Trader Joe’s offers a freezer meal of Vegan Tikka Masala with cumin seasoned basmati rice. I am not Vegan or Vegetarian but was curious how this meal would stack up against their other Indian meal options.
Nutrition, Ingredients and Labelling
Let’s take a closer look at what comes in this 9.5 ounce tray.
Nutrition Facts
One meal tray is a single serving. The nutrition facts for a single serving are:
- Calories: 390
- Fat: 17g (22% DV)
- Cholesterol: 0mg (0% DV)
- Sodium: 800mg (35% DV)
- Carbohydrates: 49g (18% DV)
- Protein: 12g
On the plus side the meal has no cholesterol. On the negative side the fat and sodium content are higher than I prefer.
Ingredient List
The Tikka Masala has the following ingredients:
- Vegan Meat Substitute
- Wheat gluten
- Soy protein
- Lots of other stuff!
- Tomatoes
- Onion
- Water
- Coconut milk
- Canola oil
- Cashews
- Garlic
- Salt
- Sugar
- Lemon juice
- Paprika
- Turmeric
- Fenugreek
- Cilantro
- Vinegar
- Mango
- Cumin seasoned basmati rice
Heating and Serving the Meal
The heating instructions for this product are:
- Poke several holes in the plastic film to let the steam vent.
- Heat in the microwave on High for two minutes.
- Lift the film and carefully stir the tikka masala.
- Heat in the microwave on High for two more minutes.
- Let stand for two minutes and serve.
Taste Test
The packaging says:
The soul of this entrée is the Masala-a unique blend of exotic spices that inform a rich and spicy tomato curry. The vibrant sauce enlivens hearty soy based Tikka and accents a complement of delicately flavored cumin rice.
While the description sounds delightful, in reality the dish is just okay. Not Bad, Not Great.
The meal isn’t much to look at and could have been enhanced by use of a more colorful rice. Trader Joe’s has a Paneer Tikka Masala with a beautiful spinach rice that would have done wonders for this dish. The cumin seasoned rice provided does have some cumin flavor but the packaging was correct in the use of the phrase “delicately seasoned”.
The Masala sauce is lovely and while I think it is fair to call it “rich”, it certainly isn’t “spicy”.
The soy based Tikka is what it is. The texture of the meat substitute is similar to what you get with Trader Joe’s Meatless Italian Sausage which is acceptable.
The meal was filling and got me through the day.
My biggest complaint about the meal is that, while it is acceptable, it is nothing special and I just sort of trudged through. I guess I am not a fan of Vegan meals that are simply recreations of meat based meals.
Vegan meals do not have to be “Me Too Knock Offs” as evidenced by Trader Joe’s Vegan Misal Curry with Brown Rice which is an absolute masterpiece of flavor and an incredibly interesting meal.
This meal was okay but I can’t imagine that I would buy it again.
