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COMPETITIONS & PRODUCT REVIEWS => Product Reviews => Topic started by: Peripatetic Phil on May 09, 2018, 09:00 PM

Title: Without doubt the best supermarket pulao rice I have ever eaten.
Post by: Peripatetic Phil on May 09, 2018, 09:00 PM
I had to take herself to Lidl late this afternoon, and browsing (as one does) I noticed the last remaining pack of Deluxe Lamb Rogan Josh..  "Nothing ventured, nothing gained", I thought, and added it to her trolley.  When I got home I read the label more carefully, and was surprised (and pleased) to read "Succulent chunks of lamb in a spiced onion and tomato sauce, served with saffron rice".  Now that last part did surprise me, so I checked the ingredients list, and sure enough saffron was listed -- OK, it came last, but it definitely appeared..  Ignoring completely the cooking instructions, I cooked the curry in my copper-bottomed frying pan with additional oil, g/g paste and kasoori methi, and the result was fine (well, better when I added lots of salt and some Khanum mixed pickles).  But the rice was outstanding.  I had microwaved it for three minutes in the original packaging after removing the film, covering it with a pre-warmed plate, and as I had eaten the rogan josh with a paratha, ate the rice by itself (well, with a little pickle).  And it was truly superb.  Not swamped with turmeric, as supermarket pulaos so often are, but delicately spiced, real basmati rice, and a definite hint of saffron.  Well done Lidl.

** Phil.
Title: Re: Without doubt the best supermarket pulao rice I have ever eaten.
Post by: Garp on May 09, 2018, 10:05 PM
Waitrose will be gutted Phil  ;D
Title: Re: Without doubt the best supermarket pulao rice I have ever eaten.
Post by: Peripatetic Phil on May 10, 2018, 06:12 AM
Waitrose will be gutted Phil  ;D
The good Mr Waitrose apparently does not feel that the demographics of Bodmin are such as to justify honouring us with a branch of his eponymous emporium, preferring instead to grace the glorious cathedral city of Truro with his hallowed presence ...
Title: Re: Without doubt the best supermarket pulao rice I have ever eaten.
Post by: Les on May 10, 2018, 10:15 AM
Maybe Mr Waitrose is worried about the pirates from the Jamaica Inn, Or the beast up on Bodmin moor  ;D
Title: Re: Without doubt the best supermarket pulao rice I have ever eaten.
Post by: Stephen Lindsay on May 11, 2018, 08:57 PM
Waitrose will be gutted Phil  ;D
The good Mr Waitrose apparently does not feel that the demographics of Bodmin are such as to justify honouring us with a branch of his eponymous emporium, preferring instead to grace the glorious cathedral city of Truro with his hallowed presence ...

Well there's no branches of Waitrose in Scotland Phil so I don't what that says about our demographics!
Title: Re: Without doubt the best supermarket pulao rice I have ever eaten.
Post by: Peripatetic Phil on May 12, 2018, 08:46 PM
Well there's no branches of Waitrose in Scotland Phil so I don't what that says about our demographics!

In this case, I don't think that demographics are the issue -- it is simply that the Waitrose kitchen failed to come up with a deep-fried Mars Bar that the management felt was of a quality that would reflect well on the brand ...
Title: Re: Without doubt the best supermarket pulao rice I have ever eaten.
Post by: Edwin Catflap on May 13, 2018, 01:46 PM
hi Phil was it their own make?

Ed
Title: Re: Without doubt the best supermarket pulao rice I have ever eaten.
Post by: Peripatetic Phil on May 13, 2018, 06:59 PM
Yes, it was Edwin -- Deluxe is just one of many pseudo-brands that Lidl stock, all of which are in fact Lidl products.  Finished it up this evening, by the way, with the remains of a Thai red  chicken curry, and it was just as good as I described it on first opening.

