Things happen by coincidence sometimes. I originally saw this brand at Walmart and bought a couple of varieties, but then I went to Costco, where there was this Fried Style Rice (6 units per box, for less money per unit). I review instant noodles pretty regularly, but I have reviewed Japanese and Chinese instant rice before. See Hi Brand, Day Cook, Nissin Shoyu, and Nissin Curry. The company sells Fried Style Rice, Chicken and Mushroom Rice, Pineapple Fried Rice, and Thai Red Curry. Best of all, this is a Canadian company, so it is homegrown!
These rice boxes use organic jasmine rice, are gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan, and kosher, so they can cater to a wide variety of consumers. There are no preservatives, either, and no added msg. They also seem to be fairly healthy, coming in at 250 calories, 460 mg of salt, and 6 grams of protein for a serving of the fried rice. All this sounds pretty good, so let's see how it tastes!
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| The big box of smaller rice boxes. There's some unique branding going on with solid colours and whites. I like how the spoon of fluffy-looking rice appears on the box top. |
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| The front of a single rice box. Again, the solid colours between white and this teal make this product stand out. The simple, bold lettering and design allude to the simple ingredients that go into the meal. It's a nice, clean design, although I have to say it did remind me a bit of microwave popcorn due to the flatish paper packaging. |
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| The directions, nutritional information, ingredients, and manufacturing information are clearly shown on the back of the package. The package is a laminated paper to make it waterproof on the inside, but plain paper on the outside with a cardstock sleeve to give it shape and insulation. |
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| When you tear open the top - and it ripped cleanly - yay for design - you see a silver foil packet on top of the freeze-dried rice (I'm guessing freeze-dried as it rehydrated so well). |
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| The foil packet contains your toppings for the rice and seasoning powder. |
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| The expanded package is not quite a box, but it does stand up on its own. The topping and seasoning packet has been poured on top. I didn't get a lot of aroma off the rice or seasoning. |
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| I added boiling water up to the fill line and let it sit for five minutes (probably six actually, as I got distracted). After adding the water, I stirred everything to make sure the seasoning was mixed. |
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| The finished product after rehydrating. It actually looks quite attractive and much like the photo on the box! |
So, now for the taste test. The aroma of the rice is mild, and the flavour is also mild, but it does have an umami kick to it, so it isn't bland. It's actually quite pleasant to eat, and I had no issues chowing down on it. I would guess the umami kick comes from the shiitake seasoning powder and yeast extracts, along with garlic and onion.
The one fear about having rice this way is crunchy rice, and I'm happy to say that I did not encounter this at all. The rice came out relatively fluffy with some firmness - about what you would expect for a rehydrated product. Now, plain old rice would be a little dull, so the other toppings also come into play. The little bits of carrot, textured pea protein, corn, and green onion were all tender and provided some different textures to a bite of rice.
These would be nice to have for an emergency, too, as long as you have water, and I'll be stocking some of these regularly in the cupboard for snacks or just on the go. This is a nicely done product that stacks up well with others I've tried.
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| A spoonful of the fried-style rice. |
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