Price: $2.19
Serving: ½ package (5oz.)
Calories: 150 per serving
Fat: 14%, 9g
Cholesterol: 0%, 0mg
Sodium: 21%, 510mg
Protein: 4g
Carbohydrates: 4%, 13g
Fiber: 8%, 2g
Sugar: 4g
WW: 3 POINTS per serving
WW: 6 POINTS per package

Trader Joe says: A traditional Punjabi recipe with a barbecue flavor. Whole eggplants are grilled over an open flame until they develop a wonderful smoky taste and a melt-in-your-mouth texture. They are then cooked with an array of spices that give this dish a distinctive flavor. Serve with fluffy rice, hot Indian bread, pita or tortillas. You can also use as a burrito filling.

Valerie says: First off, please allow me to apologize for being that strange person who eats the recommended serving size. Not having a kitchen for a year and a half allowed me to singlehandedly keep the Indian buffet down the street in business, so now I’m trying to lose the weight I put on by avoiding mindlessly shoveling mountains of Indian food into my face hole.

Inside the box, this meal comes packaged in a silver pouch, which the instructions say to not microwave. So I put it into a bowl and nuked it for about a minute. It came out bubbling around the edges, making for a nice hot dish when stirred. I poured mine on top of a serving of Trader Joe’s Organic Jasmine Rice, and it was the perfect amount of food for lunch. I’m pretty sure the aroma assaulted the entire east wing of my office, but oh well… take that, seafood-wafting coworkers!

This dish tastes so much better than it looks or sounds. It’s not what Americans would consider “barbecue flavored” at all, so don’t be put off by the weirdness of that description like I was! The level of spiciness is perfect for me, but if you’re sensitive, you may find it too spicy.

Although 9 grams of fat seems like a lot, only 1 of those grams is saturated. Also, it somehow has no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives! The ingredient list is simply: eggplant, tomatoes, onions, sunflower oil, pumpkin, garlic, salt, coriander, chilies, cumin, ginger, tumeric, cloves. Also, the box says it’s a “product of India,” which I assume means that it is actually made in India. So Trader Joe, I want to know how this is possible. How do you make cheap, delicious, shelf-stable and possibly authentic Indian food with no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives? Seriously, it blows my mind. I can’t wait to try out your burrito filling suggestion!

Price: Free from Gits*
Serving: 1/2 pouch, 5.3oz.
Calories: 234 per serving
Fat: 19.4%, 12.6g
Cholesterol: 0%, 0mg
Sodium: 23.1%, 554mg
Protein: 8.6g
Carbohydrates: 7.2%, 21.5g
Fiber: 2.8%, 0.7g
Sugar: 0g
Weight Watchers Points: 6 Per Serving, 12 Per Pouch

Gits says: During the days of British rule in India, Dal Makhani found favor with the connoisseurs of food — the Mughals and the Nawabs. A blend of black gram, Bengal gram and red kidney beans are cooked on a slow charcoal fire for up to 16 hours and then delicately tempered and seasoned with exotic spices and light cream.

Andrew says: I love lentil soups and I love kidney beans and I love Indian food. So here’s an Indian lentil soup with kidney beans. Is there any chance I won’t love this?

Well, if there was a chance, it was a tiny one. This is a fantastic dish executed excellently by Gits. It’s like regular lentil soup if lentil soup had a lot more spice and life to it. There are little strands of ginger, onions, a touch of garlic, chilies, coriander, cumin and Fenugreek leaves all dancing together in a dark reddish, creamy ballroom of flavor.

And it really is surprisingly creamy. The third ingredient listed is cream and it really provides a nice, smooth, almost cheesy base for the spice and beans. It helps bring all the flavors together on the palate rather than having them hit at different times. I really enjoy that effect. The packaging says Dal Makhani is India’s favorite lentil dish and I must say it’s already mine as well.

But because I’m white, I rarely have flatbread on hand to enjoy a soup like this with (not that it NEEDS the bread, but it always helps), so I got out my bag of Santitos white corn tortilla chips and dunked away. It was delightful! The fusion of Mexican and Indian cuisine … sounds like a recipe for a long stay on the toilet, but I think this works anyway. Wait until they hear about this in Mumbai!

*When I sent Andrew food he did not know which items were free from producers and which were ones I’d purchased. -Ed.

