Kundan Lal Gujral | |
---|---|
Born | c. 1902 |
Died | c. 1997 |
Education | Matriculation |
Occupation(s) | Chef, Restaurateur |
Spouse | Ram Prakash Devi |
Culinary career | |
Cooking style | Indian cuisine |
Current restaurant(s) | |
Award(s) won
|
Kundan Lal Gujral (c.1902 - 1997) [2] was an Indian chef and restaurateur based in New Delhi. He invented several Indian dishes which have since become popular worldwide, including Butter chicken, [3] Paneer makhani, [4] Tandoori chicken and Dal makhani. [5] [6] [7] [8] He was the founder of the restaurant chain Moti Mahal Delux. [9]
Kundan Lal Gujral was born around 1902 to Diwan Chand Gujral and Maya Devi in Chakwal District, in the Punjab Province of British India (now in Punjab, Pakistan) into a Punjabi Hindu Khatri family. [10] His only brother Chunni Lal died at the age of 18 due to pneumonia. His father was a cloth merchant. Kundan Lal Gujral completed his matriculation in Chakwal. In c. 1920 he started working at a small eatery called Moti Mahal, owned by Mokha Singh Lamba in Peshawar, North-West Frontier Province, British India. He married Ram Prakash Devi with whom he had a child, Nand Lal Gujral on 26 November 1935.
In 1947, during the partition of India he migrated with his family to India and settled in Delhi. He then went on to start an eatery by the name of Moti Mahal in Daryaganj, Old Delhi.
Kundan Lal Gujral is known for the famous culinary inventions such as tandoori chicken, murgh makhani and dal makhani. [11] [12] [13] [14]
Gujral started as a chef in a small restaurant owned by Mokha Singh Lamba in Gora Bazaar, Peshawar, British India. [15] He experimented by skewering yogurt marinated pieces of chicken and sticking them into the tandoor (which was previously used only for Breads). This experiment led to the famous dish tandoori chicken. [16] [17] Tandoori chicken is another popular dish in Indian restaurants around the world. [18] [19]
To avoid wastage of the leftover or unsold tandoori tikkas (marinated pieces of chicken cooked in a tandoor) due to the lack of refrigeration facilities at that time, Gujral added tomato gravy with butter to the tandoori tikkas to soften the chicken so that he could sell them the next day. This culinary accident led to the famous dish. [20] [21] [22] [23] Today, murgh makhani, or butter chicken, is the most popular curry in Indian restaurants around the world. [24] [25] [26] [27]
Gujral is also known for inventing dal makhani which is a mildly spiced pulses curry made with the combination of tangy tomatoes, butter, and rich cream. This combination of mixed spices and dairy products is known as famous dal makhani. [28] [29]
After having fled Pakistan, Kundan Lal Gujral settled in Delhi and opened a small dhaba (roadside eatery) to introduce Delhiites to the tandoori chicken. [30] He bought a small space in Daryaganj and set up Moti Mahal. [31] The place quickly proved popular and within a year Kundan Lal Jaggi & Gujral bought the adjoining area, turning his eatery into a 400-seat restaurant. Dignitaries like former Indian Prime Ministers, Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, [32] [33] [34] former Indian President Dr. Zakir Hussain, actors Raj Kapoor and Nargis Dutt, and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev are among the famous patrons.
He served his iconic dishes here. Later in 1970's Kundan Lal son, Nand Lal Gujral expanded Moti Mahal in South Delhi to establish Moti Mahal Delux chain of restaurants. Currently, Kundan Lal Gujral's grandson, Monish Gujral has instituted Moti Mahal Delux Management Services in 2003 by expanding the business into franchises across India. Today, it has grown from a small restaurant in Old Delhi to a modern eating chain with more than 150 franchises in India and worldwide. [35] [36] [37]
Chicken tikka masala is a dish consisting of roasted marinated chicken chunks in a spiced sauce (masala). The sauce is usually creamy and orange-coloured. The dish was created by South Asian cooks living in Great Britain and is offered at restaurants around the world.
Punjabi cuisine is a culinary style originating in the Punjab, a region in the northern part of South Asia, which is now divided in an Indian part to the east and a Pakistani part to the west. This cuisine has a rich tradition of many distinct and local ways of cooking.
Butter chicken, traditionally known as murgh makhani, is an Indian dish originating in Delhi. It is a type of curry made from chicken with a spiced tomato and butter (makhan) sauce. Its sauce is known for its rich texture. It is similar to chicken tikka masala, which uses a tomato paste.
Tandoori chicken is a dish made from chicken marinated in yogurt and spices and roasted in a tandoor, a cylindrical clay oven. The dish is now popular worldwide. The modern form of the dish was popularized by the Moti Mahal restaurant in New Delhi, India in the late 1940s.
A dhaba is a roadside restaurant in the Indian subcontinent. They are on highways, generally serve local cuisine, and also serve as truck stops. They are most commonly found next to petrol stations, and most are open 24 hours a day.
