Balwant Kaur, better known by her married name 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.

[1] When Singh returned to India later that year, she started cookery and homemaking classes at her home and at Lady Irwin College in New Delhi.

Her signature style of detailed recipes and precise methods were applied to dishes for all occasions including family meals, dinner parties and celebratory feasts.

Ethnic food historians and authors Peter and 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.