Cosy up with comfort food

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You might feast at gourmet restaurants and pig out on yummy tidbits when you are on the go, but when the moods turn blue, the only thing that can soothe you is comfort food. From the simple dal chawal, a steaming bowl of soup to a greasy burger or spicy chaat. Nothing is as comfy to curl up with when you need to drive your blues away. And if you can’t decide on your own comfy food, you should try out the recommendations of these comfy food junkies.

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Geeta Basra, actress

I am one of those people who can’t eat much when I am down, but when I need some good old ‘me’ time to chill and snuggle up... nothing goes down as well as junk food. I am a vegetarian, so yes, my options are limited, but my idea of comfort food is cheesy pizza and a lot of French fries. When I want to be pamper myself, I don’t want to enter the kitchen, so it’s always “order in” for me. Now add to that a yummy nutella crepe with dollops of vanilla ice cream and you have my version of comfort food.

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Nauheed Cyrusi, model

When I am bushed after a day’s work and don’t feel like moving a limb, the only thing that can act as a pick-me-up is khichdi. Simple khichdi made with yellow dal and rice. I just make sure the dal and rice are in the same ratio and put in a quarter of that amount of water in the cooker and cook it for one whistle, so that it has a soggy consistency, like porridge. Then I just put a big dollop of ghee and gorge on it. I don’t even put any tadka to it. It requires no time to make and is just unbelievably comforting.

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Sushma Reddy, model and actress

Whether I am dog tired or simply feverish, when I am down, nothing perks me up as my mom’s dalitoi, which is a Mangalorean speciality. It is simple and I have been having it since my childhood. In fact, I am so addicted to it that I learnt how to make it from my mom and can have a cooker full of it. Give me a bowl of dalitoi with steaming rice and lime pickle and you can see the change in my mood.

Dalitoi (serves 2)

Ingredients

1 tea cup toor dal
2 green chillies, slit
4 sprigs of curry leaves
A pinch of hing
Salt to taste
5 cups of water

Method

Clean the toor dal, then put it in a pressure cooker with five cups of water, salt and hing. Pressure cook it for three whistles and take it off the stove. Open the cooker and churn the dal till smooth. Make a tadka with ½ tsp ghee / olive oil/ saffola, rye, curry leaves, dried mirchi, which is diced. Add another pinch of hing at the end, otherwise it will get burnt and turn bitter. Add this tadka to the dal and cover so that the flavour comes out. Serve it with hot rice and pickle.