New at Trader Joe’s: Creme Fraiche is kind of the French version of sour cream. However its a bit different, and better that sour cream as it has more butterfat plus is a bit more tangy. This is the first time I’ve seen creme fraiche at Trader Joe’s. This is a welcome addition to the dairy stuff. Lots of ways to use it. Use it in cooking. Also fabulous au naturel topped with berries and a little sprinkle of coconut sugar.
Good price on a good extra virgin olive oil from Greece, single origin, Kalatmata oil. I really like the attractively designed tin it comes in. “Bright and grassy in flavor with a light bitter finish”. I liked this. 16.9 oz. Super for five bucks. TK’s has another Greek kalamata oil too for only a dollar more, $5.99.
I’m not vegetarian but I like to try out vegetarian foods occasionally and see if they are any good. I would say Indian cuisine may have the greatest, most flavorful vegetarian food. Its one of the great world cuisines.
Trader Joe’ sells a number of very tasty Indian foods. Some are quite good, so I’ve given a number of them raves, like the CHANNA MASALA and PALAK PANEER, both good finds you can get at TJ’s. Which bring me to: Trader Joe’s VEGETABLE MASALA BURGERS.
The picture on the package looks enticing. Plus they are are called “Masala Burgers with Authentic Indian Spices“.” (“Masala” refers to mixed spices). To be honest when I tasted this, all I could think of was where are these “Authentic Indian Spices”? Personally I find this quite plain tasting, and for my tastes, lacking in tasty spices. Sure, I agree Indian food is not always highly spiced, but generally, it is very flavorful. Especially potato dishes. Thinking of for example a potato masala dosa. So my short review. Just OK. Pretty Meh. That’s just my opinion as I gather from quite a bit of Feedback here that these Masala Burgers are actually quite popular.
Vegetarians especially seem to appreciate these vegetarian / vegetable burgers. I just find them a bit too bland.
Comparing these for example to a dish like a potato Masala Dosa, in that dish the the potato filling will have a ton of flavor plus quite a bit of all kinds of “masala spices”. So I just wish these tasted a bit more like a potato filling you would find inside a potato masala dosa. Trader Joe’s Vegetable Masala Burgers are made primarily with potatoes. I think of this basically as a mashed potato burger with a few veggies.
The concept is not bad, I just find the execution not as good as some of TJ’s other Indian foods. Again, many which are excellent. When I see Indian people buying things at Trader Joe’s I figure that a sign of being tasty.
So this is one of those items which you will just have to try and decide for yourself. At least be sure to pair these with the great MANGO CHUTNEY and some good sauce(s) you like.
One burger has 140 calories.
Trader Joe’s does sell quite a few tasty Indian foods which I find quite good in the frozen section. For example, the super tasty CHANNA MASALA (chickpea curry) which I love as well as the BHAINGAN BHARTA (eggplant) and superb PALAK PANEER (spinach) entrees. All three of these I find excellent. Some people really like the Samosas too. Perhaps you could pair these Masala Vegetable Burgers with the Palak Paneer spinach dish, or Channa Masala for a good combo?
HOW TO COOK : These are already fully cooked however you still need to brown them up before eating them. Cook them in a skillet for 3-4 minutes per side in a little butter and oil until they look golden brown and delicious. They should get nice and crispy looking on the outside. The crispy texture makes these.
TIP: Do not microwave these as they will not get crispy!
If you have curry powder I would suggest a sprinkle. At the very least I would add a little crushed garlic or even garlic powder if you make them.
Be sure to enjoy them with something full of flavor like the excellent MANGO CHUTNEY
I think they needed a little something to them to jazz them up. Maybe Sriracha or Peri-peri sauce. Zhough. Bomba. Magnifisauce. The thing that perked this up a little bit for me was putting on a little TJ’s TAMARIND SAUCE, basically a tamarind chutney sauce. Perhaps some CHILE CRISP would be good for these?
