Chocolate is a stress buster

Even if Jhalak Dikhlaa Jaa finalist Gauhar Khan might indulge in the occasional chocolate, she always carries with her a healthier option green tea bags. It's not easy maintaining a lithe body

Gauhar's Thought For Foodu00a0u00a0

I am: A non-vegetarian. My favourites in non-vegetarian food are chicken and fish. I also love prawns and tuna fish.u00a0

In veggies: I love gobi and gawar ki sabzi. The only two things I don't like are palak and paneer and that's supposed to be the best combination in vegetarian food. Actually, I can't just eat vegetarian food, I need to have something in chicken or other non-vegetarian with it. I avoid eating lamb and mutton as it becomes too heavy for me.u00a0u00a0

I begin my day: With a glass of warm water followed with my regular chai.u00a0u00a0

My breakfast is: Either a bowl of muesli, porridge or oats. I have eggs once or twice a week.u00a0u00a0

Lunch at home: Is a chicken dish, either dry or in curry, with a sabzi, dahi and salad. I don't have rice or roti both at home or out.u00a0u00a0u00a0

When I am doing my fashion shows: I don't carry lunch from home, I eat whatever is available, but I try to avoid rice and rotis. I order a grilled chicken and a bowl of soup.

In the evenings: If I am hungry I either have an idli or kanda poha or upma or dhoklas, but that's not an everyday routine.u00a0

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My dinner: At times due to our crazy schedules, I forget to have my dinner. When I remember to eat, there are no fixed timings. Dinner is more or less the same u2014 without carbs.u00a0u00a0

On the sets of Jhalak Dikhlaa Jaa: They served great food. At the Jhalak house we had food 24x7. They laid out a proper buffet for us.u00a0u00a0

I love desserts: Especially pastries. I also love rasgollas and gajar halwa, but generally I am not too fond of Indian sweets.u00a0u00a0

My favourite restaurants: Cafe Brio and the Cafe at J W Marriot; Urban Tadka and Sheesha. In India, when we are travelling by road, I love eating at the dhabas. They serve the most amazing parathas, pickles, curds and lassi.u00a0u00a0

When I was abroad: I ate at Red Lobster restaurant in America, it's part of a very famous chain of restaurants known for it's lobsters and sea food.u00a0u00a0

My favourite dining friends: I love taking my mom to different restaurants and trying out new cuisines, so basically my best dining friends are my family.u00a0u00a0

My favourite cuisines: Thai, Mughlai and Italian.u00a0u00a0

I can cook: All kinds of ghar ka khana and I can make lovely pastas.u00a0u00a0

My favourite cook in the family: My mom. I know everyone says so about their moms, but my mom is really a great cook. She has her own recipes which I have never eaten anywhere else in the world. My mom makes excellent yakhni, khichda, a tomato based chicken dish. And how can I forget my mom's biryani? Also my naani was a great cook. She made amazing fish curries because she was from Goa. She made achar even when she was in her eighties and could barely see. She had the knack and know-how of making the world's best achar.u00a0u00a0

On Sunday: I have a very late breakfast. It's the only day I get to sleep, or rather did because I don't even get a free Sunday. On a Sunday off, I like to go out for lunch and chill with people whom I love.u00a0u00a0

My fitness regime: Before Jhalak happened, I would go to the gym everyday, for an hour and half. 20 minutes of cardio were followed by a lot of weight training. After my workouts I would have a glass of protein shake.u00a0u00a0

My idea of a romantic meal: I think it could be anywhere in the world. If the person you love is with you, any meal, any place in the world would be romantic. But I would prefer a cordoned off table just for the two of us. I find that romantic.u00a0u00a0

I feel guilty after: Eating pastries.u00a0u00a0

I can't resist buying: A chocolate called Flakes; it's not available in India. Whenever I go abroad the first thing I do is to pick up Flakes, I just can't resist eating it.u00a0u00a0

I always carry with me: Green tea bags.u00a0u00a0

My fridge always has: Bits of this and that. A cake, my vitamin tablets, lots of fat free flavoured yoghurt and also shrikhand as I love it.u00a0u00a0

I am allergic to: Kiwi, earlier it used to be pineapple but now I have overcome that.u00a0u00a0
My comfort food: Chocolate. I have it occasionally; it's my stress buster.u00a0u00a0

I don't consume: Alcohol.u00a0u00a0

My favourite beverage: Fresh water and melon juice.u00a0

My favourite spice: Lemon.u00a0
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My favourite kitchen appliance: Microwave.u00a0u00a0

My favourite drink before my shows: Red Bull. Sometimes I eat bananas as they are great for energy.u00a0

Gauhar's favourite recipe Goa Ki Yakhniu00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0

Ingredients
1 kg mutton or chicken pieces (cleaned and washed)
3/4 cup oil
3 tbsp ginger paste
3 tbsp garlic paste
15-20 green cardamoms
3-4 pieces cinnamon
Few peppercorns
1 tsp cumin seeds
2-4 cloves
8 big whole red chillies
1 starphool
A big handful of fresh coriander leaves
6 green chillies
Little less than 1/2 kg onions (finely chopped)
1 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 kg tomatoes (finely chopped or made into puree)
Milk of 1 coconut
4 big potatoes (cut into halves)
3/4 kg Basmati rice (washed and soaked for 30 minutes)
5-6 cups hot water

Method
Roast all the dry ingredients (cardamoms, peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon, cumin seeds, starphool and red chillies) separately on a pre-heated tawa till aromatic. Grind these along with coriander leaves, ginger-garlic paste and green chillies to a fine paste.
Lightly heat oil in a heavy bottomed vessel or a dekchi. Add onions and saute on a low flame till red brown in colour. Add the ground masala and saute for few minutes on a low flame. Add turmeric powder and the tomatoes. Saute till oil separates. Add mutton or chicken. Mix well and cook on a low flame.
After the meat is half done, add the coconut milk. Mix well. When the coconut milk begins to boil, add the potatoes and rice. Add water as required. Mix gently at regular intervals.
Simmer and cook till the rice and the meat are done. Serve hot with imli and onion ka kachumbar.
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Ingredients for the kachumbar
3 onions (finely chopped)
4-5 tbsp thick tamarind pulp
Finely chopped coriander leaves
1 green chilli (finely chopped)
Sugar to taste
Salt to taste)

Method
In a bowl mix together onions, tamarind pulp, coriander leaves, green chillies, sugar and salt. Mix well and serve with yakhni.