The $5 Trader Joe's frozen dinner that tastes (almost) as good as the one from my favorite restaurant

Just when I thought seasonal affective disorder had won the battle this year, a dish came my way that parted the metaphorical clouds for a moment, even as the actual clouds refused to budge. That such a mood-lifting dinner came from the frozen foods aisle, home to the very temperatures that were making daily life such a slog, seemed ironic. It wasn't entirely surprising, though, especially considering the freezers in question were at Trader Joe's, which has put out its fair share of frozen bangers over the years.

Even as we enter spring, pretending I'm in the tropics remains high on my list of coping mechanisms. It's a fantasy brought alive by flavors like coconut, ginger, galangal, and cumin, all of which are present in Trader Joe's Vegan Thai Green Curry.

What You Should Know About Trader Joe's Vegan Thai Green Curry

Green curry gets its titular color from makrut lime leaves, cilantro, and Thai basil. It's made with coconut milk like its red and yellow cousins, but green curry is a bit more sour, and it owes its bright flavor in part to the use of fresh chilies. It can be made with a range of different vegetables, and this iteration sports some classics like carrot, red bell pepper, and baby eggplant.

Protein is present in the form of tofu sheets, also known as yuba, which are made from the thin layer that forms on top of soy milk when it's boiled. Green curry is often on the hotter end of the spectrum, which is definitely the case here, so if you don't like spicy food, this dish probably isn't for you.

The meal comes in a plastic tray with separate compartments, one for the curry itself and the other for a helping of jasmine rice. Microwave it for about 5 minutes, stopping halfway through to peel the plastic back and give it a stir. You can spoon the curry into the rice and eat it straight from the container, but I prefer to give this frozen dinner a sense of decorum and serve the curry on top of the rice in a proper bowl.

My Honest Review of Trader Joe's Vegan Thai Green Curry

I loved this curry. I can be kind of a snob about frozen dinners, especially when they're meant to replicate dishes I hold in such high esteem, so my glowing approval really means something. I'd never had a curry with tofu skin before, and I was delighted by the way the little folds and crevices soaked up the liquid. I like my curry spicy, so the heat didn't bother me, and it was cut by the gentle sweetness of the coconut cream and a bit of sugar.

The slices of baby eggplant retained their firm texture, and chunks of carrot lent the dish a subtle earthiness - a bit mushier than I would've liked, but as I said I'm a snob. The rice was fluffier than expected, though it suffers from the original sin of being microwave rice, so it's a bit drier than you'd get from a fresh batch.

My biggest critique is that for a growing 36-year-old boy like myself, I found the portion small. I started beefing mine up by cutting some extra firm tofu into little cubes and stirring them in as soon as I popped the curry out of the microwave. This frozen curry doesn't quite match up to the freshly made version I get from my local Thai restaurant, but it comes astoundingly close.

Find it in stores: Trader Joe's Vegan Thai Green Curry, $$4.69 for 11.28 ounces at Trader Joe's

What's your favorite Trader Joe's frozen dinner? Tell us in the comments below.