A bookshelf full of MTR instant Indian food pouches

We’ve always been fans of Indian food, especially the wide range of flavourful curries and vegetarian dishes.

So, when the global pandemic broke out several years ago, and the entire country went into lockdown “circuit breaker” mode, it was one of the first things we stockpiled.

Specifically, we placed a big order for MTR Foods’ Ready to Eat range of vegetarian instant food pouches, and stashed them on our bookshelf for easy access.

Our pantry was already quite full and they were the same dimensions as many of our books. Their labels were also conveniently printed on the side, exactly like book spines.

There were so many different items to choose from, and since we didn’t know then how long we’d be stuck at home, we bought everything that was available online.

While the shelf life of the pouches wasn’t as long as military MREs, they also didn’t require refrigeration and had a lengthy best before date of two years after production.

It meant that we could take our time to slowly draw down the reserves. As you can tell from how long it took before I finally published this post, that’s precisely what happened.

Reheating the food was simple, and could be done by either throwing the unopened pouch into boiling water for 5 minutes, or transferring its contents into a bowl and zapping it in a microwave for 1-2 minutes.

The idea of chucking a plastic-looking bag into hot water somehow feels wrong to us, even though it’s a fairly common practice. Since we also haven’t quite gotten round to purchasing a microwave oven, we relied on our tried-and-tested method for heating up food.

We opened a pouch of Shahi Paneer and Palak Paneer, dumped the contents into a double compartment glass container and left it in the steamer for 15 minutes.

To accompany both dishes, we warmed up several pieces of Fairprice Frozen Chapatti on a frying pan. They’re labeled as chapatti, but frankly, they had a taste and texture that was closer to prata.

Given how much the prices of plain prata in our downstairs coffee shop has risen recently (S$2.60 for two pieces!) , the S$5.95 packet of 30 was an overwhelmingly more cost-effective alternative. While also greasy, they were nowhere as oily as the freshly-made ones drowned fried in ghee.

The Shahi Paneer was creamy and gingery with a prominent tomato-ey sourness. It was tagged with one chilli 🌶️, which was an accurate reflection of its mild spiciness. The flavour was not bad, but not great, and we gave it an average rating of 6.5/10.

Its partner, the Palak Paneer (🌶️), was dark green and garlicky with a strong foundation of spinach. Given that it was pre-cooked and made to last for a long time, it clearly couldn’t compete with any freshly-made restaurant version. We also awarded it an average score of 6.5/10.

As we slowly consumed the remainder of our stockpile over the following months, we were glad to note that the quality progressively improved. The Channa Masala (🌶️🌶️) had firm whole chickpeas that were mild with a pleasantly acidity, and the Mixed Vegetable Curry (🌶️🌶️) with an assortment of creamy, slightly spicy and very mushy vegetables both attained 7.0/10.

Tomato Rice (🌶️🌶️) was slightly different from the previous dishes, as it was a dish that didn’t require any accompaniment. I suppose we could have wrapped it in chapatti, but the double-carb combo would have been a bit strange.

Surprisingly, it was quite mild and not overly sour, as we had initially expected. It didn’t taste too oily but the salt content could have been toned down slightly. The Wife cut in some cubes of tau kwa (firm bean curd) to balance out the flavour and also improve its protein content. We gave it a respectable 7.5/10.

Also firmly in the 7.5/10 club were the Paneer Butter Masala (🌶️) and the Navratan Kurma (🌶️). The paneer cubes had a good bounce and nice chew, and were slightly spicy with a pleasant, creamy flavour.

Lady’s fingers, or okra, was mixed in with the kurma and served on top of steamed rice. They went well with the long beans, carrot, paneer and green peas that came in the pouch.

And the scores kept improving from there, including the 8.0/10 Dal Makhani (🌶️).

The thick, earthy, nutty and buttery mixture of lentils and kidney beans is one of my personal favourites. This instant version by MTR Foods can easily stand its ground against any restaurant equivalent.

Given how much we like spicy food, it’s probably not a surprise that our two favourite items also happened to be the spiciest among the entire lot.

The highly-rated 9.0/10 Paneer Tikka Masala (🌶️🌶️🌶️) came in a rich onion gravy that packed a punch! If you haven’t already noticed, paneer features prominently in vegetarian Indian food and the cottage cheese is a widely-used ingredient.

Pav Bhaji (🌶️🌶️🌶️), also a solid 9.0/10, was equally fiery with a thick and creamy texture. There’s no mistaking the taste of potatoes that were roughly blended in, especially when you encounter the slightly larger chunks. Cutting through its heaviness was a pleasant touch of acidity.

Now that we’ve exhausted our reserves, it’s time to stock up again. Having tried 10 different items, we’ll probably re-order our top few choices. For easy reference, here’s a summary table.

I have to say that we’ve been quite impressed with the quality of the MTR Food range of instant ready-to-eat food pouches. Especially since they were cooked in large batches and formulated to last for a long time.

There’s a restaurant named MTR Singapore located in Little India, and it appears to be related. The next time we find ourselves in the neighbourhood, we’ll probably drop in to try the food there.