Saffron Road Simmer Sauces

Alisa Fleming ~ I tend to be hesitant with dinner shortcut products. They usually lack flavor or they taste, well … artificial, for lack of a better word. But I’m happy to share a review of Saffron Road Simmer Sauces, because they have a wonderful authentic flare and are packed with flavor.

We sampled the three flavors that are dairy-free by ingredients:

Rogan Josh Simmer Sauce – Tony is just now warming up to Indian food, so I wasn’t expecting him to like this simmer sauce, but both of us thought it was fabulous. He even jumped at the leftovers the next day.

As is, the Rogan Josh sauce did need a little extra oomph, but just an 1/8 teaspoon of salt seemed to do the trick. It was full-bodied, flavorful, and spicy, but not too hot. Though rated a medium, my heat averse taste buds had no issues at all. I think those who like ragin’ entrees would almost call this mild – but we thought it had a nice warm kick. I highly recommend this sauce for vegetarians and vegans, as we thought the sauce actually went better with chickpeas, carrots, and onions than it did with chicken. The brown rice rounded it out and made for a delicious lunch.

Lemongrass Basil Simmer Sauce – I adore lemongrass and love Thai Basil, so I had high hopes that this would be my favorite of the simmer sauces. Unfortunately, it was way too tangy for our tastes. The flavor was sharp and seemed to lack depth of flavor; something was missing.

Moroccan Tagine Simmer Sauce – This redeeming sauce dazzled our taste buds. It was sweet, but just savory enough, and positively delicious. I’d be hard-pressed to choose a favorite between this one and the Rogan Josh – both are excellent. Note that this flavor is great for vegetarians, but not for vegans since it does contain honey. Again, this flavor was rated as a medium in heat, but we found it warmly spicy rather than hot.

The Lemongrass aside, I would easily give the Rogan Josh and Moroccan Tagine five stars for flavor. I do have to warn that the 7 servings stated on the packaging is a bit of an overstatement. As a meal, we only got about 3 to 4 servings out of each of the simmer sauces. Nonetheless, they did make the meal.

Dietary Notes: By ingredients, these simmer sauces are Vegan (except the Tagine), Vegetarian, Dairy-Free, Egg-Free, Gluten-Free (they are certified gluten-free), Nut-Free, and Peanut-Free. Nonetheless, read the ingredient statement and check with the company on their manufacturing processes for all varieties if potential allergen cross-contamination is an issue for you. Processes and labeling are subject to change at any time for any company / product.

For More Product Information: Visit the Saffron Road website at www.saffronroadfood.com.