Eggs on my plate, Sunday ke Sunday

FOODIE

Shabana Azmi reveals her passion for regional Indian cuisines.

One needs to take a deep breath to introduce this fine actress: with 140 films, five national awards, six international awards, a Padma Shri, and retrospectives of her films at the New York film festival, Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC and Pompidou Centre in Paris, the list of her achievements is impressive.

She is an impeccable actress and a vocal and committed social activist. She is the chairperson of Nivara Hakk (right to shelter) and also works on women's health, education and economic empowerment.

"I was brought up to believe that art should be used as a medium for social change and some of my films and roles have helped me do that." Her films Arth (1982) and Fire (1996) have become cult films and many women have found the characters she played hugely inspirational.

"The hardest thing I find as an actress is to have this elastic body where I have to gain and shed weight all the time." She did Mandi (1983) and Khandar (1984) back to back; in Mandi she was a big brothel madam for which she put on 12 kilograms (helped by three breakfasts a day) and soon after had to lean out to play an emaciated Jamini.

"Invariably I get to play these lean, poverty stricken, chased-by-hunger women and to be them physically is tougher than emoting the most complex emotions or learning the longest lines."

Born to a poet father, the late Kaifi Azmi, and an actress mother, Shaukat Kaifi, Shabana recalls a childhood filled with people and huge amounts of Hyderabadi food. She believes her mother is the most outstanding cook and hostess.

Shabhana recalls the elaborate tea ceremony her mother used to host, with the bone china teapot, tea-cosy and scented flowers in white and yellow that would always accompany the tea tray.

Shabana is passionate about food but does not seem to have her mother's instincts. "If you ask me to even look after a dish for two minutes, I will manage to burn it to cinders... I cannot cook, but every time I eat a good dish I will seek its recipe and origin!" Her collection of recipes is now a fat book full of little notes, restaurant menus as markers, and hundreds of recipes.

Having grown up in Mumbai, Shabana loves to eat street food "" samosas, bhelpuri and bhajias (spicy fried snacks) And she loves to eat eggs in all forms.

For two years at the film institute she ate egg bhurji (spicy scrambled eggs) and pao every single day for lunch, and friends always make her an egg curry when she visits! She loves regional foods from India, especially the Gujarati thali, but despairs of Punjabi food in restaurants: "Give me real Indian food."

Courtesy: The Bollywood Cookbook, Mapin

---

FAVOURITE RECIPE

Hyderabadi Biryani

For the lamb
1 kg lamb taken from the leg and cut into bite-sized pieces
500 g natural yoghurt
250 g pure ghee
6 large onions finely sliced
2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
2 large handfuls of mint leaves, chopped
2 large handfuls of coriander leaves, chopped
4 green chillies, chopped
1 ½ tsp red chilli powder
1 ½ tsp cumin seeds, coarsely ground
Seeds of 14 cardamoms, ground
4 whole green cardamoms
4 cinnamon sticks, about 10 cm long
20-25 whole black peppercorns
6 cloves
Salt to taste

For the rice
1 kg rice, soaked for 20 mins
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp saffron strands, soaked in 50 ml milk for 2 hours
Juice of 2 limes
Salt to taste

Marinade the lamb pieces in the yoghurt of one hour or more. In a large pan, heat the ghee and add the onions, frying until they start to brown. Reduce the heat as soon as the colour begins to change.

Remove the onions from the ghee with a slotted spoon and place them on kitchen paper or on a large tray. Spread the onions to keep them crisp. Add the marinated lamb to the ghee. Stir-fry for five minutes and add two-thirds of the fried onions, some salt and all the herbs and spices and cook for one hour on low heat. When the lamb is tender, set the pan aside.

To cook the rice, bring 1.5 litres of water to the boil and add salt and the garam masala. Tip in the soaked rice. Cover the pan, reduce the heat and let the rice cook until it is firm but not soft (partially cooked "" the water should have been absorbed).

Divide the rice and lamb into three equal portions each. In a large pan, place alternate layers of lamb and rice, finishing with a layer of rice. Gently mash the saffron strands into the milk. Pour the lime juice and saffron milk over the layers, cover the pan with a tightly fitting lid and place a heavy weight over it, or seal the sides with wheat flour dough.

Place a tawa or thick, flattish pan on low heat and once hot, place the sealed biryani pan on it for 15 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat until it is time to serve "" five minutes is sufficient resting time. Open the sealed pan and garnish with remaining fried onions. Serve hot with salad and raita.