I think these may really benefit matching with either Trader Joe’s GARLIC ACHAAR or Mango Chutney
My wife told me “just one is enough” for her – that is not a good review from her, as she likes most anything I make. So personally we didn’t find these as good as some other Trader Joe’s Indian frozen items. But again, these do seem popular and a few readers have written in that they really like these Masala Burgers, especially if they do something to it to jazz it up. I have two good friends who are vegetarian who told me she loves these TJ’s Vegetable Burgers and buys them all the time.
As they say, to each his own.These might be worth checking out to see what you think, especially if you need vegetarian options.
Vegetable Masala Burger $3.49 (4 burgers, 10 oz)
(NOTE: Contains Wheat, bread crumbs)
INGREDIENTS: POTATOES, CANOLA OIL, CARROTS, GREEN BEANS, BREAD CRUMBS (WHEAT FLOUR, SUGAR, YEAST, SALT), BELL PEPPERS, ONIONS, CORN, WATER, SALT, SUGAR, SPICES, GINGER, CELLULOSE GUM, GREEN PEPPER, CITRIC ACID, TURMERIC
Here’s a hack I came up with to turn Trader Joe’s Pork Carnitas into Char Siu (Chinese BBQ Pork)
Looking at a half used package of TJ’s Carnitas I had in the fridge, I had an thought. Could I turn it into Cha Siu ? I mean both are roasted pork. Let me see if by adding typical Chinese flavorings I can make them into something like Char Siu?
I tried it out and guess what? It worked. Those TJ Carnitas now tasted very close to yummy Char Siu / Roast Pork. My wife and I thought the hack worked and the pork was delicious. Here’s how I did it.
I made a Chinese sauce, grilled up a few thick slices of the carnitas, cooked it in the sauce to absorb the flavors, then spooned on more. To get that BBQ effect, I put the pan under the broiler until it had caramelized and the sauce became a thick glaze. The pork was tender, moist and full of flavor. We were amazed at how good this turned out and how much it tasted like Chinese BBQ Pork aka Char Siu.
I will be doing this now whenever I am in the mood for some easy Char Siu ! (BTW the Carnitas / Char Siu make a great topping for Ramen!) We ate the BBQ pork along side a Chinese noodle dish I made. It could be even good just on top of a bowl of rice too and with a few veggies, or any way you would use traditional Chinese Roast Pork.
Try this hack out yourself and see how easy and tasty it is!
SAUCE TO MAKE CARNITAS CHAR SIU
1 clove of fresh garlic, crushed
1/2 inch ginger, grated
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons palm sugar / light brown sugar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
pinch of ground cinnamon (or 5 spice powder if you have some)
1/4 teaspoon of black pepper
1 teaspoon rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar
Mix all the ingredients together in the bowl. In a cast iron or oven safe pan, grill up your Carnitas pork slices under the broiler on low, for maybe 3 minutes, watching carefully until the pork is lightly browned. Flip and brush on some Char Siu Sauce and place back under the broiler on low for maybe 1 minute checking it carefully to make sure it does not burn. Take out and turn off the broiler. Spoon any left over sauce over the pork to coat. Put the hot pan back in the oven and let it sit for 1-2 minutes for the sauce to glaze up and reduce more in the residual oven heat (again keeping an eye on it to make sure it is deeply browned but do not let it get burned) Spooning the sauce over every 30 seconds or so.
Enjoy!
Here’s a more traditional recipe making it from scratch. I made the ingredients simpler in that you can find them all at Trader Joe’s – which doesn’t sell Oyster Sauce, for example (I wish). So if you have that and other Chinese ingredients in your larder, of course add them. The CHAR SIU recipe below in Woks of Life will give you ideas.
Trader Joe’s says “A versatile dressing that can be used for salads, marinades and dips.”
I really like this. It’s one of Trader Joe’s best dressings.
