Indian Comfort

The dearth of Mogul restaurants in KL has made me miss the rich, velvety curries which to me characterizes this kind of cuisine. One good thing about being a food editor means I sometimes get my hands on food samples which are not yet on the Malaysian market. It was at a trade fair last year when I was gifted with samples from a range of pre-made, ready to eat Northen Indian foods by a brand named Neesa.

Unlike premixes which need meat or the other key ingredients added, Neesa products already contain chicken, lamb or cottage cheese, depending on the dish. On a busy Monday with a not-ill-enough-to-be-bed-confined toddler underfoot, I really needed the quickness of convenience food, so along with stir-fried broccoli and celery seasoned with a Unilever product, I also unsnipped a sachet of Shahi Paneer which is a spiced, creamy curry with paneer (pressed cheese) cubes.

Apart from the layer of oil, which assimilates when stirred, the dish, which took two minutes in the microwave in its plastic sachet, looked and tasted very authentic. It was cheesy, fragrant with a load of great Indian spice, with the heat perfectly balanced by the cheese and cream. The paneer was a little spongy and tasted more like tofu or gluten, but it was not a deal breaker. It went perfectly with rice and the simple veggies, and is something I really hope will find a distributor in Malaysia.