Kundan Lal Gujral (c.1902 - 1997) was an Indian

chef A chef is a trained professional cook and tradesman who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term ''chef de cuisine'' (), the director or head of a kitche ...

and

restaurateur A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspec ...

based in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

. He, along with Kundan Lal Jaggi invented several

Indian dishes Indian cuisine consists of a variety of regional and traditional cuisines native to India. Given the diversity in soil, climate, culture, ethnic groups, and occupations, these cuisines vary substantially and use locally available spices, herb ...

which have since become popular worldwide, including

Butter chicken Butter chicken, traditionally known as murgh makhani (), is an Indian dish originating in New 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 si ...

Paneer makhani Paneer makhani (also called paneer butter masala) is a slightly sweet 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 gara ...

Tandoori chicken Tandoori chicken is a Cuisine of the Indian subcontinent, South Asian dish of chicken (food), chicken marinated in yogurt and spices and roasting, roasted in a ''tandoor'', a cylindrical clay oven. The dish is now popular world-wide. The moder ...

and

Dal makhani In Indian cuisine, ''dal'' (also spelled ''daal'' or ''dhal''; pronunciation: , Hindi: दाल, Urdu: ) are dried, split pulses (e.g., lentils, peas, and beans) that do not require soaking before cooking. India is the largest producer of pu ...

. He was the founder of the restaurant chain

Moti Mahal Delux Moti Mahal is a restaurant. After the partition of India in 1947, the Moti Mahal in Delhi was founded by Kundan Lal Gujral, Kundan Lal Jaggi and Thakur Dass as one of the first restaurants to introduce the Punjabi cuisine to the rest of the ...

Early life

Kundan Lal Gujral was born around 1902 to Diwan Chand Gujral and Maya Devi in

Chakwal District Chakwal District ( Punjabi and ur, ) is in Pothohar Plateau of Punjab, Pakistan. It is located in the north of the Punjab province, Chakwal district is bordered by Khushab to its south, Rawalpindi to its north east, Jhelum to its east, Mian ...

, in the Punjab Province of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

(now in

Punjab, Pakistan Punjab (; , ) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in central-eastern region of the country, Punjab is the second-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the largest province by population. It shares land borders with the ...

) into a

Punjabi Hindu Punjabi Hindus are adherents of Hinduism who identify linguistically, culturally, and genealogically as Punjabis. While Punjabi Hindus are mostly found in the Indian state of Punjab today, many have ancestry from the greater Punjab region ...

Khatri Khatri is a caste of the Indian subcontinent that is predominantly found in India, but also in Pakistan and Afghanistan. In the subcontinent, they were mostly engaged in mercantilistic professions such as banking and trade, they were the d ...

family. His only brother Chunni Lal died at the age of 18 due to

Pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

. His father was a cloth merchant. Kundan Lal Gujral completed his

matriculation Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination. Australia In Australia, the term "matriculation" is seldom used now ...

Chakwal Chakwal ( Punjabi and ur, ) is a city in Rawalpindi Division, Punjab province, Pakistan. It is the 66th largest city of Pakistan by population. Chakwal is located 90 kilometres south-west of the federal capital, Islamabad and 270 kilomet ...

. In c.1920 he started working at a small eatery called Moti Mahal, owned by Mokha Singh Lamba in

Peshawar Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...

North-West Frontier Province The North-West Frontier Province (NWFP; ps, شمال لویدیځ سرحدي ولایت, ) was a Chief Commissioner's Province of British India, established on 9 November 1901 from the north-western districts of the Punjab Province. Followin ...

. 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 The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

he migrated with his family to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and settled in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

. He then went on to start an eatery by the name of Moti Mahal in

Daryaganj Daryaganj (literally "A market near a river") is a neighbourhood of Delhi inside the walled city of Shahjahanabad (Old Delhi). The "darya" (lit. "River") refers to the river Yamuna which was just outside the walled city. Daryaganj is one of the ...

Old Delhi Old Delhi or Purani Dilli is an area in the Central Delhi district of Delhi, India. It was founded as a walled city named Shahjahanabad in 1648, when Shah Jahan (the Mughal emperor at the time) decided to shift the Mughal capital from Agra. Th ...

Known for

Kundan Lal Gujral is known for the famous

culinary Culinary arts are the cuisine arts of outline of food preparation, food preparation, cooking and food presentation, presentation of food, usually in the form of meals. People working in this field – especially in establishments such as res ...

inventions such as tandoori chicken, murgh makhani and dal makhani.

