Guilty Pleasures

Padmini Kolhapure
Tosses emotion to the wind when she's eating because she once heard that if you feel guilty, you put on more weight

u00a0I am
A non-vegetarian who likes sea food.u00a0u00a0u00a0

u00a0I begin my day with

Drinking lots of water. When I am sipping my first cup of tea I like to collect my thoughts.u00a0u00a0

u00a0MY breakfast IS
It varies from day to dayu00a0usal pav, upma, idli, dosa and poha.u00a0

u00a0MY Lunch IS

Since I'm a Maharashtrian, we eat a lot of sprouted lentil, dal, green vegetables, salad, roti and curds. It's a simple meal.

u00a0My evening snack is

I don't have anything because my lunch is mostly heavy. So I have a cup of tea or green tea.

u00a0My dinner is

Not a normal dal roti kind of dinner. We have different things every day... pav bhaji, pizzas, pastas, Chinese etc.

u00a0In sweets i like

Indian sweets, especially milk desserts like rasmalai, rabri and khoya barfi.

u00a0My fitness regimen is

I don't really have one because I am not a fitness freak. I like to walk and do yoga. I use the treadmill from time to time.u00a0u00a0

u00a0My favourite cook

My mom is a cook par excellence. She is particularly good with seafood. Now, my cook has learnt from my mom and cooks the fish curry and fried fish just like her so I enjoy his cooking.

u00a0My best diningu00a0u00a0friends are

My sister, Shivangi, and Seetu, Komal, Parul, Sonal, Kshama, Avanti, Poonam, Rekha u2014 our usual gang. We meet at least twice a week, mostly for lunch, and we never cancel our meetings even if one is not going to land up. Sometimes we meet at home for coffee. We don't do kitty parties; we prefer to go out and try new places. Sometimes we even drive to Lonavala.
u00a0

u00a0
u00a0My idea of au00a0u00a0romantic meal

Unfortunately I can't say that I have had many romantic meals with my husband as I am a non- vegetarian and my husband is a pure vegetarian. So first there is always a long discussion about the venue. Our dinners are full on discussions rather than romance. Perhaps our most romantic meal has been at Bukhara in Delhi we both love the food and the ambience there.u00a0u00a0

u00a0My Sunday lunch

If we have a late breakfast or a brunch, we skip lunch altogether. Sometimes we have a brunch/lunch at Marriott or Indigo.u00a0

u00a0My childhoodu00a0u00a0memory of food is

When my sisters and I were young our parents took us to this lovely Chinese restaurant Oasis next to Shoppers Stop, Andheri. We loved their chop suey.u00a0u00a0

u00a0On the sets of Bolou00a0u00a0Raam

Newcomer Rishi Bhutani, who plays my son Raam in the film, would bring home cooked food for me when we were shooting out of Mumbai. He always travels with his cook and since I cannot live without home food, while we were in Uttarakhand, it was a pleasant experience to have his cook around.u00a0u00a0u00a0
u00a0u00a0
u00a0My favourite...

Cuisine: Chinese, Thai, Indian and Japanese. I love Indian food, whether it's Gujarati, Punjabi, Sindhi or any other.
u00a0
Spice: Cinnamon. I like it my tea, pastries, in any thing.

Kitchen Appliance: The regular cooking gas. I dislike the microwave. Not only do I avoid cooking in it, I don't even heat or reheat in the microwave.

Comfort food: Any good food is my comfort food. I can eat cold food also if I am in a good mood.u00a0

Fruit: Ayaan: Pear.

Amaan: Strawberries.

u00a0I feel guilty afteru00a0u00a0eating

Sometimes the monster in me wakes up and goes mad. After the monster has passed away, I feel really bad.

u00a0I resemble

An apple, I am told. I guess I'm good for you.

u00a0I can't resist buying

Different types of cheese.u00a0

u00a0My fridge always has Gatorade.u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0

u00a0I always carry

Walnuts and Red Bull.

u00a0I am allergic to
Prawns at one time; but not any more.

u00a0I diet

if I want to but I don't think one should deprive oneself. If one eats in moderation one can eat everything and still be healthy.u00a0

u00a0My favourite...

Cuisine: Sushi. All Japanese food, in fact. I also like bagels, cheese and fish.

Spice: Star anise.

Kitchen appliance: Oven, don't ask me why.

Beverage: Starbucks Frappuccino.

Favourite Restaurant

Royal China
Bandra, Fort
Tel: 26425533, 22072492

Padmini says, "I love the Japanese restaurant Nobu in London. In India, I like to eat at the ITC restaurant Bukhara in Delhi. In Mumbai, my absolute favourite is Royal China. I like all kinds of cuisine. I can eat anywhere as long as the food is good."

With its branches all over the city, Royal China is a nice place to enjoy a meal with family and close friends.
They keep the green tea coming which has a calming effect. They are priced on the higher side but their prawn dim sums are absolutely worth it.u00a0u00a0

Favourite Recipe: Mangalore Fish Curry

Ingredients

4-5 slices pomfret fish
1 tin coconut milk or milk extracted of 1 whole fresh coconutu00a0u00a0
3-4 tbsp oil
1 medium onion (finely chopped)
5-6 red chilies
2 tsp whole coriander seeds
1 tsp turmeric powder
Small piece of tamarind
Small piece of gingeru00a0
1/2 tsp garam masala powder
Salt to taste

Method

Clean and wash the fish. Fry the red chillies and coriander seeds in little oil until it becomes crisp. Heat small amount of water and addu00a0 tamarind. Mix it properly and drain the water to make tamarind water.

Grind fried red chillies, coriander seeds, tamarind water, coconut milk and ginger together. Add required amount of water to make a mixture.

Heat oil in a pan and fry the onions until golden brown. Add the ground mixture, turmeric powder, garam masala powder and salt. Mix well. Cook on a high flame until it boils and then add the fish pieces. Boil, until the fish gets cooked. (The fish gets cooked very fast, hence boil the mixture first and then add the fish.)

Your Mangalore style fish curry is ready. The fish curry tastes very good the next day especially since all the masalas blend into the fish.