Indian Entree Reviews

Post by **kman** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 12:34 pm

I just posted a new review of some MRE Indian entrees here:

http://www.mreinfo.com/reviews/mre/indi ... views.html

But here's a copy for your immediate viewing pleasure and comments:

Indian Entree Reviews

TheEpicenter.com recently picked up a bunch of MRE Indian entrees and sent me some samples to review. These entrees were all produced by Sopakco and appear to the be the same ones used in the MARC (Meal, Alternative Regionally Customized) ration. The MARC is a vegetarian ration with unique dietary and component requirements designed specifically for detainees at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base.

MARC Ration for Gitmo Detainees

Entree Reviews

The entrees being reviewed are: Channa Dal Masala, Saag Chole, Dhingri Mutter, Alu Chole, Vegetable Jalfrazi, and Curried Vegetables.
Channa Dal Masala

Wow, that was good! I'm not a huge Indian food eater. Tthe only thing I know about the different curries is that my favorite is yellow and I haven't tried any others. :-)  But as luck would have it, this one had a nice yellow curry in it. I threw in some rice and had a great meal!

Dhingri Mutter

Not too bad - lots of potatoes and vegetables in this one. I ate it with rice but it could have made a meal all by itself - almost a stew.

Saag Chole

Oh man...when I opened this one, I was worried. I saw the ingredients had "spinach" listed but I didn't expect it to be so green! My first thought was, "This is going to come out looking like it went in". But I gave it a try and was very surprised - it was quite tasty! Initially, I thought it might be a little spicy but by the time I was halfway through it, I discovered it was actually *very* spicy. Hot hot hot. This stuff sneaks up on you. It's still disgusting to look at, but it's probably by second favorite entree of all these.

Curried Vegetables

This one was disappointing. It looks like they took the old "Pasta with Vegetables" MRE entree, took out the pasta and threw in some curry. It was "ok" but seemed to be more of an Americanized Indian entree than a true Indian entree.

Alu Chole

This one was interesting. I still can't figure out what the flavor in there was. It seemed to be a tomato-based sauce. Something in it tasted familiar but I could never put my finger on it. It's pretty basic - tiny square potatoes and chick peas. Better than the curried vegetables but not as good as the first three entrees above.

Vegetable Jalfrazi

This one seemed to be a combination of the curried vegetables and the alu chole. I don't mean a "this is close" type of combination, I mean literally, they had leftover Curried Vegetables and Alu Chole so they just dumped the remains together, mixed it up, and bagged it. It's definitely an improvement over the Curried Vegetables and just a step down from the Alu Chole.

Taste Rankings

Here's how I'd rank the entrees in order of taste/preference:

1 - Channa Dal Masala
2 - Saag Chole
3 - Dhingri Mutter
4 - Alu Chole
5 - Vegetable Jalfrazi
6 - Curried Vegetables

bl00k · Post by **bl00k** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 2:17 pm

Those look pretty delicious. I see the Channa Dal Masala has 470 calories! Finally an entree with a sufficient amount of food.

dirtbag · Post by **dirtbag** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 3:52 pm

Good eyes,bl00k, must be the lentils...
The others are half of that .....

Big Galloot · Post by **Big Galloot** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 4:55 pm

That calorie count for Channa Dal Masala looks awfully high. I went out on the internet and checked a couple of websites that provided nutritional info on Channa Dal Masala and they all report far less calories per gram. For each of these I divided the calories given by the grams given and then multiplied by 227 to adjust the calorie count to the 227 grams in the Sopakco pouch.

cals...... grams ... c/g.... X 227= total
290...... 262...... 1.11....X 227 = 251
243...... 273...... 0.89....X 227 = 202
460...... 350...... 1.31....X 227 = 298

The results become more normal for MRE entrees. Could someone have made a mistake? Would anyone have guessed that I have a BSBA in accounting?

In any case, Kman, you have inspired me and I placed an order few of these bad boys, just to give them a try.

BTW – these are where I got my numbers;
http://www.calorie-count.com/calories/item/94599.html
http://www.recipezaar.com/17471
http://www.presidentschoice.ca/FoodAndR ... a/catid/97

bl00k · Post by **bl00k** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 6:50 pm

dirtbag wrote:Good eyes,bl00k, must be the lentils...
The others are half of that .....

BTW, also check the load of Dietary Fiber there's in the Channa Dal Masala!!
I heard low fiber is/was an issue in MRE's.

Post by **kman** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 7:08 pm

I thought it was more of an issue with high fiber plugging you up.

Post by **MCIera** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 7:31 pm

If it will help as a point for comparison, I found a retort package of Rajma Masala from Priyafoods that might help as a comparison. Rajma is kidney beans. Taking the 10.6 oz package and converting it down to 8oz would give me the equivilant of

540 Calories
16 g Fat
4.5 g Saturated Fat
742 g Sodium
72 g Total Carbohydrate
7 g Dietary Fiber
27g Protein

bl00k · Post by **bl00k** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 3:53 am

kman wrote:I thought it was more of an issue with high fiber plugging you up.

hmm... i thought low fiber causes constipation because fiber can't be digested and because fiber absorbes water it makes your excrement softer.

Post by **kman** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 9:49 am

Duh...you're right, bl00k. I don't know what I was thinking...my brain must have been in "reverse". :-)

Big Galloot · Post by **Big Galloot** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 10:54 am

MCIera wrote:
540 Calories
16 g Fat
4.5 g Saturated Fat
742 g Sodium
72 g Total Carbohydrate
7 g Dietary Fiber
27g Protein

540 calories in only 227 g seems awfully dense, especially after they leave room for the 742 g of Sodium. Seeing that a cup(240 g) of kidney beans is only 113 calories(http://www.thecaloriecounter.com/Foods/ ... /Food.aspx), where are all those extra calories coming from? Is it cooked in lard?