The invention of tandoori chicken

Gujral started as a chef in a small restaurant owned by Mokha Singh Lamba in Gora Bazaar,

. He experimented by skewering yogurt marinated pieces of chicken and sticking them into the

tandoor A tandoor ( or ) is a large urn-shaped oven, usually made of clay, originating from the Indian Subcontinent. Since antiquity, tandoors have been used to bake unleavened flatbreads, such as roti and naan, as well as to roast meat. The tandoor ...

(which was previously used only for Breads). This experiment led to the famous dish tandoori chicken. Tandoori chicken is another popular dish in

Indian restaurants Indian cuisine consists of a variety of regional and traditional cuisines native to India. Given the diversity in soil, climate, culture, ethnic groups, and occupations, these cuisines vary substantially and use locally available spices, her ...

around the world.

The invention of murgh makhani

To avoid wastage of the leftover or unsold tandoori tikkas (marinated pieces of chicken cooked in a tandoor) due to the lack of

refrigeration The term refrigeration refers to the process of removing heat from an enclosed space or substance for the purpose of lowering the temperature.International Dictionary of Refrigeration, http://dictionary.iifiir.org/search.phpASHRAE Terminology, ht ...

facilities at that time, Gujral added

tomato gravy Tomato sauce (also known as ''salsa roja'' in Spanish or ''salsa di pomodoro'' in Italian) can refer to many different sauces made primarily from tomatoes, usually to be served as part of a dish, rather than as a condiment. Tomato sauces are c ...

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. Today, murgh makhani, or butter chicken, is the most popular

curry A curry is a dish with a sauce seasoned with spices, mainly associated with South Asian cuisine. In southern India, leaves from the curry tree may be included. There are many varieties of curry. The choice of spices for each dish in tradit ...

around the world.

The invention of dal makhani

Gujral is also known for inventing dal makhani which is a mildly spiced

pulses In medicine, a pulse represents the tactile arterial palpation of the cardiac cycle (heartbeat) by trained fingertips. The pulse may be palpated in any place that allows an artery to be compressed near the surface of the body, such as at the nec ...

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.

Legacy

After having fled

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, Kundan Lal Gujral settled in Delhi and opened a small

dhaba A dhaba is a roadside restaurant in the Indian subcontinent, primarily across Pakistan and India. They are on highways, generally serve local cuisine, and also serve as truck stops. They are most commonly found next to petrol stations, and mos ...

(roadside eatery) to introduce Delhiites to the tandoori chicken. He bought a small space in

and set up Moti Mahal. The place quickly proved popular and within a year Kundan Lal Gujral bought the adjoining area, turning his eatery into a 400-seat restaurant. Dignitaries like former Indian Prime Ministers,

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

and

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...

, former

Indian President The president of India (IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Murmu i ...

Dr. Zakir Hussain (8 February 1897 – 3 May 1969) known as Dr. Zakir Husain, was an Indian educationist and politician who served as President of India from 13 May 1967 until his death on 3 May 1969. Born into an Afridi Pashtun family in Hyderabad, Husa ...

, actors

Raj Kapoor Raj Kapoor (pronunciation: �aːd͡ʒ kəpuːɾ born Shrishti Nath Kapoor; also known as Ranbir Raj Kapoor; 14 December 1924 2 June 1988) was an Indian actor, film director and producer, who worked in Hindi cinema. He is considered one of th ...

and

Nargis Dutt Nargis Dutt (born Fatima Rashid; 1 June 1929 – 3 May 1981) was an Indian actress and politician who worked in Hindi cinema. Regarded as one of the greatest actresses in the history of Indian cinema, she made her screen debut in a minor role ...

, and Soviet leader

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...

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 South Delhi is an administrative district of the National Capital Territory of Delhi in India with its headquarters in Saket. Administratively, the district is divided into three subdivisions, Saket, Hauz Khas, and Mehrauli. It is bounded by t ...

to establish

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 Franchise may refer to: Business and law * Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees * Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television p ...

across India. Today, it has grown from a small restaurant in

to a modern eating chain with more than 150 franchises in India and worldwide.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gujral, Kundan Lal 1900s births 1997 deaths Indian people Punjabi people Indian Hindus Punjabi Hindus Indian chefs Chefs of Indian cuisine