Playback singer Sudesh Bhosale can sing full-throated songs like Jumma Chumma effortlessly. But ask him to make a cup of tea, and he will hem and haw. He admits with a smile, “Once I wanted to drink a cup of tea and there was no one at home. So I called one of my friends and told him I wanted him to come home urgently. He came over as soon as he could. I asked him, ‘Will you have tea?’ He said yes and made a cup each for both of us.” (laughs)
My dietary preference: I am a pucca non-vegetarian, but I am slowly turning towards vegetarian food because of all the ‘awareness’. Taking my age into consideration, I have reduced both the quantity and the frequency of eating, especially non-vegetarian food these days.
I begin my morning with: A cup of hot tea followed by boiled eggs and moong dal chila with coconut chutney.
For lunch: I have vegetables, dal with bajra/jowar roti.
For Sunday lunch: We have fish (pomfret, etc.) and prawns. Because I’m a Goan, I can’t resist fish.
I try to eat at home whenever I’m in Mumbai: So that I can eat a lot of vegetables.
My evening snack is: Almonds or any other soaked nuts. And fruits like papaya, guava, pear, followed by kadak chai.
My dinner is: These days, dinner is a vegetable soup and a full papaya. Whenever I’m at home, I try to avoid a full dinner.
My favourite desserts: Any Indian delicacy — gulab jamun, jalebi, rabdi, and so on.
My fitness regime: I am very health-conscious. I do pranayama yoga and even weights daily. And in the evening, I walk for 30 minutes.
My favourite quip is: “Jab hamara pet badhta hai toh hamara rate kam hota hai” (laughs).
My favourite restaurants are: A Goan at heart, it’s Mahesh Lunch Home and Gazelle. My second favourite cuisine is Thai.
I can’t cook: Anything, but only once in my life, I have made yellow aloo ki bhaji and the popular Maharashtrian varan bhat.
My childhood memories of food comprise: Gur poha on the first day of Diwali and the Goan and Maharashtrian food. And also yellow dal and rice, yellow aloo ki sabzi, and of course, all fish preparations.
My idea of a romantic meal: Since I’m a Goan, I like beaches. In fact, we like to check in at beach hotels. So, it would be dinner after sunset at the beach.
The weirdest food or dish I have had: My neighbour had given us a Bhangra dish. We sat down to eat it, and she informed us that it has ripe mango in it. The thought of fish and mango combined was very scary, so we quietly packed it away.
Tip on food: From the tips I have collected over the years, I would like to tell my readers that always stick to your staple food, your desi food. Don’t ever eat packaged food—I’ve stopped, and it has made a lot of positive changes in my physical and mental energy.
Eat anything and everything but in a limit.
Representative image
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Recipe of Kadak Chai
Ingredients:
2 cups water (200 ml cup)
1 inch ginger (grated)
Some lemongrass
4 teaspoons tea powder3/4 cup milk (or as required)
Sugar as per taste
Method:
Boil water in a saucepan. Add grated ginger, lemongrass, and tea powder. Boil on low flame for 8-10 minutes. Add milk and sugar. Mix well. Boil on a medium to low flame for a few minutes, mixing at regular intervals until you get a nice brown color. Strain and serve hot with some cookies.