Price: $2.50
Serving: 1/2 cup, 4oz.
Servings per pouch: 2.5
Calories: 150 per serving
Fat: 9%, 6g
Cholesterol: 2%, 5mg
Sodium: 31%, 740mg
Protein: 6g
Carbs: 6%, 19g
Fiber: 5%, 1g
WW Points: 3 per serving

Kitchens of India says: Dal Burkhara is a signature dish created by the Master Chefs of ITC Hotels, following the ancient Bukhara art of open air cooking. Whole black gram lentils are simmered in thick tomato gravey for hours, bringing out the robust flavours of authentic Indian Cuisine.

Abi says: Dal is a go-to comfort food. It is warm, piquant, colorful, and filling. These sensory pleasures are all bonuses on chilly, gray Fall days like today. Kitchens of India black gram lentils curry (aka dal) succeeds on all fronts, delivering hearty deliciousness in a bright ochre sauce.

A single serving of dal is half of the package, but I say “Be wild, consume it all!” especially if you’re eating the dal for lunch and not in a situation where it is easy to share. Each pouch contains about a cup of dal, which does not seem like a lot until you realize that dal is essentially lentils and lentils are protein rich and you are very, very full.

When eating this meal in the office I just pour the entire pouch into a tupperware-like container and put it in the microwave (covered with a paper towel to avoid splattering). Because the package is shelf-stable (aka not frozen) my food is ready in just a couple of minutes. At home I usually pour the pouch into a saucepan and let it simmer on the stove for a few minutes, pretending that I’ve actually done some cooking.

If you have a few saucepans and you’re already getting hives from the though of cooking an enormous holiday feast, just pick up a few different shelf-stable Indian foods from your local store, some garlic naan (we like Trader Joe’s Garlic Naan) and heat up some simple food hearty enough to combat falling leaves and chilly nights.

Price: Provided by Gits Foods
Serving: 1/2 pouch, 5.3oz.
Calories: 224 per serving
Fat: 25.4%, 16.5g
Cholesterol: 0%, 0mg
Sodium: 22.2%, 534mg
Protein: 6.9g
Carbohydrates: 4%, 12g
Fiber: 4.8%, 1.2g
Sugar: 0g
Weight Watchers Points: 5 Per Serving, 10 Per Pouch

Gits says: A very popular vegetable curry made of a combination of fenugreek leaves, green peas & fresh cream. And much liked by connoisseurs. Along with the aromatic taste of the fenugreek leaves and the green peas, the natural delicate flavors of Methi Matar are enhanced by a subtle aroma of spices and seasonings. Its slightly chewing consistency creating a dish which is as tasy as it is wholesome.

Andrew says: A few weeks ago, if you would have told me I could eat delicious Indian food out of a non-refrigerated silver pouch, I’d have told you to take your lies elsewhere. Now, though, I know this is no lie.

I’d never had Methi Matar before I ate this, but I feel well-versed enough in the Indian spice set to tell you this is a very authentic tasting dish. I get the feeling, due to its simplicity, that this is a dish meant as a side, or as one in a series of savory, soupy concoctions to greedily sop up with flat bread, but even alone, it’s wonderful.

The fenugreek leaves (the methi) add kind of a bitterness, but the peas (the matar) are sweet. There’s cumin and cinnamon, there’s clove and nutmeg. It’s a cornucopia of wonderful flavors. And I can read all the ingredients on the back of the box. Oh yeah, it’s all natural, kids! All in a space-age silver pouch.

The peas make up the bulk of the body here, and they’re just fine. I happen to love peas, so, you know, this is a good deal. The whole dish is a deeper green than pea green, but the flavor is somewhat orange, if you get my meaning. It’s spicy and warm and it warms you up with its flavor. You could eat it straight with a spoon (as I was part of the time, for scientific purposes), but it really cries out for some kind of bread medium. I had the last bit of it with some crusty, locally made artisan bread due to a lack of naan in my home and it was good even with that.

If you can find this in the imported food/ethnic cuisine section of your local market and you’re down with tasty Indian dishes, give it a shot. You don’t even need freezer space!

As of this review, these products are only available at Amazon.com Gits Store in 10-packs, though it appears that this particular product is out of stock. The price comes to $2.13 a pouch and the products are all eligible for Super Saver Shipping. So, you could buy a whole lot of Indian food and a book and get your shipping for free!