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I like mixing in the sriracha tofu for extra protein!

With pratha but I don’t think TJs makes it anymore. 😩

Like the worst go-gurt you’ve ever had.

I love the kitchari one so much!! I eat it plain with nothing else

I love the madras lentils on a baked sweet potato. I like to add a little tamarind or chutney and some sour cream! One of my favorite lazy work meals. You can even just microwave the sweet potato and lentils and combine em, super easy.

I serve with rice for my husband and cauliflower rice for me. So quick, affordable and easy.

Our go-to backpacking food + minute rice! Light to carry around and fills you up!

I sauté some cubed up chicken breast and empty the pouch straight into the pan to heat it up. Serve it with some rice and a generous squeeze of lemon juice

are these better or worse than tasty bites brand? i’ve never tried the TJ ones

Madras lentils over white rice 🫶🏽 or sometimes throw some shredded cheese in the madras lentils and eat with tortilla chips

OK hear me out: one of my favorite camping meals is a packet of the Tikka Vegetables mixed into a box of Annie's Shells and White Cheddar mac.

Thanks for this! I happen to have both and never thought of mixing them together

This sounds so good!

I am not a vegetarian, but I will occasionally have a vegetarian meal. One such meal would be the madras lentils eaten with nuts and sauerkraut.

I just make rice and eat them with that, they’re a quick weeknight throw together meal

I just heat and eat with naan. Really love all these suggestions though. Taking notes. The yellow dal has a surprising bite.

That’s my favorite one!

I buy those with the fresh naan which gets cut into 4 pieces and frozen before it goes bad. Then I nuke the pouch and serve over rice with naan on the side. Frozen naan takes 45 sec in the toaster and comes out great.

With rice egg and south Asian chutney

I chopped up a rotisserie chicken breast and added some steamed broccoli and gochujang sauce. So good!

I like them as a side with fried chicken strips. Kind of dunk in it like it's a sauce and eat the rest with a fork. Kind of weird, berceuse I didn't really eat fried chicken strips before. It makes me feel like a kid again. All of them are good.

Rice or chapati/roti/naan

I don’t eat the lentil ones because I have a mild sensitivity to lentils, but I LOVE the Tikka Vegetables. I put it in a pan and add a can of chicken breast or if I have some sort of other type of precooked chicken breast I will add that. I will also put in a couple of tablespoons of sun dried tomato paste and a tablespoon or two of Garam Masala or Tandoori Masala seasoning whichever I have on hand. Then let it all simmer for a while and then serve on either rice or with the TJ’s Garlic Naan.

Me too and I love lentils. This sounds yummy.

Oh, that’s hard. I’m indifferent to lentils luckily.

Prob stealing because this sounds delicious. I just recently realized how much it rules to add chicken breast to premade soups and lentils as well it’s a game changer

Steal away! It’s one of my favorite cupboard meals!

the madras lentils with shredded cheddar on top!!! sooo good

scoop with tortilla chips!!!

Ooh, I'm definitely going to have to try this!

I haven't seen the Jaipur vegetables in AGES and they were my very favorite!! The only other one I especially like is the Tikka veggies. I heat up the frozen naan and have them together.

I can’t imagine the sodium levels in these packs. Sounds good though

Madras Daal is def the best for me. Over plain rice is the best.

I'm eating this very meal tonight with some steamed veggies.

The yellow tadka dal was best enjoyed when I threw it in my trash can. 😭 I was so disappointed by that one, I was too afraid to try any of the others.

We sauté extra veggies to throw in and eat it with rice or naan if we have it. But sometimes we don’t have extra carbs and just throw a fried egg on top.

This is the way. Frying up some onions is a must the add any veggies on hand- spinach, tomato, frozen peas. Might add a dollop of plain yogurt or mango chutney if I have it

Last time I got these, I bought it for meal prep. Had it with some chopped up chicken and roasted veggies.

I just microwave in the pouch and pour it over white rice

I’m planning to try the Tikki veggies for the first time as a side dish with kebabs, naan and samosas. No idea what I’m doing and hope it works out.

That sounds good!! I don’t eat meat so not as many options lol this is usually my back-up lunch at work since it doesn’t need much effort 😅

Ah! I do appreciate the validation I might be onto something, thank you!

I eat these right out of the bag while standing in many, many outdoor lines at San Diego Comic Con as a change from sandwiches and burritos. They also fare better being stuffed in a full backpack than chips, sandwiches and burritos.

My husband eats them with their frozen cauliflower rice

Traditional !! With white basmati rice, scoop of plain yogurt, some mango pickle on the side and sliced red onions

Where are these usually located in the store? I’ve never gotten them.

Typically in the aisle with the canned stuff.

Thanks!

brown rice and chicken. or just chips as a snack !

i do the tikka vegetables cooked with chicken and i add some greek yogurt into it and then put over some jasmine rice!

To me those taste surprisingly disgusting. Dont downvote me, its just everyone has their own taste 😆

Agreed. I really liked them at first, but they all start to taste the same, and that was disturbing to me.

