Tarla Dalal, who died of cardiac arrest, is survived by 17,000 recipes, one of the largest websites in Asia and over 100 cookbooks
During the 1970s, Tarla Dalal’s books were a great gift for women and I got half a dozen of them for my wedding in 1975. I had to re-gift some as there was more than one copy with me. Most of the young girls who were moving out of the joint families, with their newly formed satellite families, found these books handy, useful and especially when they returned to their native places in the South, which gave them an opportunity to show off their culinary skills with North Indian phulkas as against moti rotis and chapatis made by South Indians then. She created a mass trend, though cookery books were printed in 1950s by upper class senior ladies. I still have a few of her books despite gifting some to daughters and daughters-in-law of the family.” So read one of the posts on Tarla Dalal’s website, soon after the news of her demise was made official on her Facebook page. There were many reasons why Tarla Dalal ruled the hearts of ladies during 80s and early 90s. There was no one other than her on small screen who would tell them why their bhaturas were not as fluffy as the ones they had on streets and why their idlis were not as soft as of their South Indian neighbour. There was no Nigella lawson or Sanjeev Kapoor to help them out. With her familiar smile and loving tone, she became favourite in no time on Indian television.
Being a housewife herself she knew the problems women face. Tarla was born in Pune in 1936 in a conservative family. She shifted to Mumbai after marrying Dalal in 1960 and started cookery classes at her south Mumbai home in 1966. With her unique and simple styles of whipping up the best of Indian vegetarian cuisine, Dalal’s classes became very popular with a long waiting list of prospective women wanting to join and learn the culinary art. At one time it was said among conservative Gujarati and Marathi households that if they wanted their daughters to get married, they had to learn cooking from Tarla Dalal. In 1974, Dalal published her first cookery book, The Pleasures of Vegetarian Cooking, which turned out to be a bestseller. Over the years, the housewife-turned-celeb cook followed it up with more than 100 other cookery books.
later, she hosted the popular TV cookery shows — Tarla Dalal Show and Cook It Up With Tarla Dalal on various private television channels which were telecast in India, and subsequently in south-east Asia, the US and Britain.
She wrote cookbooks for pregnant women, for children, and, in 2007, moved right with the times to write books under the Total Health Series. In October, she shared via Twitter that she was “busy working on the launch of the Recipe Box, a Tarla Dalal cookery school to be launched in Mumbai soon.” Her books and articles were translated in several Indian languages as well as in international languages like English, Dutch and Russian. Some of her well-known cookery books include: The Complete Gujarati Cook Book, Know Your Flours, Healthy Breakfast, Sandwiches, Curries & Kadhies, Baked Dishes and Delicious Diabetic Recipes: low Calorie Cooking. She was awarded the Padma Shri in 2007.
She in a way was never lost in the contemporary times. Tarla launched herself in a new, modern avatar through her website that has everything that a cook or even a non-cook would want to know. Tarladalal.com, is said to be one of the largest food websites in Asia. There are health recipes, kids recipes, easy tiffin recipes and even suggestions to garnish your dishes. If you scan through her website you will know how well she kept herself updated with the changing times and demands. Her list of Diwali delicacies has desserts like apple jalebi, paneer pistachio rolls and pineapple sheera. If she would have been with us things would have been much easier for the chefs to be! But she has left for us a rich legacy — over 17,000 recipes.
THE MASTERCHEF
She got the idea of pan-Indian cuisine to our homes and therefore, was among the first people to break the culture divide. A dosa was not just south indian food, a thepla was not just a Gujarati snack. Stripped off regional affectations, her recipes worked on the philosophy that food was for everybody.
She circumscribed delicacies into the art of the possible; menus seemed doable because she always gave valuable tips on replaceable ingredients or local substitutes.
Started the do-it-yourself cookbook culture for the urban Indian.
Over the years developed palatable cuisines for every health condition and even recipes for packed tiffins.
She was the first home-grown TV chef who introduced the concept of Indian men cooking up delicacies in the kitchen, much before the metrosexual man posited himself in the national consciousness. This was a precursor to male models and celebrities hosting their own TV cookery shows. She was the first to get kids to her TV kitchen, showing how they could fend for themselves with parents at work.