Himani Modi of Modi Group is in the mood for some Italian fare.
I love eggplant,” Himani Modi says enthusiastically. “Unfortunately, my husband doesn’t. So I cook it for myself,” she shrugs. The eggplant parmesan is being put together a tad rustily in her kitchen, for it’s been some time since Modi has cooked at home. A while ago when she and her husband were living in New York, where he worked, Modi would rustle up meals easily, switching from Indian to Continental and back, pulling out interesting recipes off the Net.
Social gatherings at home would be fun to cook for, Modi recalls, an activity that had her happily busy. “Now that we are back in India, we eat the usual ghar ka khana, but cooked strictly in olive oil. My cook, of course, fails to understand why,” she chuckles. She and her husband, both born into traditional Marwari families, have had the “desi ghee” factor follow them around for years, but they stay far away from it these days.
She’s also proud to report — at the mention of her conservative upbringing — of successfully, if gradually, having broken out of the mould. “It’s definitely not the done thing for women in our family to be working. But once I was done with graduation, I told my father that I could not possibly be sitting at home doing nothing. So he began by saying, ‘All right, work half day,’ but now, here I am!”
Her now full-time career took off with her baby, a tie-up with a German B2B company, Senator. It proved to be an exciting venture, says the 34-year-old. Of late, Modi has been busy with her lounge, Barcode, in south Delhi, a place she kick-started not recently but is still getting used to.
“Our family didn’t have a strong platform in the entertainment sector. So it has taken a while to get used to the media glare and the need to constantly network. It’s much more dynamic than the kind of Modi mainstay I’m used to, and we need to constantly innovate. But now that I’m there, I’m enjoying it,” she says.
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In the kitchen, Modi is rueful about the fact that she doesn’t have dessert skills to speak of, and that’s going to be next on her list of recipes to try. And no, she isn’t afraid of piling on the kilos: her Lodi garden runs make sure she stays fit. On the work front, she’s looking forward to stabilising her various ventures, with the eye of a marketing person, as she calls it. Sales are down, of course, she admits without hesitation, but “we are working around circumstances”. On the side, she wants to take her “mini zoo” at home (a pet golden retriever, a rabbit and fish) more seriously.
Opening a veterinary hospital, for instance, has been on her mind for some time. Now that’s a plan for which she deserves a pat on the back.
FAVOURITE RECIPE
EGGPLANT PARMESAN
2 large eggplants
½ kg whole peeled tomatoes
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
Olive oil
½ tsp black pepper
½ cup flour
½ cup fine dry breadcrumbs
1 box mozzarella cheese, sliced
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup fresh basil leaves
Salt to taste
Cut eggplants lengthwise into quarter-inch slices. Arrange a layer at bottom of strainer and sprinkle salt. Repeat with remaining slices. Weigh slices down with a plate and let drain for two hours. Meanwhile, on a pan, combine tomatoes, garlic and two tablespoonsful of oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Next, when eggplant is drained, lay slices out on paper towels to remove moisture. In a wide, shallow bowl, add flour and breadcrumbs. Mix well. Dip the eggplant slices in the mixture and fry until golden brown. Finally, in a baking dish, spread one cup of tomato sauce. Layer it with eggplant slices. Add some mozzarella. Sprinkle a third of the Parmesan and half of the basil leaves. Add another layer of eggplant slices, topped by a cup of sauce, and the remaining mozzarella, Parmesan and basil. Repeat with another layer. Bake for 30 minutes and serve.