Although I'm not of Indian ethnicity, I like Indian food and even occasionally have cooked some at home myself so I wanted to try this. Right off the bat, let me say that the two stars I'm giving this are because, although the taste is pretty decent once you figure out how to prepare it, there are a number of other issues with this that prevent me from giving it a higher rating.First of all, the reason you have to "figure out" how to prepare it and can't be sure, is because the directions on the back leave out a pretty important piece of information. The directions stress in a couple of different places how important it is to use the correct amount of water. However, nowhere on the package do they tell you how much water that is -- and I looked everywhere. But don't worry, they have supplied a QR code on the back that purports to take you to a website where there will be a recipe video. The only problem with that strategy is that the QR code only links to a page that explains what a QR code is, not how to prepare this food.Well, I happen to already know what a QR code is, however, what I didn't know . . . and still don't know for certain, is how much water to mix in with this, considering that getting that right is supposed to be such a critical component.Fortunately, having had similar dishes to this in restaurants, I had some idea of approximately the consistency the finished product should have and could refer to the picture on the package, and so I simply kept adding small amounts of water at a time, assessing the thickness, and deciding if it needed more. This resulted in what I believe is approximately the correct intended consistency. For those curious, I believe it was about 1/4 of a cup of water total but don't take that as gospel as I have no real idea and, as I said, just had to improvise. If you were to put in let's say a full cup of water or even only half a cup, it would be more like soup which would not remotely resemble the product pictured on the front of the package. Okay, so there's that.Issue number two for me is the surprisingly small portion size. This is freeze dried so must be reconstituted. I have provided pictures of the various stages of preparation 1) Contents of package poured dry in frying pan. 2) In the process of cooking/while adding water gradually and stirring and 3) The resulting amount of food produced on a standard sized plate next to a very average sized fork for perspective. Please note, this is not a giant novelty fork -- you're looking at the total prepared amount of food that comes in this package. Now, unless my water amount was way off and was far too little (which is always possible), I would estimate this would be enough food for only one person -- as a side dish -- provided they have 2 other side dishes and, of course, a main dish.Now the next part is highly confusing so please read my comments carefully as I want to be fair to the seller. I received just one package and it is quite unclear on the listing how many packages a typical customer will be getting for the currently stated price of $29.00 at the time of this review. You would think it would have to be more than one package to justify that price but, again, it's not made clear so I can't really comment with any certainty on the value of this. But what I can say is that there doesn't appear to be much food in each of the packages even if you are getting more than one at that price. And, if you are only getting one package, well, there may be better values out there.As for the taste? Not bad. It definitely is a bit on the spicy side for me, but I, personally, don't have a huge tolerance for food that is really spicy hot. So, I think for the average person who doesn't mind a bit of heat, or even likes it, it has a kick, but it's not outrageously hot in that respect. I would give it 3 stars for the taste and 2 for the other issues mentioned, but you can't give something 2 and a half stars so I can't give it more than 2 all things considered.Lastly, there is a mystery plastic bag of some type of oil, the purpose of which, is again, not revealed. I thought it might be some type of sauce, but after tasting it, I think not. Should you use it for the cooking? Who knows?Overall, despite the generally poor presentation on the listing and lack of information, I like the fact that it's freeze dried so can last a long time on the shelf and it is theoretically very easy to prepare once you are able to find the proper amount of water that apparently is a well-kept secret. As I said, it tastes fine, has a little kick to it, and is easy to prepare once you figure out the proper amount of water to use. I would strongly suggest getting some clarification on the amount of product you'll be receiving before purchasing though.
