Om sweet om

Om Puri
The veteran actor has as much talent in the kitchen as he has on-screenu00a0

u00a0I begin my day with

A glass of warm water with a dash of lime in it and then after 15-20 minutes, I drink a cup of tea.u00a0

u00a0MY breakfast IS

Dosas or besan ka chillas.u00a0 Sometimes I also have poha, upma, idlis and occasionally I like to have an egg white omelette with brown bread toast. Around 11.30 am I have a fruit, maybe papita or a pear or a small banana.u00a0

u00a0MY Lunch is

A small bowl of rice, dal, vegetables and occasionally dahi. I also have salads including cucumber, tomatoes and mooli.

My evening snack is

My dietician says that Iu00a0 must have a couple of biscuits. I eat Marie Gold biscuits or digestive biscuits with a cup of tea.

u00a0My dinner

Recently shifted from 10.30 pm to 8.30 pm. Foru00a0 dinner I have one or two thin rotis made of nachini and jowari, two vegetables and salad. I don't have dal at night.

u00a0In sweets i like

I don't have a sweet tooth and don't like sweets with excessive ghee in them. Occasionally, I like to have Bengali sweets like sandesh and rasgullas because they are made from paneer. Even when I have a rasgulla, I squeeze out the syrup before popping it in my mouth.

u00a0My fitness regimen is

For the past six months mujkho junoon aa gaya ki mujhe kuch nahin karna hai, uske wajah se I have put on weight. But now I am alarmed. I take a 30 minute walk at least four times a week. I have also started swimming.u00a0

u00a0My favourite cook

Nandita's (Om's wife) mom is a fantastic cook, her mustard prawns are to die for. Nandita picked up cooking when we got married. She was one of those spoilt ones, her mother didn't teach her to cook. Now she cooks a decent pasta and pav-bhaji. But she cannot make chappatis and has asked me to teach her to make chappatis.u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0
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u00a0I can cook

All vegetables, dals, pulaos, parathas, rotis. But I am not the guy who would spend an entire day in the kitchen.

u00a0My childhoodu00a0u00a0memory of food

My mother was a vegetarian and so was I till the age of 21. When I enrolled in a hostel, I started eating non-vegetarian food. I remember having the first omelette in the air-force canteen when I was barely 5 or 6. My father was the member of the army canteen; he was an ex service man. My dad told me to have the omelette, I asked him what was it, he said it's a poora (sort of a chilla or a pancake which is either sweet or salted). I loved the taste, it still lingers in my mouth.u00a0u00a0

u00a0My idea of a romanticu00a0u00a0meal

My wife loves Japanese food especially sushi. When I am in England or Canada, I pick up sushi for her. The Peshawari is an awfully expensive restaurant but Nandita loves their galawati kebabs. Earlier, our favourite was Legacy Of China.

u00a0My best diningu00a0u00a0friend is

Shyam Benegal. I had my first piece of fish in his company in Amber restaurant, Kolkata. Shyam also introduced me to crab soup andu00a0 Vietamese cuisine. Shyam is a complete foodie. Besides Shyam, Nandita is also a very good dining friend. She gets very excited when we go out and dine in a restaurant. She is writing a book called Eat My India.u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0

u00a0My favourite...

Poison: Whisky.
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Spice: Cumin seeds and asafoetida powder.
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Cooking appliance: A frying pan is the easiest
to access.u00a0u00a0

Favouriteu00a0Restaurantu00a0

Mainland China
Andheri, Sakinaka, Powai
Tel: 66780011/ 28574005/ 25708800

Om says, "I like Thai and Lebanese food. I recommend Mainland China for steamed stuff like dimsums, steamed fish, vegetables in gravy and steamed rice. I also like Masala Mantar and Urban Tadka for Punjabi food. At Trishna I orderu00a0 fish tikka and spinach.

I have a distinct memory of my first trip to Czechoslovakia. Govindu00a0 Nihalani and I were attending a film festival and the food was bland. We managed by adding salt in our food.

When the Indian embassy invited us to meet the consulate and served us tea with chicken tikkas and rasgollas, we ate as if we were starved. When the secretary, a Sardarji, Narulla, whispered, 'Why don't you guys have dinner at my place?' we were more than happy to accept the invitation. We asked him to serve us vegetables, dal and rice!"u00a0

Favourite Recipe: Kadu Sabzi

Ingredients

u00bd kg green pumpkin (chopped into small pieces and washed well)
2 medium sized onions (finely sliced)
3-4 tbsp oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
u00bd tsp methi seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
A pinch of asafoetida powder
5-6 cloves garlic (crushed)
Salt to taste
1 tsp aamchur powder or juice of 1 lemon
Finely chopped coriander leaves (to garnish)
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Method

Lightly heat oil in a kadai. Add the cumin seeds, methi seeds, coriander seeds and asafoetida powder. Sautu00e9 for a few seconds. Add the garlic and sautu00e9 for ten seconds. Add the onions and sautu00e9 on a low flame till transparent. Add the pumpkin and salt. Mix well. Cover and cook on a low flame. Mix at regular intervals.
When the pumpkin is 80 per cent done add the aamchur powder or lemon juice. Mix well. Cook on a low flame for few more minutes.

Once the pumpkin is done, mash it a little if you want bhartha style. Garnish with coriander leaves.
Serve hot with puris.u00a0
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