'May you find eternal bliss in the food coma that follows' — WP chief Pritam Singh takes special Deepavali cooking lesson 

SINGAPORE: This year’s Deepavali greetings from Workers’ Party chief Pritam Singh were extra special, as they included a clip of him learning how to cook puris.

The lesson came courtesy of chef, cookbook author and former restaurateur Dhershini Govin Winodan, who had been introduced to the opposition leader some years ago by her good friend Linda, one of the WP volunteers at Eunos, the ward Mr Singh has been representing in Parliament since 2011.

Mr Singh had joined Ms Dhershini in her kitchen to make the deep-fried flatbread, which he wrote: “children and all foodies in particular absolutely love.”

The chef adds a twist to the traditional puri recipe, as “she spreads a thin layer of dhal blended into a paste on top of the puri before frying it,” Mr Singh wrote in a social media post on Nov 8.

“I didn't get around to see how Dhershini made her ‘baingan bharta’ (smashed brinjal with a smoky taste) dish (which, next to bhindi, is one of my favourite Indian vegetable dishes). But suffice it to say, her baingan and puris made lunch, and the purpose of life came together in near-perfect synchrony,” he added.

In the video, the chef is seen showing how she makes her puris by combining maida (all-purpose flour) and atta (whole wheat flour), unlike most cooks, who only use atta.

Ms Dhershini told the WP chief that when her sons were young, they would always watch her cook puris, waiting for the first one. To Mr Singh, it’s a given that every Indian boy does this.

“Trying to be helpful, but whether they are helpful is a big question mark,” he said with a smile.

As he made his first puri dal, Ms Dhershini commended him on being a fast learner.

Mr Singh sampled his cooking happily, saying that one would not be enough as he would wolf them down.

At the end of the clip, he thanked the chef for being patient with him. “An Indian man in the kitchen, you’d have to have some generous reservoirs of patience,” he joked.

“To everyone celebrating or partaking in the Deepavali open-houses of your Indian friends today, Happy Deepavali. May you find eternal bliss in the food coma that follows,” the WP leader wrote. /TISG

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