Tulsi's thought for food-Article.

Smriti Malhotra, who has made the strong-willed Tulsi, of Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, a household name, has made a super success of her marriage. Smriti's entire persona, including her emotionally supple voice, radiates happiness.

Smriti, who leaves home at 7 am on a working day to play the conventionally ideal bahu of Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, takes time off from her busy schedule to discuss her unconventional taste in food and more.


Smriti's thought for food

I am a non-vegetarian.

I begin my day with a glass of water. I feel very thirsty when I wake up. Besides, they say it is good for the system. Later, I have a piece of fruit and a cup of coffee.

I am not much of a breakfast person I can't eat heavy food in the mornings. Sometimes, I have eggs and toast. Otherwise, I leave the house by 7 am and don't eat anything substantial till lunch time.

Nowadays I have started carrying lunch from home. My tiffin comprises two sabzis, salad and rotis. Bhindi is a constant fixture in my tiffin.

In the evenings if I am hungry I have a low fat sandwich or biscuits with tea.

In vegetables, I love bhindi, rasedar aloo (my mom makes it very well) with puri, gobi and tinda aloo. I have very unusual taste in food.

I can't eat baingan. The seeds in the baingan give me blisters.

Among my favourite restaurants are Paramount, a small Irani restaurant near Marine Drive, it serves the best kheema pav I have ever had in Bombay. Sundance Cafe next to Eros cinema serves light Continental dishes. China Gate in Bandra serves great Chinese food. And Pop Tate's at Seven Bungalows, and New Yorkers rank high on my list.

When I diet I have three balanced meals with no snacking in-between. Walks and surya namaskars in the mornings keep me fit.

I love fruits, especially papayas and bananas.

My favourite beverage is water.

My favourite mocktail is Virgin Pinacolada. I do not drink alcohol.

I am a total dessert person. But I try to avoid sweets because I tend to put on weight. My husband Zubin only likes ras malai. My father makes excellent gaajar ka halwa. Another favourite with me is falooda.

I love cooking exotic dishes. I can also whip up something with anything, a trait I have inherited from my mother.

I do not have any starry airs. I don't carry an ice box. Nor do I have a spot boy.

I love junk food, especially butter popcorn, gol gappas and papdi chaat. In Delhi I used to eat lots of gol gappas.

Unlike my husband, I am not at all classy. I hassle him to buy me two rupees ka seeng and he always cracks up because he does not carry change in his wallet.

Zubin cooks excellent Chinese food. And he is less messier than me in the kitchen.

Once I took Zubin to a kheema pav joint at the foot of the bridge near Cream Centre. And he took me to all those places where he would hang out during his college days at St Xavier's, including Waikiki and Britannia at Ballard Pier.

In Delhi in Mohan Singh Market's basement there is a kheema paratha joint which my father had introduced me to. During our courtship days I surprised my husband by taking him there and he surprised me by relishing the food.

Abroad at Zubin's insistence, I ate lobsters for the first time at Nicks in Sydney. In Lascala restaurant, Milan I had the best tiramisu.

I miss Delhi's dal ka bhajiya which they serve with muli and chutney in a patta kattori.

Since my mother is a Bengali, I love Bengali machch bhath, subhtu and poshtu.

My husband and I like to dine at places where the food is good and we are left to ourselves.

I would probably laugh if Zubin took me out for a candle-light dinner. We were always friends, so the notion of a romantic dinner sounds absurd.

My son Zohr is dilligently fed boiled apples. He is a photo copy of his father. He will be a year-and-a-half now and has already started on eggs and toast.

My step-daughter Shanelle checks the fridge for chocolates and the pantry for chaklis. If these two things are there she is happy.

Dahiwala chicken

For the marinade
500 gm broiler chicken, cut into medium-sized pieces
1 big cardamom
4 small cardamoms
4 cloves
5 peppercorns
2 sticks of cinnamon
250 gm curds
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
3 to 4 green chillies, finely chopped
1 medium-sized onion, finely sliced
1 small tomato, finely sliced
2 tbsp fresh coriander leaves, finely chopped
Salt to taste

Other ingredients
2 tbsp butter
1 big onion, finely chopped
1 small tomato, finely chopped
Clean and wash the chicken. Powder the cardamoms, cloves, peppercorns and cinnamon.

Take curds in a bowl, add to it ginger-garlic paste, green chillies, finely sliced onion, tomato, coriander leaves, powdered cardamoms, cloves, peppercorns, cinnamon and salt. Mix well.

Marinate the chicken pieces in the curd mixture for four to five hours in the fridge.

Lightly heat butter in a kadai, add finely chopped onion and saut on a low flame till transparent. Add finely chopped tomato and cook till soft.

Add the marinated chicken and mix well. Cook on a low flame covered with a lid with some water on it. Stir at regular intervals. Cook till the chicken is tender. Serve hot.