Mrs Balbir Singh

Mrs Balbir Singh (1912 - 1994) was an Indian chef, cookery teacher and cookbook author. Her formal cooking and homemaking classes began in New Delhi in 1955, and her award-winning Mrs Balbir Singh’s Indian Cookery book, was first published in London in 1961 to much acclaim and went on to become a revered classic inspiring future generations of Indian chefs and cookery authors.

Born in the Punjab, Singh was a pioneer in teaching and writing about the art of cookery in India. Well known chefs, including renowned author, food writer and broadcaster Simon Majumdar, a judge on the Food Network, regard her as the Julia Child or Mrs. Beeton of India. After graduating cooking school in London in 1955, Mrs Balbir Singh returned to India to start her cookery and homemaking classes in New Delhi that same year. She taught cookery for over four decades and became an expert on the history, culture and science of regional and local Indian cuisine. Her signature style of meticulously detailed recipes and precise methods were applied to dishes for all occasions including family meals, dinner parties, and celebratory feasts.

In 1961 she penned what went on to become her enduring legacy to India’s culinary heritage, Mrs. Balbir Singh’s Indian Cookery. An internationally acclaimed book which quickly became the center point of all, or much, authentic Indian cooking for subsequent generations of homemakers and chefs alike. The book went on to sell hundreds of thousands of copies worldwide, and went through several revisions, recipe additions, and reprints over the years.

Her classes became so popular, that in many circles they were a prerequisite for those considering marriage. Mrs. Balbir Singh was also the first cookery expert to be commissioned by India’s public service national television network, Doordarshan, to present a series of instructional cooking segments and shows.

Although many of her recipes were award winning, a particular recipe of Mrs Balbir Singh’s was also an inspiration for the world’s most popular Indian dish, Chicken Tikka Masala. Ethnic food historians and authors Peter & Colleen Grove discuss various origin claims of Chicken Tikka Masala in Appendix Six of their Flavours of History, in which one of their conclusions suggests that "The shape of things to come may have been a recipe for Shahi Chicken Masala in Mrs. Balbir Singh’s ‘Indian Cookery’ published in 1961."

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