A chana masala showdown: Haldiram's vs Gits vs MTR

These heat-and-eat curry dishes are an excellent Indian invention. Unlike other MREs like those disgusting SAF rations, they really do deliver on taste and texture.

I used to live on these as a vegetarian uni student, but after graduation, they went the way of my garbage thesis: forgotten. A couple months ago, though, I got a packet of expired Haldiram's choley from a food rescue event. I ate it for lunch one random day and it... there's no other word for it. It rocked.

So I decided to order 3 brands of Indian insta-food from Redmart: Gits, Haldiram's and MTR.

For a fair comparison I ordered the chickpea dish (chole in the North, chana in the South) from all 3.

Gits Punjabi Chole

Frankly, it's hard to expect much of a brand calling itself "Gits". And when we poured the contents of the foil pack into a bowl, the result was none too appetising. It had the colour and consistency of diarrhea

Fortunately, the aroma and taste of this dish overpowered our initial impressions. The chickpeas were tender and meshed very nicely with the sauce, which was redolent of sweet caramelised onion. It was the sweetest and least spicy curry of the 3 brands.

After mopping up the last drops Jon said, "I don't mind eating this again." Which is HIGH PRAISE for someone who merely comments "it's okay" in the heights of hedonic pleasure.

Haldiram's Dilli Style Choley

Haldiram's entrant, as noted earlier, is delicious. Eating it for the nth time did not detract from my enjoyment. This time I garnished it with celery leaves and spring onion, but even without, you can taste the brightness of the curry.

While Gits' chole is rich and sweet, Haldiram's is more acidic with a spicier kick, with the tomatoes coming through both visually (vermillion sauce) and in taste.

Jon prefers Gits while I prefer Haldiram's (I like acid) but we agreed they're both worth buying again.

MTR Chana Masala

Okay, now MTR's chickpea curry isn't as good. Texturally, for instance, it's soupier and the chickpeas are firmer and require more chewing. Its taste isn't as complex or rich as the other 2.

Still, it was instant, I was hungry, and I thought it went really well with my homemade carrot bread and salad of vine-ripened tomatoes with soft salty white cheese.

Each packet cost about $2 to $3 and the portion was just right for 2 of us. Plus it pretty much guarantees a good shit the following day. You bet I'll be buying some more of these, especially the other dishes in the Gits and Haldiram's ranges.