Thursday, June 05, 2008

Review of Knorr Make a Meal - 4D Woman june 2007

Knorr Make-a-Meal has come out with a choice of 5 sauce mixes for popular Chinese dishes; Chinese Manchurian, Chinese Schezuan, Chinese Chilli, Chinese Sweet & Sour and Chinese Fried Rice. My first reaction to these was "this has Msg." something I avoid it as much as possible. However, my 5 year old thanks to the ad world had been canvassing for these for days "Mama you like Chinese food and this will make Manchurian just like China Valley (our local Chinese restaurant), at least try it…" so we bought one. I didn't realize it then but I learned very quickly that although by no means would I advocate it as a regular part of my family's menu they could be good for a rainy day. They're easy to cook - stir fry vegetables/meat, add contents dissolved in water, allow to cook and you're done in about 10 minutes - good for a day when we don't have a lot of time to cook or need to extend a meal to accommodate sudden guests. At about Rs. 26 they promise 4 servings a pack and deliver a fair bit more so one could easily put together a quick meal for 4 -5 within Rs. 250 by adding vegetables, rice and chicken. It tasted good too - not like something out of a packet but something at a restaurant without any concerns about hygiene, quality of ingredients and oil content since I did not fry anything. And here is a tip - I also got conniving and heaped up on the vegetables and chicken so my family got their required servings of both!

Mushrooms and Chicken in Manchurian sauce

Ingredients
500 gms chicken breast - cut in 1/4" strips
2 tbsp rice bran oil (I use Tandul)
500 gms mushroom - Quatered
1 packet Knorr Make a meal Munchurian sauce

For the Marinade
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste, 1/4 tsp sugar and salt to taste
2 red chiles - thinly sliced (optional)

For the Marinade
In a bowl, all the ingredients for the marinade and leave for 1 hour. In a wok or large frying pan, heat sesame oil over high heat. Add chicken and stir fry till lightly browned (3 minutes). Add mushrooms, and allow to cook till they release juices. Continue to stirfry till juices from the mushrooms have evaporated and they are slightly brown in patches. Now add water as per the reqiuirements of the packet and stir in the entire packet of Munchurian sauce mix. Cook, stirring constantly, until sauce is thickened and everything is cooked. Serve with steamed rice.

You can vary the vegetables in the dish above. You can also double mushrooms
or use an assortment of vegetables and tofu for vegetarians..

1 comment:

Dhuan said...

Hi Rushina,
Read your articles on your blogs as well as in the outlook.
I have a humble resturant which dishes out Leabense and Peshawari cusine.
It would be my pleasure to have you as my guest at my resturant.

Please do let me know incase if you think of dropping in.

well my resturant is called Dhuan Coffee & Grill, its located at Versova, andheri west.
Feel free to call me any time on 9819266907

cheers - Salim