Mr. Kundan Lal Gujral
This is the story of a man who embarked on a culinary adventure that forever altered the face and flavour of Indian cooking. This is the story of a man and a recipe that transformed the Indian palate's desire for succulence and spice in its cuisine.
This is the story of a man who created a butter-filled delight, giving ordinary chicken a unique flavour. Kundan Lal Gujral's innovation transformed the plebeian village tandoor for baking into a royal mode of cooking.
Let's discover the story of Kundan Lal Gujral, who is the man Behind the Brand Moti Mahal.
Partition and rebirth of Punjabis
The Partition of India in 1947 was followed by the Punjabi invasion of Delhi. While the Dilliwalas were rendered immobile by the tragedy, the refugee Punjabis were galvanised into fighting for a new avatar or rebirth and rolled up their sleeves to reclaim their economic dignity while refusing to accept defeat.
The story of Punjabi Pathan
Kundan Lal Gujral was one of the bravest breeds for whom defeat was a dirty word. He was a Punjabi Pathaan from the province's northwestern border. Despite the fact that Kundan's father, Dewan Chand,
was a cloth merchant in Chakwal and owned a cloth shop in this district of Jhelum, the young Kundan became a professional product of Peshawar, where he got his first job. He wasn't even in his teens when he found himself in a position to take advantage of his resources. In the early 1900s, he began working as an assistant in a restaurant owned by Sardar Mukha Singh, who took him under his wing. Kundan exuded boundless energy and enthusiasm when it came to carrying out orders and reaching out to people. He was constantly on the move, establishing clientele and maintaining impeccable relations with customers.
The 6Ps of success
Working continuously at the restaurant with Sardar Mukha Singh, sharpened Gujral's skills in what he later described as the six P's of success: product quality, price, promotion, place, personalised service, and, most importantly, people (customers).
Peshawar to Delhi
After partition, Kundan arrived in Delhi armed with the other five guidelines and twelve thousand rupees, the only things he could salvage from the tragedy that had robbed most people not only of their possessions but also of their entire families. Kundan Lal Gujral, and his wife Ram Prakash Devi, mother Maya Devi, and their young son Nand Lal Gujral arrived in Delhi as refugees in 1947. Their arrival truly changed the face of Indian cooking.
Catering was his first love, and it would be his last and most fruitful.
The beginning of Moti Mahal
The trail, which began in Peshawar's Gora Bazar, ended in Daryaganj, Delhi's then-busiest intersection between old and new Delhi. In 1947, Kundan identified a small spot on the roadside that was later granted to him by the president of India through a rehabilitation conveyance deed, and Moti Mahal was re-established in independent India. Twenty-seven years later, after making a name for himself, he arrived in Delhi to start over. He had come armed with Oscar Wilde's famous aphorism 'to declare nothing but my genius'.
Introduction to political stalwarts
The first thing he did after opening his shop in Daryaganj was to put one of the six P's of his success formula into action. In Peshawar, he would frequently cater to the home of his friend and political stalwart Mehrchand Khanna, who later became a minister in Nehru's cabinet. Mr Khanna was the one who introduced Pandit Nehru to Gujral's famous tandoori chicken after partition. Nehru inquired about the inventor, and Meherchand named Kundan lal Gujral.
Following that, Motimahal specialties became a must at Nehru's banquets, dinners, and meals for political meetings. Following that, Moti Mahal became the first venue for visiting dignitaries to sample this most innovative and popular Indian cuisine. The list included the Shah of Iran, US President Richard Nixon, and Jackeline Kennedy, Prime Minister Trudeau of Canada, King of Nepal, Soviet leaders Alexei Kosygin, Nikolai Bulganin, Zulfikar Bhutto, and others. Maulana Azad, India's first education minister, once said, 'Visiting Delhi without eating at Moti Mahal is like visiting Agra without seeing the Taj Mahal.'
Moti Mahal "The Palace of Pearls"
The pearls were not intended to adorn the beautiful women of Delhi, but to win the Dilliwala's culinary heart and introduce the world to a new delight - tandoori chicken. It was to conjure up culinary magic. He roasted the chicken in the mud baked oven, which was dug into the ground and lit with coal and wood. When Kundan added a vegetarian speciality - Dal Makhani (black lentil cooked slowly overnight and mixed with the magical potion of top puree garnished with fresh cream - even the most discerning gourmet would visit Moti Mahal with bated breath.
In his column in Brunch (Hindustan Times Publication), noted journalist and food critic Gautam wrote, "Our story now veers (as does the story of the tandoori chicken) to Delhi's Daryaganj where Kundan Lal Gujral opened Moti Mahal and made Tandoori cooking famous.
The emotional story of Tandoori Chicken
On a visit to India in 1984, James Traub, author of Indian, the Challenge of Change, described the tandoori chicken with typical gourmet flourish, " It emerges in the best of all possible restaurants, light pink in the centre, crisp on the outside, slightly smoky throughout, and with a fine mist of sauce still clinging to the surface. It's more pungent with cumin and coriander than hot with chilli. After the first bite of murgh malai or tender chicken, one should give in to the sudden desire to cry; after all, India is an emotional country."
'My restaurant is my life,' Kundan Lal Gujral said near the end of his legendary career. Gujral's inventive genius is responsible for tandoori cuisine's popularity in Indian cuisine.
Journey carried forward by Grandson
It was a lesson well learned for the family left behind, particularly his grandson Ashim Gujral, who had the opportunity to train under his legendary GrandFather, having graduated in Business studies from Delhi University and then Hotel management from Pusa, and who now manages the global chain of Moti Mahal Hotels and Restaurants. He was also influenced by his father, Nand Lal Gujral, who expanded the restaurant chain beyond Daryaganj to South Delhi and Uttar Pradesh in the 1970s.
Today, Moti Mahal is the largest Indian restaurant chain in the world.