Whenever Ishita Dutta Sheth feels low, she goes on an eating binge and her mood changes instantly. The actress who has been labelled as the Drishyam girl after the mega success of Drishyam and its sequel, is in love with food. The Free Press Journal caught up with her for an exclusive chat. Excerpts:
My dietary preference: I have turned vegetarian. But I eat eggs. My favourite dish would be any Bengali vegetarian cuisine; posto for instance. I also like Chinese.
My breakfast is: When I get up in the morning, I have warm water or hot water with a pinch of haldi and lemon. I start my day with my morning cup of tea. I’ll have a bowl of yogurt with some berries or granola or something very light because I have an early lunch.
My lunch is: A portion of rice, dal and a sabzi with some salad or maybe curds or raita. My vegetables have just a sprinkling of masala like salt, haldi and maybe jeera powder. I have a very basic lunch.
One must with my meals: Curds. I love having chaas or raita.
My evening snack is: A biscuit with tea. I try to avoid cookies as much as possible. Or I keep healthy snacks like makhana or mixed dry fruits.
For dinner I have: Rice, dal with some sabzi. Mostly in the evenings, we end up going out and I eat a smoothie bowl or a salad. I try to have my dinner by 7:30 pm.
My favourite dessert: Kheer kadam. I like all Bengali sweets.
For health reasons, I have and avoid: I have seeds and nuts. Though, I’m not very regular, you know, I eat for two, three days and then I forget. I try to avoid sugar. I always have black tea or black coffee but I cannot avoid sugar in my desserts. Similarly, I avoid flour but can’t resist bread.
My fitness regime: I exercise for an hour. I’m currently in the too lazy-to-go-to-the-gym and work out zone. I go for a walk outside in the evening to be out in fresh air… jitna bhi fresh air hai.
I can cook: I think I can almost replicate whatever my mom makes. I love the food made by my mom. I either take the recipe from her or watch her cook. I make excellent noodles, uttapams and dahi vadas.
My favourite restaurants: I order a lot from Bayroute, Sampan, Facing East, Chin Chin Chu as most of these restaurants are close to my Juhu residence. I am currently trying out sushi in different places.
My favourite dishes: Aloo posto, jhinge posto… be it any kind of posto. By the way, jhinge posto is a vegetable posto! I am a fan of vegetable biryani made by my mom; also of Bayroute’s biryani.
I feel guilty: After eating meetha.
My favourite beverages: Jal jeera, chaas, Sangria, coconut water and orange juice.
On a hot summer day: I relish khichdi and watermelon juice.
During monsoons: My family has at least three to four sessions of a variety of pakode. Making pakode is my dad’s department.
During the shoot of Drishyam 2: We binged on pav bhaji. While I was shooting in Goa, I experimented with different cuisines because we were there for a long time. The bakery stuff in Goa is delicious.
Ishita’s favourite Rasmalai Recipe
Rasmalai | REPRESENTATIVE PIC
Ingredients
12 rasgullas
1 tin Milkmaid condensed milk (392 grams)
2 cups milk
⅛ teaspoon green cardamom powder
Few saffron strands
Chopped pistachios and almonds for garnish
Method
You can use any ready-made rasgullas. Squeeze the syrup out of the rasgullas. Do not press them too hard as they will break. Make sure that the syrup is extracted from the rasgullas, else they will not absorb the milk. Set these aside.
Pour milk and condensed milk in a pan and bring it to a boil.
Add saffron and cardamom powder. Simmer it for around 5 to 6 minutes so that the milk blends well with the condensed milk. Alternatively, you can melt the saffron in a little hot milk and add it too. Reduce the flame to medium. Add the rasgullas to the condensed milk.
Cover with a lid and simmer for a minute or two. Overcooking can break them.
Easy rasmalai using rasgullas is ready in less than 10 minutes!
Garnish with nuts.
