Bhoomika Chawla

A simple girl with simple tastes, Bhumika shares her food secrets.

Thought for food

I begin my day with a cup of tea or fresh fruits like papaya, apples and banana.

I leave my house at six in the morning for my shoot so I eat at the location itself. My assistant makes breakfast for me. If I am in a mood for continental food I have a breakfast comprising eggs, cornflakes, porridge, fruits and hot milk with honey.

Since I stay in Hyderabad, at times, I opt for an idli sambhar with a glass of juice for breakfast.

I order lunch on the sets. I prefer to have a vegetarian lunch. Sabzi, dal and roti. I must have salad with my lunch and I must end my meal with a bowl of curds.

When I was shooting in Mumbai, I used to eat a heavy breakfast and a light lunch. I normally avoid takeaways. In the south it is different, as the tiffin is like food made at home.

I eat dinner at 8.30 pm and it comprises soup and steamed vegetables. I am a stickler for meal timings.

Since I am Punjabi I love butter on my rotis. A little ghee or butter is very important to lubricate the bones and your system, otherwise the skin starts to get flaky.

I relish tadke wali moong ki dal and lobia (it is akin to rajma). I am also very fond of bhindi sabzi and baingan bharta, which I have learnt to cook from my mother.

I like eating seafood — fish and prawn in that order — but I am not comfortable eating chicken and meat.

In the south, studio tiffins have one green vegetable, rasam, sambhar, rice and curds. I request the people who send the tiffin to use the oil and spices very sparingly.

The evening tiffin contains idlis, wadas and a variety of dosas. But I prefer to eat fruits and drink some coconut water.

I am a chappati person, I have rice just once or twice in a month.

I keep myself fit by working out for an hour in the gym whenever I have the time. When I put on a kilo or so I just eat sensibly and work out.

I am neither a junk food eater nor much of a cola drinker. I avoid junk food and drink a lot of fruit juices though I love the odd pizza or cola, I always carry fruit juice with me on the sets of films.

I swim and jog regularly. I also do workouts and don t venture out without my daily exercise. I also go to a gym to tone my body. I work out regularly at a gym.

On my day off, I prefer to eat home-cooked food rather than eat at a restaurant because I am eating unit food on most days.

I was in the VII standard when I made dal and rice for the first time. I kept adding water to the rice as I felt it was uncooked while I sprinkled excessive mirchi in my dal. But my dad was very sweet. He didn’t complain even once.

When I make mistakes while cooking, my dad tells me how to rectify it the next time and eats the food without making any fuss. I enjoy cooking chana masala, aloo simla mirch, bhindi sabzi, baingan bharta and patta gobi.

I am not fond of sweets, occasionally I enjoy a Black Forest pastry, chocolate mousse, and tiramisu. In Indian sweets I like gulab jamuns and milk cake. But I would rather eat a fruit salad.

I am a fruit person I love mangoes, apples, bananas, pomegranate and litchis.

My favourite beverage is nimbu pani.

In a restaurant if the ambience is not good I don’t enjoy my food.

In Mumbai, Legacy Of China has great ambience as well as good food. It serves excellent garlic fish and Thai barbecue chicken. It’s the only time I enjoy eating chicken. I also like the Chinese at Sampan, Holiday Inn. For pav bhaji I recommend Shiv Sagar.

My favourite restaurants in Hyderabad are Curries, for their curries as you must have guessed. They have a lovely variety of south Indian curries. I like going out to Our Place too; it serves an interesting blend of north Indian and south Indian food. I would also like to include the coffee shop at Tag Bangor.

While I am travelling by road, for instance from Jodhpur to Delhi, I look forward to eating at dabbas, garam tandoori roti, kali maa ki dal with loads of butter — sumptuous.

For a romantic meal good music, soft lights and not too many people around us would be ideal. Good starters and a light meal thereafter would suit me just fine.

In my fridge I always stock curds, eggs, milk, fruits and fruit juices.

On a hot summer day I would rather drink buttermilk, nimbu pani and coconut water and skip my meal.

When it rains I love bhutta, both boiled and roasted. Down south they just boil the corn without any salt or any masala. It tastes yummy.

During winter I like to have dry fruits and saffron milk. And yes, I also love garam-garam saag with makai ki roti and butter. How can I forget that? Also palak wali dal.

The three things I relish in my food are onions, garlic and coriander leaves.

Whenever Salman ate while we were filming, I observed that he is a food person. He loved to eat. He would call for loads of biryanis, pizzas and scrambled eggs