Meal Mantra
Photos by Katie Noble
Although they’ve only been for sale for about a year, the Meal Mantra line of simmer sauces already has quite a legacy.
The woman behind the recipes, Anu Bhalla, learned to cook in the kitchen of the now-famous Moti Mahal restaurant in India. Her grandfather, Kundan Lal Gujral, was its young chef, who made culinary history for inventing tandoori cuisine.
Clay ovens called tandoors “had long been used in India for baking bread, of course,” Anu says. “But my grandfather one day discovered that you could slow cook other foods in them.” By using a tandoor’s radiant heat and smoke on moist, highly seasoned proteins, he created dishes such as dal makhani (buttery lentils), tandoori chicken and butter chicken—the inspiration for the now internationally ubiquitous chicken tikka masala.
“In our family, food was the main thing going on, day or night,” Anu says. “I would go into the restaurant kitchen with my grandfather. He taught me how to cook using different ingredients and products, as well as what spices blended best with particular vegetables and meats.”
Anu’s knowledge of and passion for food found a perfect marriage with industry, via her husband, Tarun Bhalla. A medical doctor by training, Tarun had considerable entrepreneurial experience from 20 years working in pharmaceuticals in India. The couple decided to start Meal Mantra when they emigrated with two young children to the U.S. in 2016.
However, as Anu worked to develop flavors true to those her grandfather had taught her, she had difficulty finding the ingredients and spice blends she wanted stateside. She started mixing her own from products found at local Indian stores.
Finally, Anu felt ready to launch the Meal Mantra line. She started with three sauces made with locally sourced tomatoes at CommonWealth Kitchen in Dorchester and Hope & Main in Warren, Rhode Island. The simmer sauces include a tikka masala, a tangy Goan curry, and a mild curry of cardamom, turmeric, and other seasonings.
Anu says the tikka masala is her grandfather’s original recipe. But she can proudly claim the Goan curry as her own. Although her grandfather taught her its base, it was too difficult for him to routinely source lemongrass and kaffir in India to serve the aromatic dish at his restaurant.
“Here in the United States, those ingredients are so freely available that I had a chance to experiment with them and other herbs and spices.” The result ended up winning the Specialty Food Association’s prestigious sofi award.
However, the Newton couple isn’t about to rest on those laurels. “We have a new korma sauce, as well as mango and coriander chutneys, in the pipeline,” Anu says. Whenever she gets frustrated during the culinary tinkering process, “Tarun is such a good support,” she says. “He’ll tell me, ‘Don’t worry. Keep going, and you will get there. We are together in this.’”