Meet Dolly Mumma

I learnt cooking when I was ten. I learnt to enjoy food much earlier.
 
My mum says that she has never seen a child eat the way I used to – slowly, with my eyes closed, relishing each bite to the fullest. The family tale goes that mum first noticed me doing this when I was served a bowl of my Dolly Mumma's prawn curry.

As a kid, I used to go to my grandma, Dolly Mumma's house every weekend and she'd always make me her amazing curry for lunch. Once she cuddled and asked me what I wanted to inherit from her. I innocently told her that all I really wanted was a big, never-ending bowl of her curry that I could always have and remember her by.

Years passed and my mum and I moved to New Zealand. While other kids brought sandwiches to school, I always got some Indian leftovers that mum had packed for me. "What's that, curry?", my Kiwi friends would ask while I waited near the microwave for my food to be heated. My eyes would roll inside my head. If only they knew the joys of eating a really great curry!

 
It took growing up, moving back to India and missing the oddly orange 'Kiwi' butter chicken, to realise that it wasn't anyone's fault. After all, butter chicken, tikka masala and naan were the only dishes they knew! How were us Kiwis to get a taste of real India if no one ever made us taste it?
 
I parked that thought until I moved back to New Zealand in 2019.
 
As I started making new friends, I encountered old conversations.
"Oh you're from Mumbai? I love having curry," they'd say.
or, "I love Dahl but sadly I can never get it right,"
or, "I bought curry powder at the Indian shop but my curry didn't taste anything like the one I usually order. Not quite sure what to do with it now, aye."
 
It clicked that if I wanted my friends and those around me to experience the true taste of India, I had to do more than talk about it. I had to bring those flavours into their kitchen and show them how truly versatile they could be!

I wanted to show my fellow Kiwis that Indian spices can be used to make just about anything, from dahl to roast to pasta and everything in between. Because, let's face it, cooking for the family every day of every week is incredible tedious and we could all do with a shortcut. 

 
My Dolly Mumma taught me that good cooking is about flavour. “It doesn’t matter if your curry is not like mine, what matters is the love. Make sure they can taste the love and they will love the taste," she would say.

Our range of ready-to-cook products are made with generous helpings of authentic flavours and love. We show you how to experiment with Indian flavours, yet cook a great meal in under 30 minutes! Use Dolly Mumma pastes to make a lip-smacking curry or a juicy roast chicken. Make dahl in a jiffy, stir up a yogurt raita or whip up some masala mayonnaise.

Use Dolly Mumma to go beyond butter chicken and get a taste of the real India. But also, use Dolly Mumma to make your favourite Kiwi meal.

Love Indian flavours? You'll love Dolly Mumma.