Tesco Meal For One Chicken Tikka Masala pilau rice bombay potato and onion bhaji

I was embarrassingly excited when I saw this in my local Tesco, on offer for £2 (down from £3.50). It’s so big and ambitious for something you throw in the microwave for a few minutes. Reminds me a bit of the Tesco Meal For One; Sweet & Sour, Chinese Chicken Curry (4 stars – not bad!). I had high hopes.

Open the pack and you see four mini compartments of rice, chicken tikka masala, vegetable curry and an onion bhaji.

Cooking instructions are a bit of a faff: take the bhaji out, heat the rest, stir, heat again, add the bhaji back in, heat again, stir before serving. Life’s too short for a complicated microwave meal!

It smelled good. And it looked pretty amazing! Regrettably, like last time, it was a mess to get onto the plate, so apologies for the last picture.

First thing that strikes you: there’s a generous portion of chicken tikka masala. And it’s pretty creamy and nice.

The rice is pretty good: it’s nothing to write home about, but you can’t go far wrong.

The vegetable curry is a bit of a disappointment; it’s passable, nothing special.

The bhaji… eurgh. Sorry, it’s as dry as anything, and bloody awful to boot – such a disappointment. Almost didn’t eat it.

Think of this as a tikka masala meal with rice, forget the side dishes, and it’s ok around the £2 mark. The side dishes don’t add much. It’s difficult to give it more than 3*, especially at the £3.50 RRP.