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BOOKS: AUTHORSPEAK
ROOPA GULATI
Kitchen Goddess
The aroma of pre-teen
birthday cake has followed Roopa Gulati through to her adulthood. This
evening, a similar whiff is emanating from her freshly baked, palm-sized
cookies and Gulati-with a culinary heritage that's streaked through Cumbria,
Cordon Bleu, London, and a Capital where you're as good as your last TV
show-is kicking back, pondering life's little mysteries: "Why do
people put cherries on coleslaw? To be suggestive?"
 After
four years on Good Morning India, slicing, dicing, and talking people
into lusting for lemon tart at 7 a.m., Gulati, 37, is for all practical
purposes, unemployed. "I have no plans. I'm simply living on the
edge of optimism," she says. The Good Morning India Cookbook (HarperCollins),
Gulati's eulogy to her breakfast show menu, offers a spectrum of eclectic
recipes-Sarson ka saag butts Pomfret with Grapes and Scots Plum Pudding
with ease. "It's fancy food," admits Gulati, "made with
simple ingredients."
Which explains her idea of fun: serving guests tindas splitting
with cognac and prawns. "It really confuses people," she grins.
"It's like stepping into a Mercedes wearing bathroom slippers."
Gulati's life, and her next book, echo Isabel
Allende's Aphrodite-familial experiences are recalled by the food eaten
then. She grew up on Punjabi meals in a house smelling of spices, longed
for typically Brit fare of scones and jam, wasn't allowed to cook till
she turned 11-for fear of burning the house to a crisp- and learnt to
whip-up sauces under the hawk eyes of instructors "who made Hitler
look like a tulip in a vase". Now, the mother of two hopes her food
and memories will mean as much to her teenage daughters as they do to
her. "Either way, I'll still be cooking for them... at least till
they're 30!"
Gulati's No. 1 tip for those inclined to wield
the ladle: Get your basics right-"Learn to make a really good chicken
stock before you aim for a stock flavoured with fennel seeds or simmering
with white wine", she says. From the smells wafting through her kitchen,
it might be worthwhile to take her advice.
-Sonia Faleiro
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