Uncle Ben’s has introduced a new wok rice range and revamped its Indian cooking sauces to boost its appeal to families. Uncle Ben’s Wok Rice targets the convenient and sociable aspects of a stir-fry family mealtime.

The three-strong range includes basmati, garlic & herbs and oriental soy with five spice flavours. The company has also overhauled the recipes for its korma, tikka masala and medium curry sauces to remove all artificial colours, flavours and preservatives. And two new variants, balti and jalfrezi, have been added to the range in response to consumer demand for a wider variety of recipes. The wok rice launch will be supported by a £1.1m TV advertising budget, breaking in November, while the cooking sauces relaunch is being backed by £2.7m of marketing and advertising activity. This includes a £1.95m TV campaign and £350,000 for press advertising.

“The changes to the sauces and the introduction of wok rice are very much aimed at busy mums who want the convenience that the products provide,” said an Uncle Ben’s spokesman. “With the Indian cooking sauces we looked at the recipes and started again from scratch to offer families the assurance that the ingredients are wholesome and free from artificial products.”

The sauces will be ­available in store from November and have an rsp of £1.76. All are available in 500g jars, except the korma flavour, which comes in a 490g jar. Uncle Ben’s Wok Rice is also free of artificial colours, flavours and preservatives and has an rsp of £1.55.