Food and drink review blog with an ethnic twist. Focus on new, unusual and seasonal products
bought in the UK.

Wednesday 24 April 2013

Food Memories and Recent Finds

Have not done a general food review post for a little while.   The ones written recently, have all had a seasonal theme to them.  This post is largely inspired due spotting drink Um Bongo in my local Tesco.  This juice drink was a real favourite of mine when I was growing up.  Similarly, last week I found a packet of crisps which I also remember fondly from my childhood.  Didn't think they were made anymore and they were quite as yummy as I remembered them to be!  Have been in a real savoury mood recently and this post certainly reflects this.  With the arrival of the warmer weather (at long last!), have found that I have been eating a-lot more fresh fruit, salad and cold meals in the evening.  One of my favourite things at the moment is baked sweet potatoes in their skin, nicer, healthier and more flavoursome than your standard baked pot!  As they were on last weeks super six, I had a generous bag full of the things for a fantastic 69p.  So versatile, they are excellent in a veggie curry and yummy in a soup- particularly combined with roast parsnips.   




UM BONGO


Not a new drink but one that I haven't seen or drank for many years.  It is also the first time that I have seen it come in a large carton (1 litre) as opposed to a single serve one.  On the shelf alongside, there was a new type which is orange in flavour and aptly called- Orang-Utan.  This keeps up the jungle feel of course!  As a child the bright and colourful packaging appealed and I seem to remember it having a very cool advert and catchy theme tune.  The flavour of the standard version and one I bought is tropical.  It blends nine different fruits to give it, its unique taste.  It is a lovely light and refreshing drink.  Especially nice chilled with ice.  It isn't like other tropical juice drinks, which oddly perhaps sometimes have a tomatoey flavour to them (to me).  I thought that it may be too sweet as the food and drinks often are that we enjoyed as children.  However, this wasn't the case at all.  A refreshing drink and real blast from the past!







KP SALT AND VINEGAR MINI CHIPS

These are highly flavoured and very vinegary matchstick crisps.  They are really small and very crunchy.  Love the flavour of these, preferring salt and vinegar crisps to be strong in their vinegar flavour.  They are a nice change from standard crisps.





POM BEARS SALT AND VINEGAR 


Characterised by their cute teddy shape.  Bought these in Holland and Barrett   Remember them being a regular crisp of choice as a child.  Memories of taking them on picnics with family and friends.  One particular picnic stands out in the memory, down at the park on a bright summers day in which a big group of us were out all day and played rounders, explored the woods and paddled in the stream.  Quite Blytonesque thinking on it!  As were our lemon curd sandwiches!  Pom bears are light crisps, low in calories.  The salt and vinegar flavour is pretty mild but still enjoyable.  The packs are fairly generous too.




HEINZ TOMATO KETCHUP BLENDED WITH INDIAN SPICES


Reduced to clear, had completely missed the range of special limited edition Heinz Tomato Ketchup's being sold.  Among these were a Sweet Chilli, Balsamic Vinegar and Indian Spice versions.   I tried the Indian Spice one and am really enjoying it.  It has a pleasant warming taste, really tomatoey just like the standard sauce.  The spices really added something, not an overtly strong curry taste and it is certainly not hot spicy- very mellow.  Cumin, coriander and cinnamon are the predominant flavours and spices used in this.  It is very thick and to get it out of the bottle it had to be watered down.  It got a firm seal of approval from my little brother too, who came in for his tea last week.  Really delicious sauce, be great with anything really- very nice with Indian based snacks such as pakora’s and samosas  as a dip.  I made some sweet corn fritter type things with spring onions and they went really well with the sauce.




TESCO'S FULL-ON FALAFEL DIP

A really delicious houmous that is full of flavour and ribboned with chunks of falafel.  As the packaging says it is very garlicky but this is not too overpowering or the dominant flavour.  The houmous itself has a really light almost whipped texture.  It would be a really interesting sandwich or wrap filling.  I had it a number of different ways.  Inside a sweet baked potato alongside salad and a slice of lemon, as a dip with raw veg crudites (carrot, pepper and radish), spooned on the side of a cous-cous and  mixed leaf salad and also as a filling with salad in pitta bread with sweet chilli sauce.  A really versatile, yummy and unique product, have not seen anything like it in any other shop.  It is part of a fairly new range of dips sold in Tesco for £1.25 per pot.  Other flavours in the range include Blazing Burrito, Hey Pesto, Bombay Bhaji, New Yorker and Super Hero Jalapeno.  Look forward to trying others, especially the Burrito as I love beans.   

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