Chicken tikka is a chicken dish popular in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and the United Kingdom. It is traditionally small pieces of boneless chicken baked using skewers on a brazier called angeethi or over charcoal after marinating in Indian spices and dahi (yogurt)—essentially a boneless version of tandoori chicken. The word tikka is a Persian word, meaning "bits" or "pieces". It is also a chicken dish served in Punjabi cuisine. The Kashmiri version of the dish, however, is grilled over red-hot coals, and does not always contain boneless pieces. The pieces are brushed with ghee at intervals to increase its flavour, while being continuously fanned. It is typically eaten with green coriander and tamarind chutney served with onion rings and lemon, or used in preparing an authentic chicken tikka masala.
Daryaganj is a neighbourhood of Delhi inside the walled city of Old Delhi. The "darya" refers to the river Yamuna which was just outside the walled city. Daryaganj is one of the three sub-divisions and also the administrative headquarters of the Central Delhi District. It starts at Delhi Gate, at the edge of Netaji Subhash Road, which goes towards Red Fort.
Tandoori masala or tandoori sauce is a mixture of spices specifically for use with a tandoor, or clay oven, in traditional cooking in the Indian subcontinent. The specific spices vary somewhat from one region to another but typically include: garam masala, garlic, ginger, onion, cayenne pepper, and sometimes other spices and additives. The spices are often ground together with a pestle and mortar.
Bukhara is a restaurant at The Luxury Collection ITC Maurya Hotel in New Delhi, India. It was established in 1977.
Dal makhani is an Indian dish originating in Delhi. A relatively modern variation of traditional lentil dishes, it is made with urad dal and other pulses, and includes butter and cream.
Shahi paneer or Paneer Rajwadi or Chhena Rajwadi or Raajsi Chhena is a preparation of chhena or paneer, native to the Indian subcontinent, consisting of a thick gravy of cream, tomatoes and Indian spices.
Awadhi cuisine is a cuisine native to the Awadh region in Northern India and Southern Nepal. The cooking patterns of Lucknow are similar to those of Central Asia, the Middle East, and Northern India and western India with the cuisine comprising both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. The Awadh region has been influenced by Mughal cooking techniques, and the cuisine of Lucknow bears similarities to those of Central Asia, Kashmir, Punjab and Hyderabad. The city is also known for its Nawabi foods.
Moti Mahal is a restaurant chain founded in Delhi, India. Founded after the partition of India in 1947, the Moti Mahal in Delhi was founded by Kundan Lal Gujral, Kundan Lal Jaggi and Thakur Das Magu as one of the first restaurants to introduce Punjabi cuisine and North Indian cuisine to the rest of the world such as tandoori chicken, paneer makhani, dal makhani, and butter chicken.
Malaysian Indian cuisine, or the cooking of the ethnic Indian communities in Malaysia, consists of adaptations of authentic dishes from India, as well as original creations inspired by the diverse food culture of Malaysia. Because the vast majority of Malaysia's Indian community are of South Indian descent, and are mostly ethnic Tamils who are descendants of immigrants from a historical region which consists of the modern Indian state of Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka's Northern Province, much of Malaysian Indian cuisine is predominantly South Indian inspired in character and taste. A typical Malaysian Indian dish is likely to be redolent with curry leaves, whole and powdered spice, and contains fresh coconut in various forms. Ghee is still widely used for cooking, although vegetable oils and refined palm oils are now commonplace in home kitchens. Before a meal it is customary to wash hands as cutlery is often not used while eating, with the exception of a serving spoon for each respective dish.
Punjabi tandoori cooking comes from the clay oven known as the tandoor. According to Macveigh [2008] the Punjab tandoor originated in the local region. It is a clay oven and is traditionally used to cook Punjabi cuisine, from the Punjab region in Pakistan and northwestern India. It is traditional to have tandoors in courtyards of homes in the Punjab to make roti, naan and tandoori chicken. In rural Punjab, it is also traditional to have communal tandoors.
Paneer makhani is an Indian dish of paneer, originating in New Delhi, in which the gravy is prepared usually with butter (makhan), tomatoes and cashews. Spices such as red chili powder and garam masala are also used to prepare this gravy.
Hasil is a village in Chakwal district, Punjab, Pakistan with a population of 15000.There are three public sector schools in this village. This village is located on the edge of river sawan. One notable person who was born in this village is Mr.Muhammad Ikram, a young lecturer in English at College of Arts and Sciences, University of Chakwal.
Kundan Lal Jaggi, was an Indian chef and restaurateur based in New Delhi. Kundan Lal Jaggi is the inventor of butter chicken, and dal makhani, paneer makhani and the founder of the Moti Mahal restaurant along with his partners Kundan Lal Gujral and Thakur Das Magu in 1947 in Daryaganj, Delhi.
Monish Gujral is an Indian Columnist, Restaurateur, Chef, Author, and Food blogger, and talk show host. He is the chairman of Moti Mahal. He is a Member managing Committee, NRAI- National restaurant committee of India. He is the countries foremost food- writers and has bee columnist with leading newspapers- HT City, The Hindu and at present he is the columnist with the new Indian express. He is the first Indian chef invited to the legendary institute the cordon bleu in Paris to demonstrate Indian culinary. He has hosted many cookeries shows on television for NDTV and Doordarshan. Recently He hosted T.V serial called "Health Mange More" on FOOD FOOD channel.
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