Street Kitchen - Thai Red Curry product reviews

Street Kitchen - Thai Red Curry is a yummy dinner option. I really enjoy thai food, and little flavour packets like this help to make anyone a home chef. This particular option was a mixed bag for me due to flavour and price.

On a base level the taste was okay, but I personally felt the flavoured needed to be bumped up. The suggested amount of water diluted the flavour significantly - I wonder if by reducing the water content, the meal would be nicer. With this though, you may need another packet in order to have enough "sauce" for the entire dish.

The price of this item seems a little steep for me. Whilst I can appreciate the yummy products that go into this product, ultimately I don't feel it is worth the $5.60 (plus!). This item makes dinner more convenient certainly, but the price outweighs this benefit. I truly believe most people would have the necessary ingredients at home in their pantry to make this mix themselves - for significantly cheaper. I also felt there was excessive wastage from the plastic packaging each section of the product came in. It felt wasteful, and I wonder if each section could be mixed together? If the product then became "too strong", the creators could then suggest an alternative to water to "dilute" the mix, such as milk or coconut cream.

Street Kitchen - Thai Red Curry is very convenient and good for when in a rush. Personally I feel the product needs more depth of flavour, so I would suggest either adding your own additional spices, using two packets, or reducing the amount of water added.

I've largely stayed away from Thai food. Mainly because it is one of the cuisines that I can't properly translate the meal description into an image, and a bad experience or two of getting meals that do not suit my palette at all? Well, can you blame me for sticking with what I know and like? I've perhaps had Thai curries twice before, and while they were okay, they were too light for me and didn't cater enough to my meat-heavy meal preferences to become a common menu choice. Consider that your disclaimer.

After trying out the Chettinad variety yesterday, I was incredibly excited to try out this Red Thai Curry. The product came with the same slick contemporary design and efficient plastic packaging, this time with a well-designed foil pack to hold the coconut milk instead of a paste to marinate the meat in. The meal is also was lighter on the protein with only half the meat requirements, replacing it with vegetables.

Whereas the Chettinad had all of the flavours included inside the packs, I can't say the same occurred for this Red Thai Curry. I found myself quite disappointed in the lack of flavour that emerged from the curry. while it was certainly had an orange tinge in colour, neither the colour nor the flavour profile had any depth to them. I found myself adding extra salt to the meal, then adding chilli flakes, and wishing I had thrown some birds eye chilli into the mix, with the Chettinad having more spice than this Thai Red Curry despite the curry having a higher heat rating.

With the rice and vegetables being present in such a large proportion of the meal, the flavours really needed an increase in concentrated strength and power to be able to make it through the whole meal not getting too diluted. The half a cup of water was overkill as well, diluting it further. While it didn't taste bad, there was a clear lack of flavour involved. There was no warmth to the spice, and the flavour profile was devoid of even a subtle hint of lemongrass. Compared to the Chettinad variety, this Red Thai Curry had a more complicated preparation, much weaker flavour, and required more alterations to make the meal more palatable.

Still, compared to making the meal from scratch, it's reasonably simple and takes very little time to put together. The rice takes the longest and should be on the instructions to get that process started first so that your steaming bed of basmati rice is ready when the curry is completed. The flavour lacked that strength to really make me want to try this one again, and I found myself constantly trying to figure out what I would do to improve it if I were to make it again. Constantly looking at ways to change or adjust the flavour, these are not the signs of a meal that is complete; something was missing.

Up to now, I have never been a particular fan of red curry. I always thought green curry was much more interesting because the red version lacked flavour, relying too heavily on the addition of chilli. But my experience with this variety has completely reversed my opinion. Street Kitchen - Red Thai Curry is probably the best I have ever tried, and a product to look out for when I am next shopping. As are all kits in this range, it is easy to prepare and the finished dish can be served up within 20 minutes.

The red chilli component is surprisingly mild so you can really taste the kaffir lime and fish sauce, both of which add a nice tang to the effect. I chose to prepare this curry with beef rather than chicken; I am pleased I did because the extra meaty flavour blended in so well with the various spices. It enhanced them to the point of being irresistible. Four of us were on hand to try this dish, and if I had hoped for leftovers I was out of luck. There was not a scrap left after everybody went back for seconds. One of them even scraped the cooking pot! Next time I will make it with cubed lamb as I think this meat would also be a good match.

I served it with individual sides of coconut yoghurt and lime pickle which, although pleasant enough, were strictly speaking not needed. There was a slight sweetness to the curry coupled with a hint of acidity, resulting in a mix of flavours so well matched that they were totally delicious. Every mouthful delivered a slightly different effect.

I would probably have preferred a little more chilli, but the other three all said it was perfect just as it was. The promise of heat was certainly there, but it did not take over to the point of being overwhelming like some of the other red curries I have tried in the past. And because the overall result was so delicious, I concluded that it really did not matter if it was milder than we had expected.

My son and daughter-in-law, who were our dinner guests and who had offered to give us their feedback, were fully in favour and said they too would certainly purchase this product by preference if they saw it in their local supermarket. They are both keen and very competent cooks, but often don't have time for elaborate recipes, so this would be ideal for them. They also travel a lot and have eaten a great deal of Asian cuisine in various countries overseas, so they know what an authentic red curry should taste like. This ticked all the boxes for them!