Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Product Review - Madras Lentils


Ok y'all, before I go into how good these things are, let me first say that I have been to an Indian restaurant ONE time.......and that experience left a lot to be desired.
The first problem with the Indian place was that we went as a group, with NONE of us knowing anything about Indian cuisine. There were all these people gobbling up all the stuff on the buffet and we were just a few poor scared red-necks who didn't even know WHAT we were eating much less how to eat it. To me, it looked like a bunch of odd soups with little scraps of bread. We did find something familar in the tandoori chicken, but it was a brilliant magenta color, so we were a bit wary of it. We left a bit unsatisfied with our experience and had to send a runner to Wendy's later in the day.
Back to the lentils........One of the participants in the Indian Restaurant Debaucle, Dr. C., found these little tasty packets at our local Costco. She noted the relatively low carb content and called me after she tried them and pronounced them , "Fitt'n to eat". She said, " These thangs are good and I am purty sure you can eat 'em. " ( Y'all that know her can almost hear that, right ?)
She bought me a box, and I had my minon pick them up the other day and haul them home. He was delivering pumpkin pies and just made a little trade at that stop.

To prepare them, you just snip open the foil packet, pour into a microwavable container and heat til warmed through. I used a coffee mug and it works beautifully.

The flavor is a lot like chili, but the texture is thinner and the lentils are small, making it more of a soup. It is vegetarian, low fat, and very low carb. Each serving is 120 calories and only 18 carbs plus 4 grams of fiber , yielding a net carb of 14. Of course, like all things that taste good, there are two servings per packet, meaning that I am going to eat the whole thing, giving me a net carb of 24, which still isn't too bad.

I can really see me eating these requently, especially as a part of a "taco" salad or some sort of burrito , maybe even with some peppers and onion added . It is a vegetarian dish, so those with cholesterol or meat issues could enjoy them as well. Overall, I was really pleased with the flavor, texture and appearance of it and the nutritional content is very good for my needs! I am thinking that they would be delicious with some fritos and cheddar cheese, however that would completely wreck the intent of having something that is flavorful with low fat and carbs. One suggestion on the box is to add sour cream to make a dip....hmmmmmmm. Maybe a little experiment for the office Christmas party????
Thanks so much for your contribution, Dr. C., to both my lunch and my blog!

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