Lean Cuisine Market Creations: Sweet & Spicy Ginger Chicken - First Review

.::EDIT::. So this post is from ~2 days ago, but Blogger was being a pain and had an issue with me copy & pasting from Word 2007 to here. But here it is anyways :)

I’m not really into Asian foods these days, but I used to love them. Being a fan of Asian culture I’ve had everything from instant cup ramen to hibachi and sushi (though I actually never liked it, I have tried it a few times begrudgingly), so I know my way around the flavor profiles, textures, ingredients, and so on. As this was one of two flavors left in the frozen aisle of the Market Basket last time I went shopping, I decided to take a chance on it. Now for the actual review:

First Impressions (before taking a bite – how does it look, smell, etc?): The smell from the microwave is distinctly Asian; you can identify the sweet and ginger but nothing spicy or garlicky, which I was expecting a little. Once I put it onto the plate, my first thought was “The sauce looks a bit watery”. The color was appealing, as you get the green broccoli, the strong red ‘pop’ of red pepper, and the orange from the carrots. Upon seeing the water chestnuts I was a little disappointed as I’m not a big fan, but I expected them to make a showing.

Taste & Texture: The sauce definitely tastes a little on the watery side too, and you immediately get the sweetness with a hint of ginger. I tried the water chestnuts first, and to my surprise they weren’t bad. Much softer than I’ve ever had in Asian dishes, and I daresay I enjoyed them a little! I was worried that would indicate the other veggies would be too soft but the carrots and broccoli were perfect for my liking – not mushy at all, but past the ‘al dente’ stage. Next would be the chicken, which was moist and not gummy or super soft and chewy as is the tendency with low fat frozen food choices. By this point I’m 3 or 4 bites in and I can feel the spicy part of the dish. It’s enough to warm my mouth and lips but not the point where I have to take a break and drink some water. I have a pretty low spice tolerance (even a few bites of medium salsa are too much for me), so for those folks who like it hot you’ll be disappointed. Finally came the ‘udon’ noodles. I know a thing or two about Asian cuisine, and these are not udon. They are linguini noodles disguised as udon (which have a tendency to be gummy, anyways), but they are still good and like the vegetables, just part the al dente stage. There’s not much to be said for the red peppers – they’re just like any others, soft and kind of slimy but I wasn’t expecting anything different.


General Thoughts: From someone who isn’t a big fan of most Asian cuisine, it’s hard to always get solid healthy frozen food picks because it’s both a popular cuisine choice and one that’s easy to scale back on calories and fat while still retaining as much of the original flavor as possible. I’m glad I decided to pick this entrée up, because it was satisfying and even a little surprising given what my expectations were.

I would definitely buy this again!

Rating (1-5 stars): 4 stars

Calories: 280
Fat: 2 grams
Lean Cuisine Website With Complete Nutrition Info

*Note on the ratings & star system – I’m a harsh judge and never give anything the max rating unless I’m truly blown away, so even a rating of 4 from me on an Asian dish means something! Each category (first impression, taste, texture) roughly breaks down to a max of 1 star for appearance/first impression, and 2 each for taste and texture.

Since I’m having some light ice cream for a small dessert, I’m tempted to write another review but that's for another time.