It’s delicious as well as versatile. It’s an organic Japanese / Asian sesame based dressing which is great for any salads and I found for making coleslaw/slaws. Savory and a little sweet, with lots of Umami. When I say Versatile I mean this is more than just a dressing for salads. It is also an excellent marinade. For one thing its terrific with chicken. Marinate the chicken in some of this sauce for 1/2 hr or more before grilling, then brush on some more near the end as a glaze. You can also do the exact same thing with Tofu. It is really great as a sauce with the Baked Tofu. Slice up the tofu and pour some of this sauce over and sprinkle with scallions. Its also good just added on top of any sauteed veggies. Cold noodles with sesame sauce (add some more toasted sesame oil and some peanut butter and soy)
You could even mix in a tablespoon of chunky peanut butter into a some of this dressing for a Thai type variation.
I was in the mood for tamales, and I saw these at Trader Joe’s (Refrigerated). These tamales are sold under their own brand (CedarLane) quoting what the package says: “Authentic, Mexican Style Pulled Pork Tamales.” Ha! Authentic? Mexican? This is absolutely neither of those. Labeling this Authentic Mexican is completely stretching truth in advertising. My bar for “authentic Mexican” is fairly high. In NYC we have a quite a large Mexican population, of course no where near as large as California but we NY’ers are lucky as we can get good AuthenticMexican food easily. have eaten homemade tamales made by women selling them on street corners out of a cooler. Most were all terrific. I’ve also gotten tamales from street trucks, ditto as well as Mexican restaurants here. Not to mention in Mexico itself. I know a good tamale when I see it and these Cedar Lane tamales are not good.
These are Blancos factory versions of tamales and get a “Meh”! Edible maybe but nothing to write about. I found them barely seasoned, though they list three kinds of chiles I couldn’t really taste them. These are dumbed down tamales. The filling inside here is a mush of meat and sauce, no chunks of pulled pork as I was expecting. The masa layer is a bit too thin for my tastes. Tamales are all about the corn and the Masa layer as much as the filling. Finally of course these CederLane tamales are made with canola oil – not lard which is “authentic”. OK I know the word lard doesn’t sound appetizing to you but lard is authentic Mexican and it makes for good masa. So while we didn’t hate these, and we ate them and kind of enjoyed them with adding some good salsa, we just didnt find them at all authentic Mexican. So I might not buy these again. I may search out other Trader Joe’s frozen tamales I’ve seen there and check if those are any better.
Trade Joe’s new product: THAI SWEET GINGER SAUCE. It seems to be flying off the shelves, people seem to love it. I am guessing mostly for all the frozen DUMPLINGS they buy?
I tried it and I can say it’s pretty good (though I do like my homemade dipping sauce). This sauce is quite thick and garlic-y. Ingredients include pickled garlic, coconut sugar, and coriander. Personally I think it needs even more ginger. I added some fresh grated ginger, and I found it very improved. I also found it good with something spicy added (Bomba or Peri-Peri) However even just poured out of the bottle this stuff is good. Serve this with all of your frozen dumplings obviously, either fried or steamed/boiled ones. Its quite good on sautéed tofu. Grilled chicken of course! Grilled shrimp? Perfect for shrimp or any fish for that matter. Even just try this on top of rice or just grilled veggies. It will add flavor.
THAI SWEET GINGER Sauce is $2.49 for a 10 oz bottle.
Yesterday it was out of stock. It’s popular and people are really buying up this stuff!
Is this replacing the red bottle of SWEET CHILI SAUCE? I am afraid thats gone now. I like both sauces and the chili sauce has been a must have item for me for ever. Sigh. I will have to go back to getting CHILI SAUCE in Chinatown. Its a staple condiment in Asian cuisine.
Upset about a discontinued product? Why don’t you let Trader Joe’s know how you feel? I found the area on the TRADER JOES website that seems to let one do that (see link) Give them your feedback and who knows? Just maybe if enough people complain about something. Would they reconsider about a discontinued item IF they see there is enough potential demand? Now of course I have no idea if these will have any affect. Maybe it’s a waste of time. Still I wonder if there’s some number which might get someone at Corporate’s attention….. If they see 25 message probably nothing, but if they saw hundreds and hundred of complaints I wonder ….?
Trader Joe’s Rants & Raves (mostly raves, a few rants) 
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