Meet Moji Masala and a North Sea Couple With a Spicy Mission

Four years ago, North Sea husband-and-wife team J.D. Walsh and Shireen Qadri founded Moji Masala, an Indian spice company, with a mission to prove that Indian food can be both healthy and nutritious. The company’s name comes from moji meaning “mama” in Kashmiri and “masala” which directly translates to spice blends, and Moji Masala’s premeasured Indian spice packs (with foolproof recipes you can access online) are designed to make it super easy for anyone to prepare Indian food at home.

Now, after many years of effort, Walsh and Qadri are pleased to announce that they have become a retail partner of Citarella stores in East Hampton, Bridgehampton and Southampton. There are seven Moji Masala products currently being sold at all three Citarella locations on the East End, and Moji Masala dishes will also be featured on Citarella’s hot bar. Additionally, Walsh and Qadri are conducting demos of Moji Masala spices in the coming weeks at all three locations. The spices are also sold at Provisions in Sag Harbor, Curated Fine Meats in Wainscott and L’Epicuriste in Bridgehampton.

The story of Moji Masala is truly a homegrown tale. Walsh, who is from Islip, and Qadri, who grew up in the Washington, D.C. area, began production of their spice mixes at East End Food Institute, the nonprofit that currently operates on the Stony Brook Southampton campus where it provides commercial kitchen space for start-up food entrepreneurs. The organization recently changed its name to East End Food and is currently in the process of building a new multi-use facility in Riverhead that will support hundreds of small businesses in the area.

Moji Masala was born from the couple’s love for authentic Indian cuisine, which they both craved but didn’t have time to prepare at the end of a busy workday. Determined to recreate their favorite Indian dishes at home in New York City and share their love for Kashmiri cuisine and culture with their then 5-year-old daughter, Nora, they turned to Qadri’s family traditions for inspiration.

Both had spent a lot of time in India. At 6 foot 8 inches, Walsh, who played college basketball at the University of Maryland, had spent many years as a basketball ambassador, coaching in underserved communities throughout India and other parts of the world. Though Qadri grew up near Washington, D.C., she spent summers with family in Kashmir, located in the foothills of the Himalayan mountains. There, she spent hours in the kitchen alongside her grandmother, whom she called Moji, helping to prepare the family meals with freshly ground aromatic spice mixtures called masalas.

Looking to make her favorite Indian meals as an adult, Qadri learned dish by dish under Moji’s guidance until she had built a repertoire of authentic Kashmiri recipes. The “aha!” moment for Qadri and Walsh, who were married in 2011, came one evening after visiting with Qadri’s parents. Her mother had sent them home with a few bags of premeasured, freshly ground spice blends. During the car ride back to New York, the couple realized the key to making fabulous Indian dishes was all about these magical masalas, which they could use to prepare authentic Kashmiri food any night of the week. They also realized they could take the guesswork out of Indian cooking by sharing simple authentic recipes alongside premeasured spices, making it easy for anyone looking to prepare traditional Indian meals at home.

Using Moji’s masala recipes, they started by identifying what spices were needed to recreate the classic Kashmiri dishes that Qadri grew up eating. She and Walsh quickly got to work sourcing, grinding and blending an assortment of traditional Indian spices including clove, cumin, coriander and fennel seed, green and black cardamom, ginger, red chili and turmeric powder. Qadri then began recipe testing with her family members to get the dishes just right. Not an easy task when her mother doesn’t even own a measuring spoon.

“Shireen spent three years testing her mom’s and auntie’s recipes to eliminate 90 percent of the process,” explained Walsh. “We realized the power to make Indian food is in the spices. In an urban kitchen, most people are using spices that were ground months or years ago. Ours are fresh and organic, we use no irradiated spices and that packet is connected to a recipe and simplified.”

Moji Masala spice blends, which are precisely measured to create a specific dish, are hand packed and sold in single-use packages made in the U.S., ensuring the spices stay fresh since they aren’t exposed to heat, light and air — all of which cause spices to lose their potency. Each masala packet corresponds to a simple recipe found on the site. The back of the package has a shopping list and a QR code linking to a short instructional cooking video showing home cooks how to prepare the traditional Indian dish with minimal prep work.

Many of the recipes are ready in 30 minutes, while a few of the braised meat dishes take about an hour to cook. Each packet ranges from $3 to $10 and contains enough spices to make a dish that feeds two to five people. There are currently 12 varieties of Moji Masala spice blends available that will satisfy meat lovers, vegetarians and vegans. And now, the couple’s daughter Nora has become a Moji Masala-obsessed chef and is able cook alongside them.

“We skew north Indian at the moment, but we’re hoping to expand to south Indian dishes as well,” said Walsh. “It’s a labor of love and a lot of work.”

The next cooking demonstration by Walsh and Qadri will take place Friday, July 19, from 10:30 to 12:30 p.m. at Citarella’s Bridgehampton store, 2209 Montauk Highway, Bridgehampton. To pick up the spice packets, stop by any of the three Citarella markets on the East End. For more information about Moji Masala, visit mojimasala.com.