** Phil.
Title: Re: Without doubt the best supermarket pulao rice I have ever eaten.
Post by: George on May 14, 2018, 07:37 PM
...it was truly superb.  Not swamped with turmeric, as supermarket pulaos so often are, but delicately spiced, real basmati rice, and a definite hint of saffron.  Well done Lidl.

I'm sorry but I beg to differ. I guess we can't all share the same tastes. I bought Lidl's rogan josh when it first came out, perhaps a year ago,. It's roughly twice the price of their standard chilled curries, like CTM, korma and Thai red. I didn't feel it was any better and I certainly didn't notice the rice being anything special.. But after reading your glowing review, I decided to give it a second try. The meat sauce part is good but so are Lidl's other curries. The rice strikes me as near-identical to the passable yellow rice included with the non-deluxe curries. I don't find it very pleasant at all
Title: Re: Without doubt the best supermarket pulao rice I have ever eaten.
Post by: Peripatetic Phil on May 14, 2018, 09:27 PM
Fair enough; all I can add is that I have never eaten a better supermarket pulao rice.  I am minded to see if they do "Deluxe pulao rice" as a stand-alone side dish now.

** Phil..
Title: Re: Without doubt the best supermarket pulao rice I have ever eaten.
Post by: Peripatetic Phil on May 15, 2018, 11:39 AM
Deluxe is just one of many pseudo-brands that Lidl stock, all of which are in fact Lidl products.
Checking to see if Lidl offered saffron rice as a stand-alone side dish, I came across the "LIdl Food Academy (https://www.lidlfoodacademy.com.cy/recipe/%CF%83%CF%85%CE%BD%CE%BF%CE%B4%CE%B5%CF%85%CF%84%CE%B9%CE%BA%CF%8C-%CE%B1%CF%81%CF%89%CE%BC%CE%B1%CF%84%CE%B9%CE%BA%CF%8C-%CF%81%CF%8D%CE%B6%CE%B9-%CE%BC%CE%B5-%CF%83%CE%B1%CF%86%CF%81%CE%AC%CE%BD-2/?lang=en)" site, where I found :
Quote
Aromatic rice with saffron and pine nuts -- Ingredients for 4-6 portions
    2 tbsp butter, Milbona
    2 cup basmati or jasmine rice, Golden Sun
    2 tbsp pine nuts, Alesto
    4 cups hot vegetable stock, Cusina, or hot water
    1 sachet (0.1 gr) powdered Kozani saffron,
    Deluxe
    Freshly-ground pepper, Kania
    Salt (optional), KYPARI
All of Milbona, Golden Sun, Alesto, Cusina, Kozani, Kania and Kypari are Lidl "pseudo-brands", used to create a sense of ethnic authenticity for what are in practice own-brand ingredients.  What "Deluxe" is doing there I have no idea, since it does not qualify any particular ingredient.

** Phil.
Title: Re: Without doubt the best supermarket pulao rice I have ever eaten.
Post by: Secret Santa on May 20, 2018, 02:48 PM
What "Deluxe" is doing there I have no idea, since it does not qualify any particular ingredient.

I imagine it's a formatting error since the saffron logically is what makes it deluxe due to its cost and the "Deluxe" is in the general vicinity of the saffron.
Title: Re: Without doubt the best supermarket pulao rice I have ever eaten.
Post by: Peripatetic Phil on May 20, 2018, 03:30 PM
Yes, I think you're right, Santa; there is a trailing comma after "saffron" that could well indicate that the "Deluxe" was intended to be run on.  I now realise that I was wrong in including "Kozani" as one of Lidl's faux-brands; it is, of course. a type of saffron, and the pseudo-brand "Deluxe".

** Phil.
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Quote from: Corrected
    2 tbsp butter, Milbona
    2 cup basmati or jasmine rice, Golden Sun
    2 tbsp pine nuts, Alesto
    4 cups hot vegetable stock, Cusina, or hot water
    1 sachet (0.1 gr) powdered Kozani saffron, Deluxe
    Freshly-ground pepper, Kania
    Salt (optional), KYPARI