A steady stream of customers bustled into Masala Mahal – southern Maine’s first and only Indian grocery store – on a recent weekend afternoon. They shopped for spices, oils, lentils, mango drinks, chick pea flour and other Far East delights that filled the shelves at the new retail shop on South Portland’s Main Street.

A shopper wearing a Gritty McDuff’s T-shirt and shorts bought fruit pulp to flavor a mango pudding he was preparing. Another shopper, who is a transplant from India, picked out the snacks and spices she misses most from her native country. She even checked out a Bollywood movie on DVD.

“We specialize in Indian spices, Indian lentils and different flours,” said Mamta Punjabi, the 38-year-old shop owner. “These are the foods that we grew up with. It feels like home to have them.”

The store that Punjabi runs with her sister-in-law, Jaya Punjabi, sells authentic Indian and Pakistani foods and spices, from masalas (spices) and curry mixes to frozen, fresh and canned foods.

The store’s ample supply of spices cover the blends commonly used in Indian cooking. They include curry powder, coriander, cumin and garam masala, a mixture of bay leaves, coriander and cumin.

She also has a frozen food section that include ready-to-eat Indian dishes. Shoppers can buy a variety of Indian breads frozen that just need to be brushed with olive oil, heated and served. There are also mango cream cookies, guava juice, fruit lassis (yogurt drinks) and pistachio ice cream. In addition to a variety of lentils, the store has dried black eyed peas, mung beans and green peas. There also are a variety of flours, as well as fresh or frozen breads that include naan and paratha.

Lataha Govada, who recently moved from Atlanta, Ga., to Scarborough, said she was relieved to find an Indian grocer so near her new home. Govada moved to southern Maine to take a job as a software engineer at Wright Express.

Govada, who is from India, said she was used to having several Indian markets close to her home, when she lived in Atlanta for several years.

“There were tons of Indian grocery stores,” she said.

Govada picked up some snacks and Indian movies. Her new roommate, an American woman, marveled at the selection of items.

Punjabi advised Govada to attend an upcoming picnic the Indian Association of Maine is holding at Fort Williams in Cape Elizabeth to celebrate the country’s Independence Day. Members will gather on Aug. 16 to celebrate India’s independence from England.

Matma Punjabi said she was unsure what to expect when she opened the shop a month ago. She even considered stocking one aisle with American foods, because she wondered if a shop that exclusively sold Indian food products could sustain itself.

So far, the response from customers has been “very positive.”

“This store is a new baby,” she said. “We are constantly in here.”

Punjabi said she left a steady banking job to open Masala Mahal – which translates as Spice Mansion – because of a pressing need for a grocery store in southern Maine that caters to the state’s rising population from India, as well as American cooks who enjoy the breads, chutneys and spiced meats that distinguish the ethnic cuisine.

According to 2006 U.S. Census data, there are 1,805 people who identify themselves as Asian Indian living in Maine.

Punjabi said that many Indians, like her family, move to Maine for employment. Punjabi’s husband has run a Maine Mall kiosk that sells and repairs watches since the early 1990s.

Punjabi said that she has watched the Indian Association of Maine grow from a small group of 30 or 40 people in the 1990s to more than 350 members today.

She is advertising her shop’s opening as far north as Lewiston and Augusta.

Until Masala Mahal opened, the Punjabis were among the Maine customers who drove to Massachusetts for supplies of Indian ingredients to cook traditional meals. Punjabi said she had grown tired of the commute just to pick up gram flour (made from chick peas), varieties of Indian lentils, split pigeon peas, fried and sweetened banana chips and tamarind chutney. It was especially hard in the winter.

Punjabi said she realized that everyone was making frequent trips to Indian grocers in Waltham and Burlington, Mass., to pick up food staples common in households in India.

The idea for Masala Mahal arose from that need to stock her own kitchen. Punjabi then scouted for a location.

Punjabi said she looked for a while to find a site that was not far from her home in Scarborough, but also centrally located near the interstate and turnpike. Her shop is open from 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, 4-8 p.m. Mondays and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sundays.

Masala Mahal is a small storefront in the Southside Plaza off U.S. 1, also known as Main Street, as it travels through South Portland. The grocery store, at 798 Main St., is located in a section of the city that has not changed a lot over the years. Governor’s Restaurant is just down the street. Masala Mahal is in a store that Red Wing shoes occupied until it moved to larger quarters.

Jaya Punjabi, store manager