Tell us about the books that you’ve written. Do you have a favorite?

Simple Cooking from Grandmas Kitchen was a book that got completely sold out. It has recipes by my grandmother, my friend’s mothers and grandmothers and all the recipes that I wanted to preserve. In that we have recipes from Bengal , Goa, Hyderabad, Delhi, Maharashtra, Kashmir, Gujarat and the Parsi community. Exploring the different regions of India is a treat in itself. I thoroughly enjoyed writing this book. Good Food, Good Livingis a collection of my columns which I did for the Independent 20 years ago. I’ve done a book for the Hyatt, called the Chef’s Table on all their recipes and theirchefs.That should be out next month. That has been on the backburner for 2 years, which is why I haven’t written a book in so long.

Did the book, Lean Cuisines Curries help you lose weight?

Yes, Lean Cuisine Curries was at a time when I first came to India and I was really thin. I put on weight just eating Indian food all the time. And since I was eating restaurant food, I couldn’t help but put on kilos after kilos. The book was my ode to home-style Indian food. It has purely regional Indian recipes with no oil at all but has the taste and the essence kept alive. Then I did a reprint of the book, it’s called Less Is More, which uses a little bit of oil for tadkas and all.

What’s your style of cooking?

Firstly, I don’t believe in fusion. Retaining authenticity is essential to any dish. I try and lighten the dish to preserve the integrity but maybe serve it a tad bit differently. For example, last night I had Kerala food and it was superbly delicious but heavy for the stomach. With the Appam, chicken in coconut gravy and Syrian beef fry, I would pour the gravy at the bottom of the dish and have a small cup of the fry to accompany the appam. I don’t want to change anything, we should balance the dishes in a way that we don’t subject our stomachs to any discomfort.