Cooking Up A Storm With Dolly Ahluwalia: 'Live A Simple Life And Eat Simple Food'

Dolly Ahluwalia drew the maximum critical approbation for her role as the quirky mother of Ayushmann Khurrana in Vicky Donor. In the film, she enjoys her evening peg with her mother-in-law after a hard day’s work. Dolly can now be seen on screen in the release of the week, Sitaare Zameen Par. The much-awarded Dolly—3 Filmfare Awards and 3 National Awards—excels as an actress and costume designer. Now in her late 60s, she is looking for new grounds to conquer.

My dietary preference: I am a pure vegetarian.

I begin my day with: A glass of water with turmeric and lemon.

For breakfast I have: Poha/upma/paratha/sourdough bread sandwich, buttermilk or tea/ coffee.

My lunch is: Dal, vegetable, salad, rice, a chapati, curd, biryani, etc.

In the evening I snack on: Biscuits, chaat of monkey nuts, onion, tomato and coriander.

My dinner is: Soup, garlic bread, salad with pumpkin and flax seeds. Sometimes I have some flavoured kulfi or ice-cream (sugar-free).

I consciously keep drinking: Lots of detox water and fresh juices.

My favourite restaurants are: I keep trying different places.

As a child, my favourite food was: Rajma, kadhi chawal, and sarson ka saag with makai ki roti.

Foods I consciously avoid: Noodles, maida stuff, fried street food and street sweets.

I love eating: Papri chaat, golgappe, Thai curry, dal cheela, achari aloo, etc.

My favourite beverage: Ginger and cardamom tea.

My favourite drink: Sweet lassi, nimbu and mint water.

The weirdest food I have had: Golgappe stuffed with gulab jamun.

I can cook: Everything, as I love cooking. I make different kinds of salads, sandwiches, sweets—both Indian and Western. I keep experimenting with new recipes.

I don’t like: Very spicy food.

Tip on food: Live a simple life and eat simple food. The look and the presentation of food is very important to me.

My favourite recipe is vegetable biryani with mirchi ka salan.

Recipe for vegetable biryani

Ingredients to make the rice:

500 gms Basmati rice

4 to 5 cloves

1 cinnamon stick

2 to 3 bay leaves

1 black cardamom

3 to 4 green cardamoms

2 star anise

1 lemon (cut into slices)

Sufficient water to boil the rice

Salt to taste

Method: Wash and soak the rice for 20 minutes. Boil the rice in sufficient water. Add salt, the whole spices and lemon slices. Cook the rice till it is 80 percent done. Drain out the water and cool the rice. Keep aside.

Other Ingredients:

6 to 7 tablespoons ghee

5 onions (finely chopped)

2 onions (finely sliced and deep fried)

2” ginger (grated)

150 gms French beans (cut diagonally)

2 medium-sized carrots (cut diagonally)

3 potatoes (cut into slices)

250 gms cauliflower (cut into medium-sized florets)

100 gms fresh green peas

3 tablespoons homemade biryani masala

Salt to taste

Few strands of saffron (soaked in water/buttermilk)

Few fried cashew nuts and almonds (to garnish)

Method: Lightly heat 5 to 6 tablespoons ghee in a heavy-bottomed vessel. Add finely chopped onions and ginger. Sauté the onions on a low flame till they turn pink. Add the veggies and sauté them on a low flame till they are almost done. Add the biryani masala and sauté for 5 minutes till oil separates.

To assemble the biryani:

In a clay pot, lightly heat 1–2 tablespoons ghee. Evenly spread half the rice. Sprinkle some saffron water on it. Evenly spread out the veggies over the rice. Top it with the remaining rice and evenly sprinkle the remaining saffron water. Also sprinkle some water on the biryani. Top it with deep-fried onions and cover the pot with a lid. Seal the lid with some wheat flour dough. Keep it for dum on a pre-heated tawa for 10 minutes. Open the lid just before serving. Garnish with fried cashews and almonds. Serve hot with mirchi ka salan.