[Ad-gifted] If you love food from around the world and also love to cook it, you will really enjoy this Spice Pioneer review on their Kashmir Themed Spice Subscription Box we recently had the pleasure to do.
If you are regular readers you may remember our last review of their New Orleans Spice Box, which made us some really great food. This time we have gone East and are in Kashmir for our most recent Spice Box review.
This box includes spices to make slow-cooked Kashmir lamb, Glazed Flat Bread with a yoghurt and mint dressing as well as a Ginger Spiced aubergine and chickpea curry. The spices arrived in a small brown box with all the ingredients clearly labelled, plus you get a recipe card that provides you with a shopping list and step by step instructions on how to make your meal.
This is great if you struggle to understand which spices are best suited to which meals, or if you wanted to impress your dinner party guests with something that is ‘out of the box’!! Alternatively you can enjoy amazing Indian food right in Bristol centre with your loved ones.
Read on to find out how we got on with this Da Lake, Kashmir Spice Box and see if this is one that you might hope you get when you order with The Spice Pioneer.
Making and gathering the Food
I started by using the recipe card and photographing the page that included the shopping list and off I went to buy my ingredients. I did have a few in such as a tin of chopped tomatoes but many I needed to get as they weren’t my regular store cupboard items. I actually made this dish with chicken instead of the recommended lamb (it does give instructions on the recipe card if you did want to swap the lamb for chicken or a vegetarian option). Unfortunately, unless lamb is on offer is a pricey option for a family of 5, and although I actually think it would have been amazing with lamb I opted for a whole chicken instead. (See what we thought below and what we would recommend if you receive this box). Once I had all my ingredients and returned home I made sure I had an afternoon spare to make my three dishes.
Similarly to the New Orleans Box, I found that I did have to jump backwards and forwards with the step by step guide. The guide is done in time steps, so Number 1 being the first thing you start to make, this is sometimes a little tricky to follow, as it goes from the meat section to the flatbread and back to the meat before going onto the chickpea curry. But if you try not to sneak ahead, it does work out in the end. I suggest making sure you aren’t in a rush when you start this as it did take a few hours to make.
What I thought
Making the food was straight forward, once I got to grips with the step by step process. Although having done the last review I had a slight advantage. The whole meal was nice, but some of these particular spice combinations were not totally my cup of tea, in particular, the taste of the chickpea dish/curry. I found that the mustard seeds had a bitter smokey taste, in contrast, the Kashmir Chilli powder did have a pleasant taste and warmed your mouth rather than setting it on fire. My husband remarked that the day after this dish had actually improved and perhaps had had time to marinate all its favours together.
The chicken was nicely spiced but wasn’t massively flavoursome, I think maybe this is the difference with using the chicken over the lamb, I imagine slow cooking the lamb would have infused the flavours much more, as with chicken it tends to stick on the top layer of the bird, unless possibly it would have benefited from a slightly longer marinating time to really intensify the flavour.
But the winner of the night was the flatbread and the yummy scrummy yoghurt dressing. Using yoghurt in the dough was a first for me and although I have made flatbreads before I tend to follow a pizza recipe which contains yeast, this does not contain any raising agent at all, but they still turn out almost fluffy. The dressing was really something and both these two recipes will be our go-to for flatbreads and dips! The bread were so simple to make and without the raising agent meant that they were also much quicker too. The Nigella seeds in the yoghurt added and herby note to the freshness you get from the mint and perfectly complemented each other.
I found this Spice Box slightly similar in flavour to some Indian dishes I have made over the years but the subtle twist in spices gave everything I slightly more earthy taste. I actually love these spice boxes even if some of the flavours in this one weren’t for my palette, it such a good way of experimenting with different foods. If you love trying new flavours I would recommend this, and any of the Spice Boxes that are available at the Spice Pioneer website.
About the origins of the Dal Lake, Kashmir Spice Box
The owners of Spice Pioneer go on their travels to source the best spices and inspiration for their specially packaged spice boxes. When they visited Dal Lake (which as they point out in Kashmiri Dal is Lake – so they essentially went to Lake Lake!!) they were drinking tea from copper kettles and travelling around the lake in water taxis. It sounds wonderful.
