Bringing back a forgotten taste

Pappathi's kitchen in Mettur

In Mettur, a small rural town, my grandmother Pappathi cooked the way her mother did. Her kitchen had no masala for every dish. A home kept just one or two: a curry powder or a malli masala. Those few were made fresh, with care, and they made every meal taste like home. My mother learned this art from her, and I grew up on that taste.

Away from home

Then life took me away from it. Through work and hostel days, I started eating outside, and my body began to complain. When the COVID lockdown sent me home for a long stretch, I felt the difference, though I credited it to home-cooked food and never thought about the masala. When work resumed, so did hostel and outside food.

A message from Amma

After marriage, I saw the same pattern in my husband's home. They cooked with popular store-bought masalas, and almost everyone had some discomfort: burning, stomach irritation, a heavy feeling after meals. Around then, my mother sent me a video of herself making masala at home, with a simple message: "Don't use outside packet masalas. They have preservatives and chemicals." We switched to her masala, and the change was clear to us.

“Don't use outside packet masalas. They have preservatives and chemicals.”

Amma, in her video message

The gap

That is when I saw the gap. Brand after brand sold a different masala for every dish, and the old way was being forgotten. Garam masala from the North was slowly taking over South Indian kitchens. But nowhere could I find the all-in-one malli masala of our tradition.

One masala, made the old way

So I started Premgi's Mamiyar Masala. I will not make countless masalas for business. I will stay with this one, the All-in-One Malli Masala, made the traditional way, with no preservatives and no added colours. My goal is simple: to bring back a forgotten taste and help families return to honest, authentic food.