Indian ready meals online in Poland: ready-to-eat curries, dal, rice and soups

Indian ready meals help most when you have just moved to Poland, the kitchen is half empty and the nearest Indian shop is in another city. They are curries, dals and rice dishes in pouches that you only heat, plus instant soups and cooking mixes. You can order Indian ready meals online from Little India and have them delivered to any address in Poland. This guide covers when they are worth having, the types, how to heat each one, and what to add to make a full meal.

When ready meals from India make sense

• Your first week in Poland, before the kitchen has pots and spices.
• Office lunch, if there is a microwave or a kettle.
• Travel, camping, student halls. A pouch heats in a pan of water on a camping stove.
• A quick dinner, when you cook only rice and use a ready dal beside it.

In Polish, ready meals are dania gotowe, and that is the name of the category on the Polish version of the shop.

What the ready-meal range includes

Packs say "ready to eat" or "heat and eat". The range falls into a few groups; brands are named as the shop lists them.

• Vegetable and pulse curries in pouches. Dal tadka, dal makhani, dal palak, chana masala, rajma, matar paneer, aloo matar, bhindi masala, pav bhaji. Brands: MTR, Ashoka and Haldiram's.
• Kerala dishes. Tasty Nibbles ready to eat pouches include Kerala fish curry, prawn mango curry, sambar, kootu curry and ada pradhaman.
• Rice meals. MTR sambar rice, lemon rice, tomato rice, vegetable pulao and pongal; biryani from Haldiram's and Ashoka.
• Instant cups and packs. Haldiram's dal chawal, rajma chawal, dal khichdi, poha and upma. You add boiling water.
• Instant soups. Ching's Secret hot and sour, manchow, sweet corn, tomato and mixed vegetable.
• Cooking mixes. MTR idli and dhokla mixes, Gits idli and gulab jamun mixes, Double Horse puttu podi and appam or idiyappam flour, and Suhana spice mixes for single dishes such as paneer tikka masala.

A ready-to-eat Onam sadhya. If you want a sadhya at home for Onam, build it from single ready dishes such as kootu curry, sambar and ada pradhaman, and cook the rice yourself, ideally Kerala matta.

How to heat each type

1. Pouch curries, dal and rice meals. Put the closed pouch in boiling water for 3–5 minutes, or empty it into a bowl and heat it in the microwave. Never put the pouch itself in the microwave. The pack gives the exact time.
2. Instant cups. Pour boiling water to the line, stir, cover and wait a few minutes.
3. Instant soups. Whisk the powder into cold water, bring to the boil and simmer for 2–3 minutes, stirring.
4. Idli, dosa and puttu mixes. Most ready-to-eat food from India only needs heating; these mixes are different. They become a batter or dough that you steam or fry, following the pack.
5. Suhana spice mixes. Add them to your own meat, paneer or vegetables.

Sealed pouches usually keep without a fridge. Once opened, eat the food straight away or store it as the label says.

What to add

• Rice or bread. Basmati, sona masoori, chapati, paratha or naan.
• Fresh things. Chopped coriander, a squeeze of lemon, sliced onion, green chilli.
• Yoghurt or raita with the hotter curries.
• Papad and pickle (achar) with dal and rice.
• Your own vegetables. More spinach in dal palak, tomato or paneer in chana masala.

A quick dinner from ready meals

Cook a cup of sona masoori or basmati. Meanwhile heat a pouch of dal tadka and a pouch of vegetable curry, such as bhindi masala, in a pan of boiling water. Serve the rice with both, scatter chopped coriander on top and add a spoon of yoghurt. A papad puffs up in the microwave in under a minute. It is a simple dinner for two, ready in the time the rice takes.

For the lentils behind these dishes, see types of dal. For other quick food, read our guide to instant noodles: Maggi and Indomie.

How to order Indian ready meals online with delivery

The full range is in the ready meals category, with instant dishes in instant meals. Good first picks are Ashoka dal tadka and MTR sambar rice. Orders go by courier or post to any address in Poland. The cart shows the delivery options and cost before you pay, and you can pay by bank transfer, online payment or cash on delivery. Our guide to Indian grocery delivery in Poland explains the steps, and Indian shop in Poland covers the whole range and the six shops.