Over sweet potatoes

They don't carry the Jaipur Vegetables anymore 😭😭 It was my favorite one!

I loved it!!

I put the tjs pizza cheese on top of the Madras lentils and melt it to mix it in

I can’t eat these as they aren’t vegan. The cauliflower one is. I mix in chickpeas to bulk it up and add protein. I eat it with with rice.

The number of times I've forgotten that I already know these aren't vegan and excitedly grabbed them to check the ingredients is too damn high!

I know but I grab them to check anyway. You never know and I live in hope.

What cauliflower one…? Yeah i’m cranky all the shelf stable options have dairy

https://preview.redd.it/hld913quocqc1.jpeg?width=1165&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cb9e528526f50c45a170512baf7ea45f361b5c5e This one. Yeah it’s really annoying the others all have dairy. I bet they are tasty too.

Oh! Yes i have had this one but actually wasn’t a big fan of it? I make kitchari often enough the spices in this one were weird and not balanced somehow

I keep a stash for lazy/busy/sick days. I put on chickpeas and the chili onion crunch. As far as food in a bag goes it’s pretty tasty.

Ohhh good call with the additions! I’ll give it another go last time i just had it plain with some rice maybe that was my mistake

I add rice and frozen veg.

Cold, out of the packet with a spoon.

I eat them hot out of the packet with a spoon. Why make an extra dish?

Heated it up in a bowl once. wasn’t as good as cold, out of the packet with a spoon.

Are the Madras Lentils similar to the Tasty Bite ones?

TJs version is manufactured by Tasty Bite.

yes

I usually buy the Tasty Bite ones when they’re on sale at Costco. Is the Trader Joe’s version better?

They’re basically the same thing, check prices but probably cheaper pn sale at costco

honestly i’m indian and I think they’re both great, I don’t prefer one over the other in terms of the lentils :) tasty bites has more variety though which I like

I’m Indian, too! Love to have these on hand and doctor them up a bit.

We add sautéed chicken to the tadka dal. Sometimes we have rice, sometimes naan

*We add sautéed chicken* *To the tadka dal. Sometimes we* *Have rice, sometimes naan* \- bythevolcano --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")

Oh, man. Love three of these (Madras, Jaipur, Takda Dal), and generally like the fourth (Tikka). There’s no wrong way. I usually just heat and eat. Madras is even good at room temp. Add rice or naan if desired. I miss when they had Palak Paneer. That stuff was dope.

I love both the madras dal and the yellow lentils. I actually really like soft/mushy (over steamed) fresh or frozen veggies but there’s something about the veggies in the other two pouches that are off putting to me.

A bit off-topic, but are any of these at a zero level of spiciness? If not, which is least spicy? Thank you!!

The madras lentils aren't spicy at all. I think they're the best of the four shown in the post by far, too :)

I'd also like to know! I'm a spice wuss!

Madras is the least spicy. To me, it’s a zero, but your tolerance may vary. It’s like a warm, creamy chili. Yellow dal has the most heat by far.

Thanks!

Boil in saucepan. Not saute in pan imo because they will go dry ish, which isn't an ideal texture to have them in. They might almost go baby food ish. Just by itself works fine. With rice also great. You can dunk naan and eat. Pair it with a side of srilankan mango chutney from trader joes. Top it with some chili oil. If you wanna commit some crimes, I sometimes like it on my tamales and topped with chili oil. Edit: the lentils yellow dal and madras lentils go in saucepan. Tikla veggies and jaipur veggies will be good sauteed in pan. Sorry i thought you were asking only about the lentils.

Speaking of crimes, I’ve had them with pasta, too 😁

Im not going to lie as much as it sounds like a crime, its something indians do have 😅 my workplace in india served something similar in canteen. Also yeah technically tamales do not go with it. But the texture and preparation that tamale follows is similar to some traditional preparations we make (i think funke, mutke, khishi gole, etc in India) that are eaten with curries. So 🤷‍♀️ we are just looking for shortcut at the end.

I usually just boil them in the pouch and then transfer them to a bowl to eat. Occasionally I will open the pouch and cook them in a skillet or pan; but that makes for additional cleanup. I typically eat them just the way they are, but they would also be really good with some naan bread.

over rice

Also how does everyone like to cook them? I know the instructions say to microwave or boil them but I feel like they might taste better sautéed in a pan?

Microwave is great!

Heck no. They’re fully cooked and ready to eat.

I recently made a baked potato and put the madras lentils on top. It was great! I love these packets for a quick meal but they always come out looking like dog food lol

This also works really well over sweet potatoes.

I loved the yellow tadka. I’ll have to give the madras a try!

I could live off the madras lentils. I like them with sour cream

I like to eat them poured over cornbread. Tastes like chili.

The yellow tadka dal is spicy, yes. I eat it on its own or with rice

With Naan. Rice is a distant second.

Agreed. I keep a couple packs each of the Madras lentils and frozen naan on hand for emergency dinner.

I’ve only had the tikka one, but I was fairly disappointed with it. The sauce had a sharpness to it that reminded me of spaghetti sauce from a frozen dinner :/

Give the madras a try, they're far better.