Tarla Dalal — The Original MasterChef
MasterChef is wildly popular nowadays, but many of us are either unaware or have forgotten about the original Indian MasterChef — Tarla Dalal. Now the movie Tarla on ZEE5 has revived my interest, and I also remembered.
Tarla was big on TV (Cook it up with Tarla Dalal on Sony TV) and went on for months. But I did not watch any of them. But I saw many of her books (Tarla wrote 170 of them, which were widely translated and sold over 10 million copies). And I witnessed the craze.
In today’s world, it will sound deeply patriarchal, but many households used to say — “If you want your daughter to be married, join Tarla Dalal classes”. I am using it just as an indicator of how the Tarla wave swept the country, not as an endorsement. But the more pertinent question is, how did she do this in the 60’s or 70’s when there was no hyperconnectivity?
Well, books were there, and also TV shows. And also the classes, some appearances. But I suppose fundamentally it was some basic principles, which were well thought out by Tarla. It was an astute manager of trade, skill, and brand behind the ever-smiling mother/ grandmother next door.
1. Universal appeal — food. Which everyone needs a few times a day, every day, of our life. And if it can be nourishing, tasty, and affordable people will lap it up.
2. Keep it simple. Simple everyday dishes, for everyday people. Which can be made by common people at limited cost, with ingredients that are easily available, without spending an enormous time, and can be enjoyed as a family.
3. Focus — Tarla Dalal was a Gujarati, and all dishes she spoke/ wrote/ taught were vegetarian dishes. Well, she could have started a non-vegetarian sub-stream too in partnership, but she did not.
In retrospect, it may look very obvious. There is no dearth of vegetarian dishes, and the popularity of vegetarian food is on the ascent. But I am sure the distraction was very high at the early stage, and it was not easy to handle.
4. Learned from others as she spoke about. Mostly through books about other cuisines, and talking to people. And adopted them as relevant, without being judgemental.
That is how many dishes with meat became one without meat, and still very palatable. And even the smart porting of the names, as she once said “I have taken out the ‘murg’ from the ‘mallam’ and added potatoes instead of meat — making it ‘batata Musallam.” And that is also how she added umpteen number of dishes by smartly porting Continental, Japanese, Thai, Mexican, and other cuisines.
5. Tarla Dalal made the kitchen a happening place.
In a deeply patriarchal society where Tarla made her recipe popular, almost all the chefs in public eateries were male, and women were consigned to the home kitchen. And with almost no value placed on their efforts and outcomes. But this changed with Tarla’s books, and more with her TV shows.
It exposed, for the first time, to many men what happens in a kitchen. And with a model Sudhanshu Pandey’s second fiddle to the master chef, cooking became chic to many. And brought much-needed recognition of this fine art in our homes.
And women loved it.
And while we speak about Tarla and her success, we need to also remember her husband Nalin Dalal, who gave unwavering support from the background. While this may be commonplace today, it was not so five decades back, when a man would step back and let the limelight shine on the lady of the house.
A summary of Tarla Dalal’s life:
· Born in 1936 in Pune, Tarla Dalal moved to Bombay after a Nalin Dalal in 1960.
· In 1966, she started cookery classes at home. The classes became an instant hit with a long waiting list. It was often said, “If you want to get your daughter married, send her to Mrs Dalal’s classes.”
· After her first cookbook, ‘The Pleasures of Vegetarian Cooking’, in 1974, she published 170 more. Several of these have been translated into Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, Dutch and Russian. She is India’s most-sold cookbook author, with over 10 million copies.
· Her USP was creating vegetarian versions of international non-vegetarian recipes. She is credited with creating more than 17,000 recipes.
· She also published cooking magazines. In 2007, she started her ‘Total Health Series’ cookbook series.
· Her range of ready-to-cook mixes, Tarla Dalal Mixes, was acquired by International Bestfoods in 2000.
· Her first TV show, ‘Cook it Up with Tarla Dalal’, was aired weekly on Sony TV for three years. The show was broadcast all over Southeast Asia, the Gulf, the UK, and the US.
· In 2007, Tarla Dalal was conferred with Padma Shri.
· She died of a heart attack on November 6, 2013.
A repository of her recipes
