Moji Masala
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| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Food |
| Founded | 2018 |
| Founders | Shireen Qadri John David "JD" Walsh |
| Headquarters | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Products | Organic Indian spice blends, recipe kits |
Moji Masala is an American food company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that produces organic, pre-measured Indian spice blends and recipe kits for home cooks. The company was founded in 2018 by husband-and-wife team Shireen Qadri and John David "JD" Walsh to make it easier to prepare traditional Indian dishes at home using Kashmiri family recipes.
History
The idea for Moji Masala developed when Qadri and Walsh began using spice packets blended by Qadri’s mother, Safia, to simplify cooking Kashmiri dishes for their family. In 2018, the couple began adapting those blends for smaller batch sizes and home use, testing and refining recipes over the course of about a year.They initially developed the business while living in New York City and later relocated to the Chestnut Hill neighborhood of Philadelphia during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Qadri previously worked in finance in New York, while Walsh, a former University of Maryland basketball player, founded an international basketball program that ran camps in countries including India, China and Israel.The founders have said the company aims to preserve Kashmiri culinary traditions and introduce regional Indian dishes to a wider audience.
Products
Moji Masala sells a line of spice blends designed for specific Indian dishes, including rogan josh, tandoori chicken, dal, aloo rasedar, chicken curry and other meat and vegetable preparations. Each packet is portioned to season a single meal, typically serving three to five people, and packaging includes a shopping list and a QR code linking to an instructional cooking video.
The blends are produced in small batches at a shared commercial kitchen in Philadelphia, where the spices are ground and packed by the founders. According to the company, the blends use organic spices, contain minimal salt and no preservatives or additives. Moji Masala products are sold through the company’s website and at independent retailers, cooperatives and selected regional and national grocery outlets in the United States.
Reception
A 2022 feature in Forbes described the brand’s aim to make cooking Indian food at home more accessible through spice blends based on family recipes.Philadelphia Business Journal highlighted the company’s efforts to expand distribution of its pre-measured spice packets and to introduce Kashmiri dishes to new consumers.
In 2024, ABC News 6 featured Moji Masala in a segment on the founders and the company's approach to simplifying Indian home cooking. Also in 2024, the local outlet Grid reported on the company’s role in helping home cooks prepare Indian dishes using organic spices, and described the product as an alternative to mass-market simmer sauces. Billy Penn at WHYY profiled Moji Masala as part of Philadelphia’s small business food scene, focusing on the founders’ move to Chestnut Hill and the company’s expansion into area co-ops and specialty markets.
In 2024, Express Magazine, a publication of The Southampton Press, profiled the founders and the company in a feature on its expansion into specialty grocers in the East End of Long Island.In 2025, Food & Wine cited Walsh and Qadri in a feature on the challenges facing small consumer-packaged-goods food brands, in which they discussed difficulties associated with placement in the "ethnic" grocery aisle.
Moji Masala has also been included in national and regional roundups of pantry items and food gifts, and mentioned in coverage of small food brands working to enter grocery retail and specialty stores.
References
External links
This article "Moji Masala" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical. Articles taken from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be accessed on Wikipedia's Draft Namespace.