Our Pakistani cuisine has a rich and flavorful heritage, characterized by it’s bold flavors, aromatic spices, and diverse range of dishes. It features a blend of various spices and herbs, including but not limited to turmeric, cumin, coriander, red chili, star anise, cinnamon etc. Long ago, before this era of artificial intelligence and speed, our great-grandmothers and grandmothers used to roast and grind spices by hand, and make different concoctions of spice mixes which would take time and effort. Fast forward to today, all those spice mixes like Biryani, Nihari, Qormah, Kunna, Tikka are readily available – with a choice of not one, but various brands like Shan, National, Meezan, Malka, and Habib. What would earlier take hours of preparation, finesse and skill is now easily accessible with less than half the work, in the market. Ready-made spice mixes have elevated the lives of consumers by making it easier for the consumer to make elaborate dishes within a fraction of a time and work. You name it and these brands have sorted out every dish for you. Be it shami kebabs or biryani, curries like Qorma or karhai, bar b que or Chinese, they have a blend available for you.
Sikandar Sultan, the founder and chairperson of Shan Foods, founded the company in 1981. With one room operation, he realized the potential of an independent company solely manufacturing packaged high quality spice mixes and plain spices. Shan Products are available in 70 countries worldwide, making it one of the most popular spice brand. Whereas National Foods, who have been around for 50 years are a tough competitor for Shan Foods. They both have a significant global presence, product variety and quality produce. National is a multicategory food company, whose products are not limited to spices but also includes jams, marmalades, pickles, chutneys, sauces and many other items. Their products are purpose made for convenience and easy preparation to match the contemporary lifestyle and traditional tastes. Following these two brands, other smaller companies also started introducing their version of mixed spices – companies like Habib, Meezan, Malka etc. While Shan and National may be the spice-mix giants, other companies like Malka also have some great masala-mixes – like Delhi Nihari for example. I have personally used this one and loved how the Nihari turned out! National’s curry powder is my favorite from their range, and Shan’s Bar B Que range is literally the most elaborate and easy to make.
One must definitely stock up on some packaged masalas. Why, you must be thinking? Because, it has a longer shelf life, a vast variety, convenient to pack and travel with, saves one time and effort and very easy to cook. These brands are helping beginners with cooking, especially those super women who are juggling work and home concurrently. We also did a poll on our social media, where we asked our followers to tell us their favorite masalas and the brand they trust the most.