Restaurant jaisa swaad: What you need to know about this marinade brand

Pesto chicken strips and Bloody Peri Chicken

We're not usually ones to fall for Instagram ads, but this time was different. The tantalising images of juicy, perfectly charred chicken were enough to spark hunger pangs and send us down a delicious rabbit hole. It was enough to look them up and see a startup brand only dealing in marinades that promise to be 100 per cent clean label with zero preservatives, additives, or chemicals - we were sold. We wanted to order just a few, but the online discount led us to try them all.

Kilrr marination masalas (Rs 70 per single use sachet) require a five-second prep. Open the sachet, mix with three tablespoons of water, and marinate 250gms of chicken. Leave it for as long as you like (a minimum of 30 minutes, we say) and then fire it up in an oven, air-fryer or the good ol' pan.

From prep to plate in 15 minutes with instant marinades

We started with Dhaniya Mirchi Aur Woh. The dry mix had curd, onion, coriander leaves, garlic, ginger, green chilli, salt, fenugreek, black pepper, amchur, and chaat masala. So, there was nothing more to add. We followed the instructions and slathered the marinade on chicken drumsticks. In 30 minutes, we put them on the pan to cook on a slow flame. As we went on to flip the drumsticks on the other side, we noticed it was charred - just like you'd want on your meat, cooked on open fire.

The chicken was done quickly, and we had it with plain buttered rice. The meal was had in absolute silence - it was perfect. Fired by the results, we called for more chicken and also experimented with paneer for dinner. The Lucknowi Tamancha had curd, onion, lemon, garlic, ginger, green chilli, salt, cashewnut, garam masala, besan, turmeric, cardamom, white pepper and saffron - we assumed the mild flavours would work with paneer and it did.

We marinated it for 15 minutes and cooked it with butter, and the result was a perfectly charred paneer tikka that looked straight off a skewer. Next, we tried the Pistol Pesto, one we had seen in the ad. It had curd, garlic, green chilli, lemon, salt, dried basil, walnut, salt, and black pepper. We slathered it on a chicken breast, tossed it on the pan with olive oil and voila, it worked well with a side of spaghetti aglio e olio - this one is now a weekend hit at our home. The Bloody Peri works fine for our chicken multigrain sandwiches. Although we had marinated this one for 24 hours, we didn't notice any massive deepening of flavours. If the work is done in 15 minutes, we aren't complaining anyway, especially when we are in a hurry.

Next, we tried the Saza-E-Kaali Mirch with prawns and Afghan-Ka-Shaitaan, Tandoori Blast and Gangs of Awadh with different cuts of chicken and all the flavours worked well - the Bloody Peri being our least favourite. We realised that unlike pre-marinated chicken or ready-to-use pastes, you control the oil used in cooking; plus, you know it's fresher than pre-marinated meat that's been in the cold chain for no one knows how long. These are freeze-dried ingredients; hence, once the packet is open, it must be used in one go.

Founder Hitesh Bhagia, an IIM Kozhikode alumnus with over 15 years of industry experience and a passion for cooking, believes India is a country where everyone loves "ghar ka khana". However, with life getting busier, we always look for options that make the process easier. "The idea was to make cooking easier and to create a clean, high-quality product that would add genuine value to people's lives. And that's what we did. I've always wanted to venture into the F&B space, and this product was born from my need for a quick, clean solution for home-cooked meals - perfect for ‘lazy cooks' like me. Unlike others, we skip additives like cheese and use wholesome ingredients like cashews, creating something I can confidently share with my daughter. If it works for me, it works for everyone!,"
he tells us.

Adding a dash of fun - from the brand name to the ‘atrangi' flavour names to the communication you get post-purchase and even their content on social media - everything works collectively to create a joyful experience for people. "Why make buying marinades a boring experience," he adds, "We want our product to be the next best thing to make your marinade at home. And we agree - nothing beats that."

To buy: kilrr.com