Tarla Dalal

Padma Shri Winner and Televisions show presenter, food writer, and master chef, Tarla Dalal is an individual with absolute talent. Born in 1935 in Pune, she married Naveen Dalal and went to live in Mumbai and has lived there ever since. She began conducting cooking classes from home in 1966.

Tarla Dalal has authored more than 100 books some of which are Know your Flours, Italian Cookbook, Healthy Breakfast, Sandwiches, Curries & Kadhis, Chips & Dips, Baked Dishes, Punjabi Khana, Delicious Diabetic Recipes: Low Calorie Cooking: Total Health Series, The Complete Gujarati Cookbook, and The Pleasures of Vegetarian Cooking. The Pleasures of Vegetarian Cooking is her first book.

Did you know?

-          In 2000, International Bestfoods Ltd (IBL) acquired Tarla Dalal’s ‘ready-to-cook’ mixes - 'Tarla DalalMixes.

-          She hosts the ‘Tarla Dalal show’ and ‘Cook It up with Tarla Dalal’ on Sony TV.

-          She has sold more than 3 million books and these have been translated into English, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, Dutch, and Russian.

-          Her shows have been broadcast all across the Indian Sub-continent, the Gulf, the UK, and the U.S.

-          She has the largest Indian food website.

-          Her fortnightly magazine is titled Cooking & More.

-          She focuses on healthy cooking and she has also focused on diet meant for diabetics. She strongly believes and says, “We have a book on iron, calcium content of food. Food shall be the answer for health not the tablets.”

-          Her cuisines are diversified ranging from Indian regional food to international.

-          She still continues to conduct cookery classes upon invitation. The proceeds go to charity.

-          Her precept of cooking is as crystal-clear as her shows. She said in an interview that ‘To be a success in this industry one must take care of three things first being the easy availability of ingredients second being the ease with which one can cook and last but not the least the taste’.

-          Her book ‘One Tablespoon of Oil’ shows how to cook with just one tablespoon of oil! It’s a remarkable read and a book to adhere to by everyone especially cynics who believe that appetizing and delectable food is always cooked in excess of oil. It lambasts all such myths.