Meal for 1 - Butter Chicken with Basmati Rice product reviews

Feeling the pinch at the moment on our pockets, I decided it was time to harden up and stop buying my lunches for work everyday. The cost was getting me down, but I hate sandwiches. So what to do? I was in the supermarket last weekend and I caught sight of this range by Kaweka. I was aware of Kaweka from an expo I attended years ago. I was pleasantly surprised to see their range in full on my supermarket shelves.

I selected a couple of the Meal for 1 range and the butter chicken was one of the first I picked up. I love a good butter chicken. I was pleased to see this was an all in one meal, so I had the curry and the rice and just had to cook it up in the microwave at work. I took this to work with me and opened the box. The box was really easy to open, and inside was two separate pouches. They each needed two minutes to cook. I ripped both open to a 2 cm opening and microwaved them as directed. Our work microwave also has a cool timer on it, so I just waited until it called me to say it was totally ready to eat.

I poured the rice out first into a bowl. I liked the white and fluffy look of the rice. It looked plump and cooked. I then poured the sauce over. I couldn't really see the chicken in the sauce. The meal itself was nice. The butter chicken sauce was delicious and had a good amount of curry kick for me. I like mine mild. The rice was as fluffy and yummy as promised. The only disappointment was the chicken which seemed a bit on the dry side. Still it was a great meal and it was filling too, which helped me avoid the vending machine raid at 3pm as well.

I fell in love with Kaweka's curries the first moment I tried one, so when I heard that Kaweka had these new Meal for 1 heat and eat products coming out I was literally hanging out waiting for the courier driver to arrive so I could once more enjoy the taste of Kaweka's amazing meals.

Butter Chicken has always been a favourite of mine and this meal was even better than the regular Butter Chicken I had tried previously. The addition of the basmati rice has made this a delicious and simple meal for anyone who is in a hurry but still wants a filling meal.

The chicken is as tender as ever, the sauce is not too spicy nor is it too bland and the rice gives it that texture and is what makes it into an ideal and perfect meal.

When it comes to foods with spicy bite, I admit that in my later years I have become a bit of a wous... having abused my digestive tract for years, it has taken it's revenge on me and gives me sleepless nights of intestinal agitation any time I try food that has more kick than a dead crab... but occasionally I brave the reflux and enjoy the zingy flavour of something such as this.

My last foray with Kaweka's Butter Chicken assured me of the flavour and quality of the food... but this pack is all about a 1-stop meal in a box, ready to go in just 2 minutes... if you happen to have a microwave handy... which I didn't, on a recent camping trip over the holiday break. Instead, I had a small portable gas burner stove, some camping cookware, and a determination that I was going to be having a hot dinner at least once during my solo outing.

So, to save on dishes... and cooking time... I stabbed the bags with a fork, to give 4 small air vents in the top of each bag, and stood them in a pot of boiling water for about 7 minutes... I possibly could have boiled them for less, but I didn't want to take any chances, and besides, it took that long for the water to boil enough to become drinkable, so I wasn't in any great hurry.

As soon as I lifted the pot lid, the smell was stunning... I was almost drooling before I even got the food decanted and served! The rice was brilliant, with lots of flavour and texture, but without being all starchy and glug... (sounds like a corny 70's TV series!) The butter Chicken, though a mild Indian dish, was still full of flavour and -zing-, but was very much worth the eventual tummy burn that hit my delicate digestive tract an hour or so later.

Overall, I was really impressed at the highly functional nature of this pack... you can take it anywhere, cook it almost any way available, and enjoy a filling, tasty, simple meal in minutes. With three flavours currently in the range, and the hope of more later, it's an excellent pack to keep a few spare of on hand. great for dealing with the unexpected extra guest, or having a few on hand for the camping trip... and since I do a few long-haul drives throughout the year, I plan to keep a couple in the pantry to take with me on the long trips, so that I can stop off anywhere I feel the urge for a nap and a feed. :) A most excellent addition to the stunning Kaweka family of fine cuisine.

For Christmas I got a small pie maker and after having a read through the Kaweka website I was surprised to see that they say you can make pies with pretty much any of their meal packs. I thought this could be an interesting way to test drive my new pie maker so I went ahead and bought some sheets of short pastry from the supermarket and gave it a try. Trying it with just the butter chicken gave some really tasty pie with a good bite and really nice texture but after making some pies with the rice thrown in as well I decided these were even better.
Mixing the rice and curry together before putting the filling into the pie maker made sure that the flavour was evenly spread and there were no clumps of bland rice or spicy curry. I was really impressed with how well this packet meal turned out as a bunch of pies. It was really tasty, simple to make, and didn't require me to do anything extra to process the filling since it was pretty much precooked and was needing only the heat used to cook the pasty to finish it off, though next time I might give it a minute in the microwave just to make sure it's piping hot when it comes out of the pie maker.
A really good meal, made into a really handy pack. great for anyone who enjoy their food.

I was delighted when I discovered Kaweka had created a new range of meals for one. The addition of a pouch of rice is a fantastic idea! Everything you need for a great meal is now included in the pack.

I microwaved the butter chicken meal kit as per the instructions. Tear open both pouches and microwave for 2 minutes - what could be easier? I was concerned the meal wouldnt be hot enough after the 2 minutes, but I was wrong - it was piping hot and smelling great.

The rice went onto the plate first - lots of it too, and on top went the butter chicken.

The rice was perfect, fluffy, perfectly cooked and light. The butter chicken was flavoursome and tasted very authentic. I was a little disappointed with the chicken to sauce ratio however, the chicken was in very small pieces and there wasnt a great deal of it. It definitely tasted great though. The meal was very filling, I managed to get through about 3/4 of my plate before my partner had to take over!

I would very happily pay for this meal. No other frozen heat and eat butter chicken meal comes close to this one in terms of taste and value for money.