me, but ask me to do anything more complicated than Curried Sausages from a packet and I'm a mess! So this is my saviour... No more wondering whether I have too much cumin to coriander, or not enough curry to push through the cream... I just keep shaking this and stirring the pot until it tastes right, and it's done!

Wanting to try something different with this before I used it all up making batches of Butter Chicken, I used some with cream cheese and a bit of sour cream to make a really tasty, zingy dip which I ate with some Nacho Cheese taco chips. It was amazing, and I am so grateful to have discovered this! The trick is to leave the dip in the fridge overnight after you make it, to allow all the flavours from the herbs and spices to mix into the cream cheese and sour cream. If you dig in too quick, you end up with less than half the flavour.

This also got used in some savoury muffins, adding some surprising depth and complex overnotes to the capsicum, bacon and onions when they got fried before being mixed into the batter. Adding this to the fried elements gave the flavour a chance to escape the mix and infuse the butter and bacon dripping, and from there get into the onion and capsicum as well. This made for the shortest-lived batch of savoury muffins in the history of our house - ALL gone within half an hour! Even in this house, that's a record!

I am not a fan of the container lid though. It was the one aspect I felt hadn't really been thought out well, instead falling back on an old design that proved a little impractical. To get any decent amount out, I basically had to open it to full-open and shake it, because on the smaller openings, the finer particles caught any steam - when I shook it over the frypan for example - and clogged up almost right away. In the end, it has proven easier to just pry off the lid whenever I want to use it, and just spoon it out.

Overall, despite the packaging issue, the important bit - the contents - are top-notch! Another brilliant example of people who know what they are doing bringing stunning food within reach of those who are keen, but unskilled.

I got my hands on some of this Indian spice rub which is brought to us by Simon Gault, it's a great idea and combines a whole bunch of different ingredients all in one rather large looking container. I need to branch out and try it on other things apart from meat.

But talking of meat, it tasted really well as a rub with some lamb I was cooking up as well as using it as an alternative to curry powder when called for in a recipe. In this instance it worked really well in a meatloaf I banged out last week, and did change the flavour for the better.

On the top of the container is a rotating opening so you can have sprinkle or a full on hole to really get this stuff out, the only thing I didn't like was the need to push the piece of plastic in to break the opening open, I now have a piece of plastic inside the container, while I'm sure it probably won't fall out or I will see it, but I am a bit paranoid about it.

I was so pleased I got chosen to review the Simon Gault Indian spice rub as I love Indian, its my go to takeaway. I like the idea of being able to add the Indian flavours to my cooking quickly and easily. I wasn't disappointed - not only is it easy to use but its also very delish! It's the perfect mix with a little kick to it but not too much of one.

There is so many different uses for the rub and I am having fun discovering lots of different ways to use it. The first time I gave it a whirl I simply rubbed it on some chicken breasts it added a little extra zing but next time I think I would rub them in advance and let them sit for a while.

The next time I tried it I decided to make a curry. I'd never made one before but the rub made it simple and the results were amazing. I threw some onions and chicken in the pan added a big dash of the flavouring and cooked them all together for a while, I added a little flour and milk then left to simmer.

I even tried added a wee shake to mashed potatoes to add a little something extra. I can see the Indian rub becoming another must have pantry staple for me. I still have over half a container leftover so I'm looking forward to discovering lots more uses for it.

I enjoy a good indian inspired meal, especially when I can enjoy it from home. When I got this to review, it took me a little while to decide what to use it with but I got there in the end. :)

My first dish was a vegetarian 'lamb' korma. I added a good helping of this to the sauce as I wasn't sure what a good amount for it was and ended up really liking it. I found that it enhanced the spices that were already in the sauce and gave it that extra kick rounding it off as a yummy dish. I then used it in a butter 'chicken' dish and I didn't add as much this time. I found it gave a nice flavour without giving too much of a kick, it was really nice and I can't wait to cook with it again. I also sprinkled some of this on my popcorn and it added a great taste to the popcorn.

As a spice mash-up I really enjoyed this, it added a great flavour to my dishes, in some cases enhancing the flavours in wonderful ways and in other dishes just added a nice addition to the dish. I would get this again.

First of all I have to say I did not think I was going to like this, as am not a huge Indian lover but I am simply won over by this flavour. It is fantastic and definitely a spice rack must from now on. It is extremely versatile and can basically be used with everything. We have used it on steak, vegetables and chicken.

My husband was very sceptical when I served it up on a nice piece of Rump Steak. That night we had one steak covered in The exotic flavours of India and the other with the Italian Blend. I served both varieties and we both agreed the Exotic Flavours of India won hands down. I used it like a Marinade and covered two chicken breasts with a couple of spoons of the India flavour with some water and red onions and left them over night and they were delicious. With Vegetables I sprinkled roast carrot, potato and onion with the flavour with a roast lamb and it was divine. This product is fantastic.

My only problem with it is the container. You have three options, a sprinkle, a little pourer or a big pourer and have found the only one you can use is the big pourer as the spice is too course to fit through it and gets clogged up. Also it would be nice to have some sort of indicator on it for how much is recommended to use per gm. I find at the moment it is a lot of trial and error as I don't want it to be too over powering so find I am only using a little bit and sometimes it is not enough. Would be nice if say for a strong flavour use two tablespoons per 500gm or something to that effect. Besides that I think this is great and recommend to everyone.

I love the way this spice smells but in the past I have found that it can smell amazing and have no taste or it has no great smell but is way too hot, like setting my mouth on fire hot. I was a bit cautious with this spice, it smells fantastic and actually delivers on taste as well.

We have used it with beef and mince and chips and as a seasoning over my food and I can't really get enough. Only need a small sprinkle and it makes my food taste great which is good news to anyone who has been told to avoid salt as much as possible and getting a bit over lemon pepper to bring the taste out in my food.

Not sure if the kids like it, they eat the food but not overly worried about having more. I'm sure as they get used to the taste they will be glad to eat it. This is going to be one of my spices I will have to buy so I don't end up with boring and bland food.