This Microwaveable Chana Masala Regularly Saves Dinner
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Illustration by Emma Erickson
A few months ago, the corner store one block from my apartment created a short-lived punch card loyalty system. In signing up, I was asked if I wanted my complete purchase history sent to me via email. Sociologically, I should have said yes. Emotionally, I knew I couldn’t handle it. A time-stamped documentation of all my late-night trips for treats and toilet paper felt like a look into the darkest part of my psyche.
When I got home, however, I couldn’t resist asking my husband what he thought would have appeared as our most-purchased items. Without hesitation, he ticked off our top three: liters of seltzer, pints of ice cream, and pouch after pouch of Tasty Bite.
Even my closest friends will be surprised to learn of my devotion to Tasty Bite, a brand of packaged, shelf-stable Indian entrées. I am dedicated to home cooking to a fault—partly because I’m stubborn, mostly because my brain is soothed by making dinner. I love spinning the bits and bobs in my fridge and pantry into something new, and I almost never venture into the (notably vast!) world of heat-and-eat products.
So it’s admittedly weird that I’m obsessed with this one particular line of microwavable meals. But our corner store is stocked with so much Tasty Bite, and shortly after we moved in nearby, curiosity got the better of my husband and he brought a pouch home. It’s been a mainstay in my kitchen ever since.
Tasty Bite’s website boasts the tagline, “Indian meals for the busy home cook” and I gotta say: True! The brand sells a variety of fully cooked stewy mains, like chana masala, madras lentils, and coconut squash dal, in 10-ounce pouches, costing around $5 each, that heat through in just 60 seconds in the microwave. Each container is labeled to serve two, but when poured over a scoop of rice, I think the whole thing is the perfect amount for one hungry person.
Tasty Bite Organic Channa Masala (Pack of 6)
$20.00, Amazon
And that’s my most common use case for Tasty Bite: I eat it when I am hungry, and also absolutely unable to cook. When I’m down for the count the day after my COVID booster, for example, or I’m leaving for a trip and have eaten the last perishable item out of my fridge in preparation. On those days, a cozy, heaping scoop of spiced chickpeas or lentils that I don’t have to work for is just the ticket. At minimum, I’ll get my rice cooker going at the same time, but for extra credit, I’ll stir in greens to wilt or top the finished bowl with a sprinkling of cilantro and sliced red onion. The result is a shortcut that feels like home cooking at its very best.
And as for flavor? Tasty Bite excels there too. The ingredients lists are short and straightforward, with no weird fillers or stabilizers, and they taste so much fresher and more complex than I’d expect from a shelf-stable product. When I brought a chana masala pouch (my favorite) into work for a recipe test, food director Chris Morocco was certain I’d doctored it up before serving it to him. “You added lime?” he asked me, and I shook my head. “Salt? Vinegar? Sugar?” Nope, nope, nope. “This is just straight-up?” His eyes got big. “It’s so…balanced!” Take it from someone whose main career aspiration is to make something Chris Morocco calls balanced—it’s not easy to do! But my go-to security blanket passed with flying colors, which I have chosen to accept as a personal victory.
The silliest reason I keep coming back to Tasty Bite is that I love how unadorned it is. In a social-media-led ecosystem flooded with food brands with poppy design and buzzword-laden mission statements, Tasty Bite is not the product you’d pick to artfully prop on your pantry shelf for a photo. But what's the worth of an aesthetically pleasing label if the stuff inside the jar doesn't taste that good? Give me the uncool pouch of well-seasoned food any day, from an aisle in the bodega I wouldn’t otherwise spend a lot of time in (too far from the ice cream). What’s inside packs a punch, which is what counts as cool in my book. And if you need proof, just ask to see my shop history.
Spiced Chickpea and Spinach Pockets
Originally Appeared on Bon Appétit
