In the original NTRU proposal from 1998, it says on page 16:
It may be worth mentioning, though, that there is a simple. masking technique that can be used to significantly reduce message expansion. With this approach, Alice sends a pair of polynomials $(e_1, e_2)$. The first polynomial is the encryption $e_1 =r_1 \cdot h+r_2 \mod q$, where $r_2$ is a randomly chosen polynomial with all coefficients equal to -1, 0 and 1. The second polynomial is $e_2 =r_2 \cdot h+ m' \mod q$, where $m'$ is the plaintext message in a suitable digital envelope modulo $q$.
Since Bob can decrypt $e_1$ to recover $r_2$, he is able to recover $m' \mod q$. In other words, at the cost of doubling the length of the encrypted message to $2 n \log_2 q$ bits, Alice is able to send to Bob a $n \log_2 q$ bits of information. In principle, this reduces message expansion to 2-to-1, although the use of a digital envelope will naturally increase message expansion.
Is this still possible in the current instantiation of NTRU?