This is a review about Amano Freeze-dried Chicken Vegetable Curry, but I'm going to start with a little history about the company's freeze dried soups. Amano freeze-dried miso soups have been a favourite of mine ever since I discovered them on my second trip to Tokyo back in 2012. It was a new product back then and kind of revolutionary as the entire soup came in a small lightweight block. Instant miso soup at the time came with miso paste in a foil pouch plus a sachet of dehydrated soup toppings (tofu, seaweed, and green onion).
An Amano block had all the advantages that came from freeze-drying, but is also different from freeze-dried camping meals you might be used to. The entire soup/meal comes in the one block so the soup/pasta/rice and the toppings are mixed together in one solid block. This process seemed to lock in the flavour and freshness of the prepared meal very well. I actually think they taste better than the freeze-dried camping meals too as they just taste like the real thing. These miso soup blocks became popular despite being more expensive ($1 versus $.35) as they were convenient, had more variety, tasted good, and were nutritious. You just added boiling water and in less than a minute you had miso soup that was different from the others that were available. Other companies like Ajinomoto and Hikari now have this same kind of freeze-dried soup, but back then, it was so revolutionary that there was even a popup store that operated for years in the Kitte building near Tokyo Station.
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| Amano Freeze-dried Chicken Vegetable Curry. |
The Amano Chicken Curry comes a a larger block than their miso soups. I'd say it is 3 to 4 times the size. The chicken curry is just the roux, so you need to add it to pasta or rice to make a small meal. There are other types of freeze-dried mini meals in these larger packages too, such as seafood risotto, cheese risotto, beef stew, pasta dishes, curries, and rice bowls. None of these would be more than an accompaniment to a meal or a snack as the rehydrated product is about 150 ml.
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| Amano freeze-dried miso soup. I really like their vegetable and eggplant versions. |
The foil package the soups come in keep the freshness, but the best before dates are only about a year, so it kind of like instant noodles. They are definitely handy to have in an emergency as they are shelf stable and lightweight. Most of the packages show the soup or curry off in a big picture and the pictures are pretty representative as there are big pieces of vegetable present. The curry chicken shows off a very tasty looking roux with big chunks of eggplant, carrot, baby corn and choy.
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| The curry block inside the package. They usually come in a little tray that they were freeze-dried in. |
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| Some microwave-ready rice. The Korean brands seem to have the best price point when purchased in cases of 12. You just nuke these for 1 to 1 min 30 seconds with the lid partially peeled back. |
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| The rehydrated curry roux. You can see the big pieces of vegetable. |
It was easy to prepare the chicken curry. I put the block in a bowl and adding in a small amount of boiling water (150 ml or so). It was ready in a minute with a little bit of stirring. The roux was viscous and had a nice curry smell and thick texture to it. It was like a fresh curry sauce. The vegetables were plump and the corn had a light crunch/bite. It was a mild chicken curry and there was even some ground chicken in it. I quite like this curry, but as I mentioned earlier, it is basically a very light meal. Most people would be hungry still after eating this and the rice. I've had the risotto before too, but definitely prefer the miso soups and the curries. I'd like to try the stews too, but that will be in the future.
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| A closeup of the rice and roux. Yummy! |
Some reviews of Ajinomoto frozen products below, and I also like their fried rice.
Costco Ajinomoto Tokyo Style Shoyu Ramen with Chicken
Costco Bibigo Steamed Dumplings and Ajinomoto Vegetable Yakisoba
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