Ready Made Fesenjan and Ghormeh | Chika Taste of Home Review
This post series is where my husband and I will review ready-made vegan food that comes more or less fully prepared. My husband and I would meal prep throughout the week. We’d eat extremely healthy all week long, which would then lead to our weekend downfalls! We’d order in pizza, burgers, or some other greasy delicious thing.
We found that even with all our meal-prep, by ordering in on the weekends (even if it was only on the weekends), it would hurt our budgeting efforts drastically! It was also highly unhealthy and would leave us feeling gross on the weekend.
One day my husband raised a great question, “Why don’t we have more cheap/healthy prepared meals ready to go in our cupboards or freezer so we don’t feel the need to order in as much?”
I truly had never thought of prepared meals as a possible answer to my goals of eating healthy and saving money! However, we were eating worse and spending way more by ordering in! Now we try to limit ordering in by ensuring we have tasty prepared food for the long days where we can’t be bothered.
This week’s review is on Chika’s Taste of Home ready-to-go meals. I had to look up what both of these meals are because I have never eaten them before! They are Fesenjan and Ghormeh.
Meal 1: Fesenjan without Meat
This is an Iranian stew made with ground walnuts and pomegranate syrup. It is traditionally served with some kind of poultry, rice, and a side of bread.
Meal 2: Ghormeh without Meat
This is a savory dish loaded with several green herbs. It is usually eaten on top of white rice and usually served with some kind of bread on the side. This dish seems to typically include chopped onion, spinach, green onions, parsley, chives, fenugreek leaves, and kidney beans.
In Canadian dollars, each meal was about $4 after tax.
I included these meals in the ‘prepared’ food section because it is a very low effort dish. The only preparation you would need to do is cook some rice while you watch your favorite show!
Ingredient List
This ingredient list is what sold me! I understand every ingredient on the list, which is a big deal for prepared foods! They both happen to be completely vegan and plantbased friendly.
Meal 1: Fesenjan
Walnuts
Pomegranate Concentrate
Onion
Sugar
Vegetable oil
salt
Spice
Water
Meal 2: Ghormeh
Beans
Onion
Vegetable Oil
Herbs
Lemon juice
Spice
Salt
Water
Presentation
When I opened these cans, they looked quite disappointing. With Meal 2 (Ghormeh), the greens are quite shredded and dark, and at first, I didn’t even see the beans. They both have a good amount of vegetable oil so be ready for a bit of spillage. It does not look that appetizing when first opened. Opening these cans dashed my hopes a bit but I trucked on!
Taste
I can honestly say that I have never tried either of these dishes before so I have no frame of reference for how they ‘should’ taste. That said, they were both quite good! Not utterly amazing, but quite tasty on a bed of fresh rice!
The pomegranate dish had some nice sweetness to it without being too sweet, while the green-herb one had a nice bitterness to it without being too bitter! I liked having both of these together. Having a mix of savory-bitter herbs on one side of my rice with a kick of sweet flavor created a better variety.
One thing I’d recommend eating this with is some vegan garlic mayonnaise! Most vegans happen to have some kind of vegan mayo in their fridge along with some cloves of garlic. I’d recommend dipping a forkful into some creamy garlic mayo now and then. There is something about the rich creaminess of mayonnaise with the healthy herbal food that feels so dang good.
At first, the pomegranate Fesenjan (Meal 1), was my least favorite. However, by the end of the meal, as I continued to give it a chance, it grew on me a lot! I would say I like them both equally now.
We will buy these again for a lazy night where we just want some fresh fluffy rice and cheap Persian goodness! It is easy, feels pretty healthy, and very simple.