During their time there, they spent time with locals and had big conversations about food, one of which was the best way in which to prepare and eat Lamb, and whether yeast is ever needed in order to make a flatbread. So this was the start to their Kashmiri recipe and how they came about to receive this lovely little box of specially chosen spices.
Points to note
How does it work?
You can either buy the box as a gift for yourself or purchase this for a friend. It is subscription box based, so the minimum you can purchase it for is 3 months which costs £27, 6 months’ subscription costs £52.50 or a year’s subscription costs £99. You can order your box here.
About The Spice Pioneers
The Spice Pioneer is powered by Seasoned Pioneers, who are famous for dry roasting world-class spices, sourced from only trusted suppliers around the world. They source the best herbs and spices from reliable and trusted suppliers. Based in the North West of England, (United Kingdom) Seasoned Pioneers brings you exotic ingredients from around the world. In creating a spice subscription club for like-minded people seeking fresh culinary experiences from the four corners of the earth, Seasoned Pioneers offers a guiding hand to nudge you in the right direction.
By sharing The Spice Pioneer’s experience, Seasoned Pioneers is giving you the opportunity to expand your culinary repertoire. Discover the smells and tastes of worldwide cuisine and ‘go that extra mile’ enhancing the mood and atmosphere with postcards and music from far-flung places. They only use the finest ingredients and have built long-term relationships with their suppliers across the globe. Seasoned Pioneers is famously known for dry-roasting & blending an entire range of spice mixes in-house using only traditional production methods and strictly original recipes (in no way ‘westernised’ or ‘anglicised’). Their methods include dry-roasting the whole spices in small batches (critical for genuine full-flavoured spice mixes) and fully developing and infusing together the flavour of each and every spice – enabling you to capture the very essence of world cuisine in your home.
Review by : Lex Ward
You may also want to read this:
New Orleans themed spice subscription box from The Spice Pioneers
Review: Spices from Seasoned Pioneers
Very Lazy Ingredient Review and Recipes for you to try
*We were sent the spices in return for a feature
28 comments
That is so fun! This is perfect for me. I’m a huge fan of trying new recipes and flavors. This box is perfect for me!
So glad to hear that Stacie!!Hope you try this
I don’t know anything about Kashmir, so this kind of box makes it easy to put this dish together. The yogurt dressing also sounds delicious. I’d like to give this a try.
There is so much of information provided, on the country, cuisine, food origin, it’s like you have travelled there and discovered a new country
For real spicy flavors to be experienced! I love madness!
So glad to hear you love spice, lots of flavours in this dish for sure
Now this is a meal I’m dying to try! I love spicy and this looks absolutely delicious!
Oh wonderful!! Hope you do
I have never heard of Kashmir. What a good idea for a subscription box. The final product looks tasty.
Its a beautiful country with stunning flavours
I love subscription boxes! This one looks like an awesome one! I would love to check it out.
So wonderful to hear that you do love it, its such a great idea!
I need to check out this subscription box…My hubby asked me that he might want to try this kind of subscription. Thanks for the heads up.
Your welcome, hope you do and it makes cooking more exciting
Sounds like a fun theme box for recipes! I love that the foods are unique and culturally different.
Absolutely, you can choose which destination you want to travel to culinary wise
Sounds like such an exciting and delicious kit!! How fun to try!
It certainly was as we are big foodies and love cooking
I may need to try this subscription. I love trying new foods and it being delivered to my door to make sounds even better!
The subscription box consisted of just the spices, recipe cards and details about the food. You still have to cook it from scratch.
I have enjoyed my delicious read here & love all the beautiful captures shared here about the box, thanks!
Cheers, siennylovesdrawing
Your welcome Sienny, so glad you enjoyed reading about our spice box review
We have never seen a spice subscription box before but this looks really good! Might give it a try!
Hope you do, they have flavours from different countries as well.
Thanks for sharing about this nice Kashmir Themed Subscription Box. I will surely love to taste the flavours of the different items.
You will enjoy cooking with the spices if you love exotic flavours
This box is the coolest idea! What a beautiful packaging and the concept, to learn new recipes and cuisines. I could smell the spices 🙂
So glad we were able to bring the feel and smell of the cooking to you Arya