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Everything you need to know about legendary Indian cookbook author Tarla Dalal

TIMESOFINDIA.COM | Last updated on - Nov 6, 2019, 17:17 IST

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The flavourful journey of cookbook author Tarla Dalal

Six years ago, iconic Indian cookbook author Tarla Dalal left us. She died at the age of 77 of a heart attack in Mumbai and left behind a flavourful and humongous legacy. She is credited with 170 cookbook titles and 17000 recipes that were also translated into many regional languages as well as foreign languages. As one of India's most celebrated chefs and prolific cookbook writers, she was known for her easy recipes, sense of humour and an ever-smiling face. It would not be wrong to say that Tarla Dalal taught Indians the meaning of cookbook and even made them learn how to cook tricky dishes like Bhature, Gulab Jamun and Dahi Vada. Before you start drooling over these names, let us take you back in time and enlighten you about her contribution to the world of food.

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Early years of Tarla Dalal

She started her journey in the world of food with cooking classes at her residence in 1966 and later launched her ready-to-cook food items under the brand name Tarla Dalal Food. With time she shot to success with her TV shows that had a lot of humour, joy and humility.

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Largest food website

According to a national daily, Tarla Dalal’s food website (www(dot)tarladalal(dot) com is among the largest Indian food website with recipes spanning seven cuisines—Punjabi, Gujarati, Rajasthani, Maharashtrian, South Indian, Chinese and Italian. She also introduced a bimonthly magazine called Cooking & More. Internationally, his show Cook It Up With Tarla Dalal on Sony TV was broadcasted in South-East Asia, India, the Gulf, the UK and the US. Her first cookbook titled the Pleasures of Vegetarian Cooking was published in 1974. And her other famous cookbooks are: 100 Calorie Snacks, Acidity Cook Book and Popular Restaurant Gravies.

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Padma Shri Awardee

As soon as she shot to success, national accolade came her way and in 2007, she was honoured with Padma Shri—the only cookbook author to have received the honour at that time.

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Popular for healthy recipes

If you think that the trend of healthy cooking and recipes is something new, let us tell you that Tarla Dalal talked about in her last few years of professionalism and in her cookery shows demonstrated healthy recipes that included zero oil soups, salads and snacks. (Image: Tarla Dalal website)

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People’s choice

Think of Indian housewives of 80s and 90s, Tarla Dalal’s cookery show used to be their go-to-solution to cook something new and innovative. Pratibha Mani Tripathi, a mother of two says, “My kids were 6 and 10 years old when I was introduced to Tarla Dalal’s show by my elder sister and with time I realised her recipes were pretty simple and easy to be made at home. The first dish I tried to surprise my kids was ‘Tahri’, a yellow rice dish of Awadhi cuisine.” (Image: Tarla Dalal website)

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