25 April,2012 07:25 AM IST | | Gauri Pradhan
The young dame is a food freak and attributes the cooking streak in her to her parents who are excellent cooks themselves. Anjana told CS more about her love for food:
The foodie in me
I love cooking and I am a big foodie. I am crazy about Italian and Mexican cuisines. Whenever I go out to eat, I first order a spaghetti in pesto sauce as that's my favourite dish and then decide on the other menu.
De-stressing with cooking
I don't cook at home everyday, but I like having friends at home and feeding them. Cooking is very therapeutic to me. I de-stress by cooking, not eating (smiles).
My childhood passion
It all started in UK where I was pursuing my MBA in International Business. I was on my own for the first time and started cooking for myself. But even as a child, when mum-dad would be out, I would cook a full meal for myself, light a candle and have a nice candle light dinner.
Mum to the rescue
Quite often, I want to cook something but I don't know how to. Mom's my saviour then. Once, I wanted to cook palak pulav and mum is a master at it. She was at her sister's place, so I called her up and made her explain the whole recipe to me.
My summer diet
During summer, I make myself a lot of smoothies and shakes. I also have nimbu pani and jaljeera.u00a0I don't follow a diet; just the less oily home food. And I like to have small portions of food as that helps digestion. I also cut down on my diet during summer.
Spicing it up
My favourite spices are black pepper and oregano. I put these in practically everything. They change the flavour of the dish without increasing the heat in your body.u00a0