TASTY BITE TUESDAYS: Spinach Dal and Basmati Rice Review

If you don't know about Tasty Bite, it's a great newer company that specializes in making healthy Indian and Thai vegetarian and vegan meals that are almost too easy to prepare. All of their items can be microwaved in about 90 seconds or boiled in the package in under 6 minutes. I don't really do microwaves, so I take the boiling route.

When Tasty Bite asked me to review their Bombay Potatoes (review coming soon), I was super stoked. Then, when an enormous box arrived at my house I became even more elated, you might even say ecstatic. Tasty Bite really hooked it up and I can't thank them enough.

I'm really into Indian food, but I have no clue how to prepare it myself. I might even go out on a limb and say it's one of my weak points in vegan cooking (I don't have many, LOL). I mean, I know how to add a little curry powder to some things to give it the Indian vibe but other than that I'm admittedly clueless. So you can see why these super easy-to-prepare meals really got me excited.

After a long day of work last week, I was in no mood to cook a full meal the regular way, so I decided to try out my first Tasy Bite experiment, and oh was it a success. In about 10 minutes I had a full meal and was parked on the couch enjoying Seinfeld, my dogs and some wonderful vegan Indian grub that I could've never made without the ease of Tasty Bite's products.

I wanted to add some faux meat to the equation, so I broke out some Trader Joe's Beefless Strips and started to heat up my griddle. Then I began boiling some water to cook my Tasty Bite pouches in, created an Indian-spiced rub for my beefless strips, and threw the Spinach Dal and Basmati Rice Tasty Bite pouches in the now boiling water. (I threw them both in the same large pot of boiling water since they allow you to cook them while still in the pouches.)

Indian spice-rubbed beefless strips from Trader Joe's

In the approximately 6 minutes it took for the Tasy Bite pouches to cook, I applied the homemade Indian spice rub to my beefless strips, threw those bad boys on the griddle and let them sizzle up. By the time I got those charred to perfection and plated, my Tasty Bite pouches were also done. I opened the pouches as steam rushed out and quickly plated the aromatic Spinach Dal and beautiful fluffy Basmati.

The result was immaculate! The Spinach Dal was spiced well, not too pureed but not too chunky, and just as good if not better as any I've had in my favorite Indian joints. The Basmati was light and fluffy and did not get the random hard/undercooked/overcooked grains that so many boil-in-the-bag rices tend to have. Pair those with my Indian spice rubbed beefless strips and what ensued was the perfect quick, complete and healthy meal to end my hectic day.

I would definitely recommend these Tasty Bite products to anyone who loves Indian food but does not know how to cook it themselves, and I look forward to trying more of these wonderful creations over the next few weeks. Thank you so much to my friends at Tasty Bite for the hookup, but more importantly, for the quick, easy and delicious Indian vegan food! NAMASTE - ONE LOVE - DOUBLE V

Click here to check out Tasty Bite's site.

Click here to purchase Tasty Bite products online.

Click here to visit Tasty Bite on Twitter.