HOW WE CONDUCTED OUR TASTE TEST
It's free and fair!
We put out a call to readers to be part of the panel of tasters. Forty of them came together on a Saturday morning to taste ready-made curries from leading supermarkets.
The chefs at HTA Culinary School in Randburg, Joburg, prepared the food as per the package instructions. The panel of tasters were presented with each of the products "naked" without any branding or packaging.
Auditor Jade Craig was on hand to monitor the objectivity of the blind-tasting process, from removing the packing to numbering the products, overseeing the preparation as per the package instructions and adding up the scores.
THE RESULTS
FIRST PLACE Pick n Pay Chicken biryani with a sachet of raita
Price: R58.90 for 300g
Judges's comments:
- Kat: Nice peas, potatoes cirsp and brown, chicken in even chunks with a nice bite.
- Dave: It has just the right amount of 'bite'. Peas were confusing. Authentic dish.
- Jenny: Very flavourful, potatoes were good.
- Julie: I liked the chicken pieces. Well-balanced with texture in the rice. Lots of flavour and potatoes are well-cooked.
- Praneeta: I would buy this.
SECOND PLACE: Woolworths Chicken biryani with raita, Cape Malay style
Price: R59.99 for 350g
Judges's comments:
- Emil: Chicken soft. Onions not crispy. Need to spice it up a bit.
- Ballin: Good appearance, it needs salt and could do with more spices and chicken.
- Cheryl: Good appearance but too few lentils and too many potatoes.
- Jenny: Chicken was well-flavoured. Rest of the dish, rice and potatoes, lacking.
- Roy: Lacking in flavour but minted raita a nice touch.
THIRD PLACE: Checkers Spice chicken biryani, with sachet of raita
Price: R39.99 for 350g
Judges's comments:
- Nomvuyiso: This tastes more like a bad stew with poor seasoning.
- Thabisile: The potatoes are a luminous yellow colour.
- Marcel: No authentic flavour, I would not buy it.
- Trudie: Sauce gone wrong. There's a plastic taste and potato is awful.
- Kitso: The potatoes are unpleasant, undercooked and a weird colour.
