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She’s got the book

Green queen Padma Lakshmi: ‘I think being aware of how living your own life affects the planet is very important’

Even if you are not much of cooking-type person and use your fridge to store shoes, there is a special joy in leafing through cookbooks.

Just looking at all that gorgeously photographed food makes gourmets of us all.

And so it is with Padma Lakshmi’s new book, “Tangy Tart Hot and Sweet: A World of Recipes for Every day” (Harper Collins, Rs. 1,495). As you open the handsomely-produced book, you are in for a pleasant surprise. Between the recipes for Keralan (hmmm) crab cakes, Mexican mac and cheese and how to correctly peel a pomegranate, are family photos, letters, passport and fascinating stories of growing up in New York, living in Paris and Jyoti the peanut man on Elliott’s Beach in Chennai.

Explaining the format of the book, Padma says on email: “I needed something to anchor all of the flavours and influences in the book. This is really a culinary scrapbook of my life.”

She goes to talk about the genesis of the book saying: “I wanted to do a book that reflected the way my generation eats. I was interested in just creating the most beautiful recipes from various corners of the world and my life that seemed delicious and inviting.”

And they are beautiful! Never have the pomegranates looked so luscious or the peppers so succulent! Talking about the importance of presentation, the host of the smash hit television show, “Top Chef” says: “I think presentation is always an important part even if you are making a simple home meal. It can be as easy as something like chopping fresh herbs like coriander and mint and sprinkling it over the dal before you serve it or something much more complicated. But I think it adds a nice touch because food that looks delicious is more appetizing.”

The essays give a feel of sitting across Padma in her living room as she shares her life stories with you. For instance she writes how she could walk out of Chanel without buying anything but she cannot resist kitchen gadgets.

The stunning model says: “Coming from India we have a lot of strange traditional cooking utensils all of which I love and cherish. So I am always attracted to those, but to be honest I don’t like a lot of electrical gadgets or appliances. I think doing as much as you can by your own hands is much better than using something that sits and collects dust on the shelf most of the year. I am a traditionalist at heart.”

For those of us who fanatically follow recipes, “Tangy Tart…” makes life that much more simple and more confused with hosts of substitutes. From lime juice for amchoor to pepper corns for pipalis all sorts of substitutions are allowed.

Even the venerable aloo gobi goes all hip and happening with aloo making way for cashew nuts and cumin being replaced by anise. Padma explains the logic behind culinary creativity.

“I think after you make a recipe once or twice, you should definitely try and do your own interpretation or twist on that recipe. That way you’ll evolve creatively in the kitchen in your own right. I read cookbooks cover to cover but I never follow recipes exactly, except when I test my own diligently.”

While the book covers the entire gamut from fish and poultry to meat that includes veal, beef, pork and lamb, bacon, Padma bats for vegetarianism.

“I think it’s a healthy way to live. I think being aware of how living your own life affects the planet is very important. I myself am not a big red meat eater, although I do enjoy it at times. There is no doubt that living and eating in a simple, humble way is not only good for ourselves but also good for everyone.”

Padma, who has successfully worn many hats from model to actor to show host to writer, says: “To date I feel blessed to be able to express myself creatively in many ways. I will say that my cookbooks and my jewellery company are what I am most proud of. I just launched a collection of designer jewellery and I am anxious to put all my efforts into making it a success.”

Though Padma does not think chefs are the rock stars of the millennium, one look at her body of work and you know she is walks quite comfortably in that rarefied ground.

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