Month #8: India Snacks

Yes, this month's snack country is India. Let's start off with some trivia...

The game "Chaturanga" was invented in India in the 6th century, you may know it by its European variant Chess. The game "Chutes and Ladders" (originally "Snakes and Ladders") was also invented in India.

There are over 1600 spoken languages in India. There are 22 official languages.

Shah Jahan, fifth emperor of the Mughal Empire, built the famous Taj Mahal as a tomb for his wife Mumtaz Mahal after she died giving birth to their 14th child. It was designed to be like heaven on earth.

The average occurrence of twins in India is 9 per 1,000 births but there is a village, Kodinhi, which experiences 45 per 1000 twin births. The cause is unknown.

The largest tree in the world is in India. The Great Banyan Tree in Howrah is so large, it appears to be an entire forest.

Now on to the food...

1.) Mo'plleez Mini Lentil Samosas

Review:

Trying to preserve dinner sides and appetizers in snack form is a worldwide goal across all ages. And, let's face it, nearly no one is succeeding. I'm a big fan of vegetable samosas but can they translate into a shelf-stable snack?

As it turns out, the answer is a resounding Yes. These are awesome. Aside from being a bit crunchier and a bit drier than actual samosas (it's shelf-stable so of course they have to be), they're exactly what you would hope for. I've bought frozen samosas at the store, the kind you bake in your oven, and those weren't nearly as good as these are. Top marks and Four Stars. 

My one criticism is a bit of a nitpick but it must be said. These are super spicy and, in fact, they're too spicy for my taste. I was coughing a few times. But, of course, the Indians like their spice and that's just how it is.

2) Cornitos Nacho Crisps - Tikka Masala

Review:

When I think of India, I don't exactly think of corn. So that's right off the bat.

As the packaging suggests, these are exactly the size, shape and texture of Doritos. Very close, but they're Doritos with a Tikka Masala flavor which sounds amazing to me. Does it translate? I say definitely. Obviously, in chip form, you're going to lose the creamy aspect of Tikka Masala, that's just inevitable... but the spice aspect is there. Like the previous snack, they are once again a little too spicy for my money but these things are what they are.

Overall, these are great, I wish the bag was larger. Try 'em. This is the first time I think I've ever seen "Tikka Masala" as a disembodied flavor. I was thinking I should by some Tikka Masala meat rub or maybe something to pour on a baked potato - the possibilities are endless. Is that possible? I see some powders on Amazon, so I think I'm going to try...

3) Bourbon

Review:

Feels weird saying the name of the snack is just "Bourbon" but what can I do?

I associate Bourbons with England. Doing some research, the origin is English, in fact Boubons were  voted the number one UK biscuit in 2018. But I suppose this is an Indian snack with English influence because the packaging says "Made in India."

Bourbons are chocolate cookies sandwiching chocolate cream. If you have tea, you're supposed to dunk them. I don't have tea. I also don't have too much to say: they're good, they're as good as you'd imagine chocolate cookies to be. But there are a million cookies on the market and nothing about these stand out.

4) Nice - Sugar Sprinkled Coconut Cookies

Review:

These are pretty simple. They're small, thin shortbreads with a sort of wash of coconut flavor.

Very simple, very elemental. I ate one and immediately another and then the next thing I knew, they were all gone. Pretty nice. Again, I'm not the biggest cookie fan, it's hard to judge but these are very good.

5) Bakemate - Kasatta

Review:

These are super weird. If you look at the picture on the wrapper you might think it has something to do with hard-boiled eggs, but no. The yellow in the picture is actually pale green. The middle is green and my best guess on the flavor was mint. Then I considered maybe it was lime.  Turns out, it's actually pistachio. The white outside is creamy. So the result is creamy and sweet but it's weirder than that. It's... somehow familiar but strange - there's something 1960s about it? Weird... but not bad... but weird.

The documentation I have says these are supposed to mimic ice cream and that they also come in strawberry.

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So that's it for India. The list really started on a huge high note and made a smooth downhill descent as it went along. I don't sort these in any order, it just turned out that way. Still, this has been one of the most consistent snack countries and could compete for the best. In terms of individual items, I don't think anything beats the French chocolate, that would be #1, but the Samosa snacks and Tikka Masala chips would not be too far behind. Really impressive.