This self-taught chef is on a mission to revive the royal cuisine of Malwa

The royal cuisines of Rajasthan, Lucknow, and Hyderabad are well-documented, with cookbooks and culture books tracing the origins and history of the food. However, self-taught chef Anuradha Joshi Medhora believes she can’t say the same for the royal cuisine of Malwa, which she is attempting to document and popularise through her cloud kitchen, Charoli.

A former marketing and advertising professional, Anuradha hails from a business family and says the history geek in her led to her start a business.

The Charoli journey

In a conversation with HerStory, Anuradha recalls her early memory of food when her grandfather used to gather with his friends over beer and cooked meat in the garden. A third-generation meat eater in a Brahmin family in Indore, she says both her paternal and maternal grandfathers loved what they ate.

“Even though Brahmins typically don't eat meat, my paternal grandfather was an officer in the Royal Indian Navy, served in the Second World War, and enjoyed a more colonial take on meat. On the other hand, my mother's father was a zamindar from central India, grew up with royal families, and had princes as his friends,” she shares. 

Nariyal Murg, Maas ka Kofta Narma Dil, Kheema Banjara, Bhindi ka Rajai Salan, Bharwan Paneer Mirch are some of the dishes that are a part of the royal cuisine of Malwa.

Today, she believes the royal cuisine of Malwa has been limited to households like hers, her relatives, and family friends who have a royal and noble lineage. “But even in those families, the cuisine is dying as younger generations are not too keen on taking the effort to cook the traditional way anymore,” she adds.

But while growing up, Anuradha was sent to boarding school at the age of 13 and had been away from home ever since. So, she understands the value of home-cooked meals. Soon, she began recreating the dishes of her region by sourcing recipes from her family members and relatives. 

“I was very lucky to grow up in a space surrounded by royalty and noble families, and enjoyed the region’s unique cuisine. And you realise the value of it as you become older,” she narrates.

In 2015, she turned her passion into a larger vision of documenting the cuisine as she realised its historical value and importance. While she remained involved in the family business of clothing, Anuradha also ran Charoli as a side hustle by participating in various pop-up stores in Mumbai and offering catering services. Gradually, she pulled out of the family business to give her undivided attention to Charoli in 2019. 

Bootstrapped so far, Charoli is named after a secret ingredient used by her mother in her favourite mutton dish. 

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The market opportunity

Although entrepreneurship came naturally to Anuradha, catering for a wedding function of a royal family of Indore boosted her confidence to pursue the venture full-time “because they really are the custodians of the cuisine”. She adds, “They felt we were doing justice to the revival of royal Malwa dishes — which is huge.”

Available on Swiggy, Zomato, and through her Instagram presence, the cloud kitchen offers a wide range of dishes — from appetizers to main courses, and desserts. During the pandemic, she launched Maharajas Delight Box, a family and friends meal box — available in both vegetarian and non-vegetarian editions — for two or four persons.

In 2019, she built a five-member team, including herself, only to see the pandemic turning the food and beverage industry upside down. Although the number of physical pop-ups reduced, Anuradha says the pandemic did not hamper the business growth as online demand increased.

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Prior to this, she says it had been tricky to bring a structure to Charoli while managing the family business as well. Finding a dedicated team and educating the customers was also a challenge. Operating in a city like Mumbai, she says people tend to equate Malwa food to just seafood, and it had been a task to break that mould.

Today, Charoli is making the most of the rising popularity of cloud kitchens in India, which is expected to become a $1 billion market by 2023, as per most research and consulting reports. 

Moving to commercial space in 2019 led to 25-30 percent growth in revenue. “We have consciously decided to grow at a steady pace so that the growth is organic and we judge our success by the number of repeat clients we get,” she adds.

Eventually, Anuradha hopes to publish a book about the region’s spices and unique food ingredients, and capture the essence of the royal cuisine of Malwa.

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