Taste of India Madras Sauce product reviews

I was lucky enough to be able to review another of the Taste of India sauces in their range. This time it was Madras sauce. As per my previous reviews the packaging has a fabulous pour spout which makes it easy to get all the curry out of the packet but, be warned, it flows out very fast. This time however, when I went to pour it out the opening was blocked up by some of the curry which I presume is just from it sitting on the shelf for a few days. Once this blockage was out it flowed out super quick.

I opened the plastic packaging on the back of the packet. I actually like that this wee clear pocket is on the back as its handy to have the instructions and the extra spices etc all in the one place. there is nothing worse than having the instruction written on the back of the packet and then realising once you have thrown it into the bin.

I threw in all the seasoning that came with it as we love hot and spicy in this house so thought we would give it a whirl. I did however, like one of the other curries I reviewed, found it didn't live up to its "three chilli" or "hot" level described on the front. In my opinion I would call it a mild heat curry.

All in all another good curry just lacking in spice for me.

I was a little bit worried about cooking this curry up as I has misread the label and didn't realize it was classed as a 'hot' curry. However I had plan B in my head for the children in case they didn't like it.

The packaging is the colour I would expect of Butter Chicken, and when I went to cook Butter Chicken one night, I had pulled this one out by mistake. It was only as I was reading the instructions did I click. The instructions are really easy to follow and I like that they are on a separate piece of paper.

The spices are included in separate little pouches meaning you can put in as little or all of it, if you desire. I added the whole little packets as I wanted to see the full effect this curry had to offer. In the first little spice packet that you open it had whole spices and there were some whole bits of dried chillie. These made the kitchen smell amazing! The children even commented!

I used thin schnitzel beef as that was all we had and I just took into consideration the cooking times for this. It was simple to cook and I added some extra veges so it would be a filling a nutritious meal. I used coconut cream as well, as it suggested and topped with coriander.

I tested the heat out and was amazed that is wasn't hot!! This was a real win/win and the whole family gobbled it up. I would defiantly buy this again and would love to try it out with some stewing steak in the slow cooker. I think this would be perfect.

The only thing I really disliked in the end was the whole spices. Thankfully it was me that ended up biting into a dried chunk of chilli and wowza, did it burn! It put me off the end of my meal, however I would just take the chilli pieces out next time before I added the meat to the pan. A win/win here! Thanks Taste of India for the chance to try your curries, they will be on our shopping list from now on!

I was keen to give yet another Taste of India sauces a go as I like how they are really easy and quick to make.

Like the other sauces it comes in a easily pourable pouch with a little sleeve on the outside that holds the recipe steps, and spice sachets. I find it ridiculous that the recipe is contained in this pouch and to find out what ingredients are needed to make this dish you are needing to take it out while in the supermarket. Although the steps are written well they do not need pictures and the steps could very easily be written on the back of packet. There is just so much packaging wastage which I am not keen on.

I do not normally eat beef curries so this was all new to me. I saw that this was classed as a hot curry so took out one of the chillies in the whole spice mix as wanted it to suit all the family. I was then surprised to find once I had finished making this dish it was actually a lot milder than even the medium. I don't think the chili would of made it much hotter. There was a lot of flavour which was really rich which restricted how much would could eat. I wonder if this was more the beef than the curry itself.

Although these dishes are great I always have difficulty in making it a balanced meal with vegetables. Would be great for there to be a list of vegetable that could accompany each dish.

This was the sixth sauce that we had to review from KIWIreviews and by this point the kids were more than a little sick of rice with their dinner so I decided to try something quite a bit different, just to give the kids a change, more than anything. I decided to make it with bacon chunks (we had a tonne to use up), frying it in the spices and such provided first. I chopped up, into big chunks, some potatoes and dropped them in my slow cooker, I then put the bacon over top and finally poured the sauce over the top of the bacon and left it to cook for four hours.

It was really strong to smell at first and tasted a bit hot, so I mixed in some sour cream (to go well with the potatoes) and by the time I got it out and dished it out there was almost no heat t it at all, which was really good for the family. The sauce went well with the bacon and potatoes, though it didn't blow me away so I'm not sure that I would but it again. The kids liked it enough and they liked the change but unless it is on special I'm not sure we'll buy it again.

Like the previous Taste of India meals love the pouch at the back of the packet which contains the recipe, spices and curry - such a simply fantastic idea. Only would like it if they could find away of being able to open the curry and spices sachets without using scissors.

The Taste of India meals are so fast and simple to cook and with our hetic lives at the moment it really is a godsend. In less than twenty minutes you are sitting down to a devine smelling warm meal. In five easy steps. Put rice into rice cooker, while that is occuring fry the sachet of Madras Curry Whole Spices (completly up to you how much you use - since new to this we used the whole lot) then add the beef and stir around followed by the Curry Spice Mix (again we use the lot) then simmer in the Madras Curry Simmer Sauce. It does say to add water but choose not to as watery enough and then just before serving add some coconut cream - simple!

This is our forth variety of dish from this range and everyone really seemed to enjoy. However, I would consider using the slow cooker next time to cook the meat as I found it to be rather tough. Think this meal would be better with tender fall apart meat. It was a tad spicy but just added more coconut cream, it wasn't hot where you couldn't taste anything it was just pleasant. definitely a dish would like to play around with more in the future.

As with the rest of the range, this product comes with a recipe and whole & ground spices. The whole spices are smaller than the other varieties, and make an audible popping sound when added to the heated oil. Adding the sauce to the meat, it is light in colour, and creamy in texture, so I added a little bit of extra water to it, to prevent the meal from burning.

The initial flavour as I let the meat simmer, was quite pungent and had strength to it. This mellowed over time and eventually had a subtle aroma of coconut. As a product labelled 3 out of 3 on the "hot" scale, I was disappointed to find that while there was a hint of chili flavour, there was no discernable heat to the meal from the spices, and I ended up adding birds eye chilis to the mix to add a kick.

Despite the lack of spice, this Madras variety is one of my top choices so far. The flavour isn't odd or peculiar. It's delicious, and just needed some extra punch from chilis (which is the reason why it doesn't get a 10 for taste). The only real downside is that I can't imagine it feeding 4 people. With this flavour, it will be lucky to survive 2 servings