Wendyl Nissen: Noodle aisle's spiced invader worth a look

NZ Herald·

17 Jun, 2016 05:00 PM3 mins to read

Tasty Bite Lemongrass & Ginger Noodles. Photo / Supplied

Good to see natural flavours but watch out for sugar content.

This is a new arrival to the crowded instant noodle aisle in the supermarkets. I was attracted to it because it has no MSG, has all natural ingredients listed and apparently 80 per cent of the energy used to make this produce comes from renewable sources. Closer inspection tells me that this product comes from a farm in India. And that many of these pouches have been sent to victims of tsunamis and earthquakes as relief aid. It's worth looking at www.tastybite.com.au to read about this company.

Tasty Bite Lemongrass & Ginger Noodles $3.69 for 250g

Ingredients (in order of greatest quantity first):

Wheat noodles (27%)
To be honest there seems to be more noodles in this than 27 per cent. The pack says it's two servings but its contents fill a small dessert bowl, so I think most people will use it as one serve.

Vegetables (26%) (carrot, baby corn, red capsicum, French beans)
Nice to see so many veges in here but I had trouble finding them. There were bits and pieces of vaguely green and red and yellow and orange but not as much as 26 per cent of the total pack.

Water

Onion
This is the strongest flavour, and high on the list.

Coconut milk
You can taste a bit of coconut, but this and the oil below will contribute to the fat content, which is 5g per serving or 10g per pouch.

Sunflower oil
The noodles have quite a glisten to them, which will be due to this oil.

Spring onions

Natural flavours
Good to see natural flavours used.

Ginger (2%)
This will be root ginger, which is very common in Asian dishes like this.

Garlic
There is a strong flavour of garlic.

Turmeric
This is a wonder spice with all sorts of amazing benefits now being credited to it including helping infections. It is especially good when you have a cold.

Raw sugar
Quite a bit of sugar in here at 13g per serve or 26g per pouch, which is about 6.5 teaspoons. So that's not great if you are going to eat the whole pouch.

Thai basil
Thai basil differs to the Italian basil we use on pizzas and in tomato sauces. It is native to Southeast Asia and has a licorice, aniseed spicy flavour.

Vinegar
This will lend a bit of sour flavour to the noodles as well as being a preservative.

Chillies
This is quite spicy. It says on the pouch that it is mild but I would say it is mild if you were from India and ate a lot of spicy foods.

Lemongrass (0.01%)
Not a lot of lemongrass in here so I'm a bit dubious about it being advertised on the packet as one of the main flavours.

My recommendations:

This is a very aromatic, intense and spicy meal, so if you like Indian food then you'll probably love these. I found them a bit strong and sweet but there really isn't anything wrong with these in terms of natural ingredients - there is too much sugar though, in my opinion.