Have you noticed the exotic coconut and tamarind curries cuddling up to vats of pineapple salsa and jars of pasta sauce at Costco lately? Indian convenience foods are flooding into the US, says Monica Bhide in “Tikka in No Time” (Washington Post, January 24, 2007). “More than 1,200 Indian food products have been introduced in the United States since 2000—almost 300 of them in 2006,” she writes. Among the most popular items at one Washington-area market are “ready-made potato-stuffed breads, onion breads, nans, tandoori breads and spiced breads from Deep or Pillsbury…”
Pillsbury? Well, yes. According to the Boston Globe, General Mills, “a long time player in the international market,” has been importing frozen flatbreads from India for the last four years and selling them in Doughboy-emblazoned packaging. In “Frozen Indian Foods Catch on in US" (July 12, 2006), Lylah M. Alphonse writes that in the Greater Boston Area Indian groceries are selling “heat-and-eat treats like samosas and spicy vegetable curries…along with pre-fried chunks of paneer, a soft Indian cheese used in many vegetarian dishes, and ice creams in flavors…such as mango and pistachio…”
It’s those convenient coconut and tamarind curries that have really won my heart. Made by Maya Kaimal, author of Savoring the Spice Coast of India and winner of an IACP Julia Child Award for her first book, Curried Favors: Family Recipes from South India, they are sold at Costco and Whole Foods. Intensely flavored with ginger, sour tamarind, green chilies and other spices, they are the best kind of convenience food: good enough to eat right out of the container, standing up in the kitchen. Come to think of it, they’ve never lasted long enough for me to actually cook with them.