dolly Mumma: Bringing India’s Flavours To Kiwi Kitchens, One Spice At A Time

India is a kaleidoscope of flavours and tastes, and yet most of the world knows Indian food as ‘curry’. Perzen Patel and her husband, Rushad, want to change this, ‘one Kiwi at a time’ with their Indian curry paste and spice blend company, Dolly Mumma.  

Perzen first moved to New Zealand in 2002 with her mother when she was 15. She has brought the richness of India’s palate to New Zealand.

“Indian cooking isn't just about making curries. It's about understanding how to layer flavours, when to add different spices, and most importantly, taking your time to let those flavours develop.”

Kiwis get exposure to food from Mumbai, Gujarat, Hyderabad and Chennai on her famous food walks hosted on Sandringham Road, Auckland. Her natural flair for storytelling livens up these walks and makes Kiwis feel they are walking on the streets of India where the aroma of food and welcoming smiles leave them mesmerised.  

Perzen spreads her love for Indian food the way one would spread curry on rice. She hosts food walks and online cooking classes and also writes a food newsletter, ‘Beyond Butter Chicken, ’ where she spreads her love for Indian food.

It all started with her grandmother, Dolly Mumma’s, mouthwatering prawn curry. She couldn’t live without that prawn curry. 

She swore by it, and today, many Kiwi Indians are getting a taste of her grandmother’s signature dish. She used to visit her grandmother’s house in Mumbai every Saturday.

Prawn curry would always welcome her with open arms and even escort her back home when she returned with a happy, full stomach. When Mumma asked her what she wanted to inherit from her, she innocently told her that all she really wanted was a big, never-ending bowl of her curry that she could always have and remember her by.

“After she passed away, I was heartbroken thinking I'd lost her recipe forever. But then we found her old diary with a loose piece of paper titled 'Machi ni Curry for vahli Perzen' (Fish Curry for dear Perzen). That curry became the foundation for everything - the first recipe on my food blog, the first dish on my catering menu in India, the first proper meal I fed my children, and now, the heart of Dolly Mumma's curry paste range.” It hasn’t been easy. 

  Perzen Patel's grandmother/Photo: Dolly Mumma website

“I remember one of my first beach trips in New Zealand, where mum and her friends decided to make Akoori (similar to bhurji) on the public BBQ instead of the typical Kiwi sausage sizzle. I tried to hide behind my novel as the aroma of ghee and onions filled the air, frantically checking if anyone was staring at this group of Indians who clearly had no idea how to 'properly' use a BBQ! Being a teenager is hard enough without feeling like your food makes you stand out. It wasn’t until I started my Parsi food blog and later, a regional Indian catering company in India, that slowly, one recipe at a time, that embarrassment turned into excitement”.

With Dolly Mumma’s curry pastes and blends, Perzen now pushes the envelope and the possibilities of using Indian masalas in a way Kiwis haven’t experimented with before. She encourages jugaad - an Indian term for innovative thinking, where simple solutions that bend the rules are encouraged.  

There is no right or wrong way to use a masala.  

Photo: Supplied

“Don't just reserve our pastes for 'curry night'! I always tell people to think beyond curry and use them in their everyday cooking. Add Tandoori paste to your stir-fries for a flavour kick, marinate your Sunday roast chicken with our Cashew Korma paste, or spice up your breakfast by adding our Podi chilli oil to scrambled eggs. It was one of our customers who suggested slathering tandoori or coastal curry paste on toasted sandwiches with avocado.”

Perzen uses her cooking classes and food walks to change perceptions about Indian food. For Kiwis overwhelmed with the sheer variety of ingredients at the Indian shop, she suggests starting with ghee.  “Ghee is so versatile. You can use it instead of butter or oil in any dish such as ghee-roasted vegetables or replacing olive oil with ghee in an Aglio e Olio pasta.”

She also encourages her readers and customers to experiment with tadka, a form of spice tempering. Tadka makes Indian kitchens sizzle with sound. It’s music to a foodie’s ears. How about adding a ghee tadka with mustard seeds and curry leaves to your mashed potatoes or using a tadka to elevate scrambled eggs?

Indian grocery stores are spread across New Zealand like the seagulls, they are everywhere. How do you know what spices to buy and from where is a question Perzen answers often. “We’re lucky there are so many Indian grocery stores now, especially in Auckland, and I encourage all Indian food lovers to go visit them rather than buying stale, flavourless spices from the big box shops. I even created a downloadable Indian grocery shopping list to help first-timers. My advice is don't be intimidated with the shelves packed full of stuff! Start with the basics like basmati rice, some whole spices, turmeric and maybe a packet of curry leaves.”

The key is to start somewhere and experiment.

The author of this article, Michelle D’Costa, is working on her second novel at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. She enjoys editing books, mentoring writers, and interviewing authors