Ace Curries To Go

Sonia and I had the great pleasure of meeting Vick & Jas at the Home Show in Lynn Valley today and sample some of the amazing products they create. LOVE THEM! We can home and used the Butter Chicken Curry right away and can’t wait to try all the other products they create. We bought some of everything so will be set for a short while. Talk about feeling like we can cook a whole new type of food we would be proud to serve anyone.

I found these guys at the Epic show over the weekend and I loved the coconut curry mix. Now I can make curry with some of the fresh veggies from Farmers Market. A+

My review is for their spice mix.
I went to the Epic Expo a while back and sampled some chickpea curry at their booth. It was amazing, so I bought a chickpea curry spice mix. Ever since then this has been my ‘lazy cook’ dish, because all you need to do is open up a can of chickpeas and a can of tomatoes, and add a few teaspoons of spice mix, and it’s ready super fast. I’ve experimented with other beans, but chickpeas always taste the best. The jar of spice mix was $ 6, and I think it was well worth it, because I’ve made chickpea curry ~10 times and still have tons left!

I went to Ace’s booth at Epic Expo Vancouver in May 2011, and got 2 bottles of pre-​mixed spices: Coconut Curry and Butter Chicken. They’re certainly good! I like that I can always add more if I need more kick, but I don’t have to use it all up at once, like with canned wet ingredients.
Since I’ve never attempted to cook Indian food before, I just followed the recipe on the bottle label. I really don’t know any better, but those recipes seemed overly simplistic. What kind of vegetables am I allowed to add in there and still say I am cooking Indian food? I cheated and added what goes in Japanese curry: carrots, onions, potatoes.
This was also my first time cooking with coconut milk, and I was surprised how heavy it can be.
I’m still not sure how Ace fits into the «sustainable, eco-​conscious» theme of Epic Expo… because there’s less packaging than take-​out… but I liked the 4 bottles for $ 20 deal (that’s why you go to expos with a friend!).

* Little India on the North Shore *
This little non-​descript spot on a non-​descript road in an industrial part of the town hides a lot of surprises. Passing by it is hard to tell what they really are.
They have a little sign about Hindi and Persian video rental, and another that says something about curries. WTF!!! I had to step in and figure it all out.
This is a South Asian shop that bills itself as «Little India on the North Shore» — and legitimately so. The shelves are packed with an incredibly large variety of South Asian ingredients. A larger selection than at many of the shops in the Punjabi Market area of Vancouver.
Do you want to make your curry from all of the raw ingredients? You can find them all here.
Too lazy? They have some premixed curries that they sell with their own label! The owner is quite friendly and willing to talk about everything they offer.
Turns out his curry blends, which are sold under the name «Ace Curries to Go» are available all across BC! You can find them in IGA, Nesters, Supervalu, and a whole bunch of smaller outlets. Go figure! Certainly not what I would have expected looking at this little spot from the outside.
As I dug through the rich offerings there is a small section of Thai curries as well. The kind that come in a can without any preservatives. And they were reasonably priced as well. I guess they fall into the «curry theme?»
And to keep Fro-​yo girl Lolia S. almost happy — they even sell Indian yogurt in big tubs for $ 2.99. It isn’t fro-​yo. But it is a rich creamy delicious yogurt without any gelatin, and made locally in Surrey.
Apparently there is also a selection of Hindi movie rentals and Persian ones as well (to provide service to the local Persian community I suppose!).
Seems like they are planning on opening up a gourmet panini shop as well — do I sense the coming of South Asian themed paninis a la Japa Dog for hot dogs? Hm…
Interesting spot — quite the surprise with such a variety of offerings!