Tasting review of FamilyMart's 'Coconut-Flavored Massaman Curry' and Chickpea Gorogoro's 'Two Types of Chickpeas and Tomato-Flavored Chana Masala Curry' with a strong contrast between sweetness and spiciness

FamilyMart's instant curry series has added two new products: ' Coconut-Flavored Massaman Curry,' a Thai curry made with coconut, and ' Two Types of Chickpeas and Tomato-Flavored Chana Masala Curry ,' an Indian curry made mainly with beans. Both dishes seem to give you a taste of a foreign country, so we decided to try them out to see what they taste like.

Coconut-flavored Massaman curry | Product information | FamilyMart

Ingredients include coconut milk, chicken, potatoes, chili peppers, lemongrass, garlic, coriander seeds, cinnamon powder, and cumin powder.

The spiciness level is 2 out of 5. The calorie content is 344 kcal per serving.

Inside the box is a silver pouch.

Heat in boiling water.

I tried serving the curry and rice on separate plates, imitating the image on the packaging.

The sauce is reddish brown, and when you plate it, you can smell the aroma of coconut milk and cinnamon.

It's full of chunks of chicken. When you put it in your mouth, you first taste the strong sweetness of the coconut milk. The aroma of cinnamon accentuates the sweetness. As time passes, the tingly heat of the chili peppers comes on, and the spicy aftertaste lingers for a long time even after you swallow it. You can enjoy the change in sweetness and spiciness with every bite; when you feel the sweetness, it's sweeter than a regular mild curry, and when you feel the spiciness, it's a dark spiciness somewhere between medium and hot. As you eat, the taste changes rapidly from 'sweet → spicy → sweet → spicy.'

It also contains peanuts and potatoes.

Sweet and spicy curry goes perfectly with rice. Massaman curry is a Thai specialty, but it also goes well with Japanese rice.

I will also try the 'Two kinds of chickpeas and tomato umami chana masala curry'.

Ingredients include boiled chickpeas, sauteed onions, tomato paste, chickpeas, tomato juice and spices produced in Italy.

The spiciness level is 3. Calories are 187kcal per serving.

Heat in boiling water.

I tried to imitate the image on the packaging by placing the rice flat on a plate and pouring the curry on top.

There are two types of chickpeas: large ones and small black ones.

The chickpeas are boiled to a firm texture, so you need to chew them firmly with your teeth. The sauce is based on the umami and sourness of tomatoes, and the taste of various spices is mixed together. In most chana masala curry restaurants, the chickpeas are boiled until they are soft enough to be crushed with the tongue, making the boundary between the sauce and the chickpeas unclear, but the 'Two Types of Chickpeas and Tomato Umami Chana Masala Curry' is boiled to a relatively firm texture, so the sauce and chickpeas seem to exist as separate entities.

Both the 'Massaman curry with a rich coconut flavor' and the 'Chana Masala curry with two kinds of chickpeas and tomatoes' are priced at 358 yen including tax.