Actress Huma Qureshi, who is set to essay the role of the highly popular chef Tarla Dalal in her upcoming biopic Tarla, comes from a family of foodies. Her father started his first restaurant Saleem's in 1977. Though Saleem's is primarily a non-vegetarian restaurant, Huma's father has introduced a special new veg dish titled Batata Musallam, taking inspiration from Huma’s upcoming biopic and as a tribute to Tarla's creative genius.
Talking about the connection she has managed to establish between Saleem's and the late chef, Huma said, “The journey of Tarla Dalal and Saleem's started back in the 70s. Today, 50 years later, looking at these two worlds come together makes my heart swell with pride.”
She added, “After watching the trailer, my dad decided to take inspiration from Tarla Ji and introduce her popular dish Batata Musallam at Saleem's. The power of food and how it brings communities together is one of the most beautiful things about India.”
The late Tarla Dalal was well-known for reimagining popular non-veg dishes into veg ones due to her own vegetarian background. For example, she introduced Batata Musallam inspired by Murgh Musallam where the gravy was the same however, she replaced the chicken with potato.
While promoting her film in Delhi, Huma visited her father's restaurant with her co-actor Sharib Hashmi to try out her dad's version of Batata Musallam.
Tarla is a slice-of-life film on one of India's most iconic home chefs Tarla the first woman to have her own cookbook, her own cookery show and the only Indian to have received Padma Shri for her work in the field of cooking. The film will premiere on ZEE5 on July 7.