I've been home for the summer for a few weeks now, and my dad being the health freak that he is, confronted me about the high salt content of some of the pre-prepared foods that I eat. One of my favorite is Near East Mediterranean Curry Couscous. It is so delicious and takes five minutes to cook! However, it does have 550 mg of sodium per serving. With three servings per box, that is a lot of salt (69% of your Daily Value).


My dad insisted it would be simple to replicate the combination of spices that I love so much - "Just had some curry and turmeric and it will taste the same!". But I am sure there must be more to it. The ingredients list includes "salt, peas, molasses, spices, carrots, garlic, turmeric spice, natural flavors, parsley, honey and onions."

This is where the research comes in. I have to figure out what those ambiguous "spices" are. Possibilities include:

- Cumin


- Curry powder (Duh, this probably should have been first in the list), which can include coriander, turmeric, cumin, fenugreek, ginger, garlic, fennel seed, cinnamon, clove, mustard seed, cardamom, mace, nutmeg, red pepper, tamarind, or saffron

- Garlic (Yummy!)

- Parsley seems pretty obvious too since it's on the box

- Onions are also on the box, but I would just use fresh onions, rather than the sketchy dried onions in the "Spice Sack"


It seems like the "spices" may just be curry powder. How dull. Most every recipe I have looked at just adds curry powder. And none of them add molasses or honey - it must be one of those sneaky things they add to make stuff taste better that is totally unecessary, just like adding more than a gram of salt.


Next time I make couscous, I will have to make my own "Spice Sack" filled with curry powder, turmeric, garlic and parsley.


Also check out this article from the Seattle Times about curry :)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/pacificnw/2003/0302/taste.html

Comments

  1. Lana ReyNovember 17, 2020 at 5:03 AM

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
In my search for easy recipes, I ended up on quite a few emailing lists - Better Homes & Gardens, Food Network, Tastebook all have the privilege of spamming me. At work today, I was browsing through recipes for "Crisp Summer Salads" and I was shocked at what passed for a salad. The first "salad" - The Layered Spinach and Pot Sticker Salad - on the list included potstickers, strawberries and strawberry jam as ingredients. Then to add insult to injury, they tell you to whip up a recipe of " Spiced Chips ". As is frozen chicken pot stickers weren't unhealthy enough. It isn't a salad just because it has spinach! Next is the Southern Cobb Salad , and to it's credit, it looks like a salad. However, I don't even want to think about what constitutes the " cheese dressing ". I'm terribly confused by the Smoked Salmon and Melon Salad . I guess it counts as fruit salad, but why I would mix salmon with cantaloupe, honeydew and blueber
Read more

Eat This Not That Part I

Image
I recently saw a copy of the book, Eat This Not That , and I thought it was a cool idea, so I am starting my own version with products I use at home rather than at restaurants. First on my list is Eat ReddiWhip not Cool Whip. Cool whip is delicious, especially when frozen, but it was not until I bought some for myself to go with strawberries that I realized how horribly fake it is. According to Dietfacts.com, they include: INGREDIENTS:WATER, CORN SYRUP, HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OIL (COCONUT AND PALM KERNEL OILS), HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, LESS THAN 2% OF SODIUM CASEINATE (FROM MILK), NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, MODIFIED FOOD STARCH, XANTHAN AND GUAR GUMS, POLYSORBATE 60, POLYSORBATE 65, SORBITAN MONOSTEARATE, SODIUM HYDROXIDE, BETA CAROTENE (COLOR). So, they don't actually have any milk in them, they have less than 2% of one milk derivative and a bunch of additives to maintain freshness and composition. We all know hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup are bad for us, an
Read more

Recipe Re-do: Morning Glory Muffins

 I have a busy week ahead with early start times and lots of demands at work. I have been stressing for days about what breakfast food I can grab and run out the door to make my 7 am start time. Today, I decided to re-make these delicious morning glory muffins, with a few adaptations. I love that these recipes has so many fruits and vegetables, but how many servings does each one have really? Let me break it down... 1 apple - 1 serving 1/2 cup applesauce - .5 serving 3/4 cup raisins - 3.8 servings 6 carrots - 12 servings 8 oz pineapple - 1.4 servings / 18.7 servings per recipe, .6 servings per muffin So, if I have two muffins for breakfast, I'm getting > 1 servings of my fruits and vegetables for the day. It's not great, not terrible. As I said before, I do want to figure out how to add more protein to this - maybe next time I can add some flax seeds or something. Ingredients 1/2 cup spelt flour 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour ½ cups sprouted wheat flour ¾ cup almond flour 1
Read more