Thai Kitchen Thai Ginger Instant Rice Noodle Soup

Thai Kitchen Thai Ginger Instant Rice Noodle Soup
Photograph Copyright 2012 by Kelsey Wyatt

For anyone who is a college student and is on a tight budget, it always seems like one of the most popular foods that people end up eating to save money is the eternally boring ramen noodle dish which often sells for less than a dollar and is sometimes even cheaper when it's bought by the dozen. But this inexpensive meal option isn't available to individuals who are allergic to wheat or gluten because the Chinese-style noodles that are used in most ramen meals are wheat based.

And the same can be said for many different noodle dishes and soups in general, even if they don't have wheat based noodles in them. Wheat seems to be the perfect thickener for soup and even simple dishes like tomato soup are filled to the brim with wheat. And this is a shame since soup is often such a warm, comforting dish. One of the only ways to get around this issue is often by making soup at home, but part of the ease of soup is often that it can be made so easily. Homemade soups don't really fall under this category and take a lot more effort than just a simple microwave job.

Thai Kitchen Thai Ginger Instant Rice Noodle Soup
Photograph Copyright 2012 by Kelsey Wyatt

But gluten free and wheat free soups aren't impossible to find and one intriguing option is a selection from Thai Kitchen called Thai Kitchen Thai Ginger Instant Rice Noodle Soup and instead of using wheat-based noodles, the noodles in this soup are made of rice. Generally speaking, rice noodles do need some sort of seasoning on them otherwise they are kind of plain and unwieldy to eat.

And the seasonings in this soup are surprisingly tasty as ginger lends itself well to soup alongside an application of rice noodles. Just like a bag of ramen noodles, this soup cooks in the microwave in only a few minutes and making the soup doesn't require anything more complex than adding a few things to a bowl and stirring them up.

Thai Kitchen Thai Ginger Instant Rice Noodle Soup
Photograph Copyright 2012 by Kelsey Wyatt

This soup is definitely a great option for an easy-to-prepare dish though it's probably best paired with another food such as some cookies if it's for lunch or even something more substantial like chicken if it's going to be eaten at dinner. One thing of note is that the sodium is quite high for this simple soup and since you'll get close to half of the sodium you need in an entire day just from a single bag, it's best to pair this soup with something else that's not got a lot of sodium in it.

Thai Kitchen Thai Ginger Instant Rice Noodle Soup
Photograph Copyright 2012 by Kelsey Wyatt

Thai Kitchen Thai Ginger Instant Rice Noodle Soup Report Card

The Good Stuff:

This is a great basic soup that can be eaten as a comfort food on a cold day or when someone wants an easy lunch and doesn't have a lot of time. It's also worth noting that the taste is a big positive as well. In addition, cost is also very low, which is a fairly attractive element for any type of gluten free food since such meal options are often so much more expensive than their wheat-filled counterparts. It's likely that you can pick up a bag of this soup for less than a dollar in most circumstances.

Improvements to be Made:

There aren't a lot of negative things to say about this soup outside of the fairly high sodium content, but this element shouldn't keep you from trying the soup. The best thing to do to accommodate a little extra sodium from this dish is to simply make sure that the other things you plan to eat during the day aren't filled as well with an excessive amount of salt.

Asian Authentics Gluten Free Sweet and Sour Chicken

Asian Authentics Gluten Free Sweet and Sour Chicken
Photograph Copyright 2012 by Kelsey Wyatt

There are some foods out there that don't seem like they'd have any connection to wheat or gluten, but Americanized Chinese food is not one of those foods. Whether you're eating at a restaurant that offers Thai food, Chinese food or any sort of food connected to something Asian, there is likely going to be wheat in absolutely every dish. Seriously. 

Every single dish. 

And why? Because every dish has soy sauce and soy sauce always has wheat. There are certainly methods for making soy sauce which don't use wheat, but there are exactly zero Chinese restaurants out there who don't pray to the flour gods every time they whip up a batch of soy sauce. 

This author has been to just about every Chinese (and Thai) themed restaurant in the greater Los Angeles area (okay, perhaps I'm exaggerating) and too often I've been stuck in a corner eating plain white rice or boring plain old noodles because absolutely every dish on the menu has wheat in it. 

Can you tell this is a sore subject for me?

Asian Authentics Gluten Free Sweet and Sour Chicken
Photograph Copyright 2012 by Kelsey Wyatt

And the process of finding gluten-free entrees for my favorite Chinese foods that don't otherwise taste like a freezer-burned Lean Cuisine has been quite a trial. There aren't exactly a lot of full meals to choose from that are specifically Chinese themed and are also gluten-free. It's likely possible to find gluten-free Chinese food at an authentic Chinese food restaurant, but those places have got some seriously scary entrees on their menus for anyone with a less exotic American palate.

Up for consideration here is a frozen entree called Asian Authentics Gluten Free Sweet and Sour Chicken, which comes in a box that's clearly meant to remind one of a small box of left-over Chinese food that you find in the refrigerator the next day and pop into the microwave oven to nuke. And that's really all you have to do with this box. Unwrap the plastic and toss it in the microwave for a few minutes.

And while the box itself doesn't look as though it contains that much food, especially after you open it and realize it's not absolutely full, the amount overall is actually a satisfying amount of food and the caloric figures and other nutritional values are pretty respectable as long as you treat the box as though it was a full meal and not just an appetizer.

Asian Authentics Gluten Free Sweet and Sour Chicken
Photograph Copyright 2012 by Kelsey Wyatt

Taste-wise, the entree isn't half bad either and is actually a little surprising as even though it's just a frozen nuke-and-serve, the dish does arrive out of the microwave looking tasty once it's put on a plate. Overall, there are a lot less tasty entrees out there that gluten-free seekers have had to put up with regarding Chinese food.

Asian Authentics Gluten Free Sweet and Sour Chicken
Photograph Copyright 2012 by Kelsey Wyatt

Asian Authentics Gluten Free Sweet and Sour Chicken Report Card

The Good Stuff:

Easy to make and a good-sized portion, this is a nice meal for lunch and is probably great to take along to work if you reside in an office all day and have to make use of the company microwave. It probably doesn't need any accompaniment and would likely survive just fine as a stand-alone dish. 

It's not going to knock your socks off and take your breath away, but the taste is good enough to recommend it to anyone who would like a bit of Chinese food.

Improvements to be Made:

This entree could use just a few more pieces of chicken. But just a few. It's not hilariously short on the amount of chicken needed to actually have "chicken" in the name without verging into the territory of false advertising, but it could use just a few more pieces. Perhaps two or three. Overall, not a lot to condemn regarding this gluten-free entree. You get what you expect.