P K Mohankumar, COO of The Gateway Hotels talks to Priyanka Joshi
What’s your favourite childhood memory as far as food is concerned?
I relish home-style seafood recipes. My mom’s Travancore fish curry is an eternal favourite and even today it sets a benchmark in quality and taste. In fact, that’s why I’m listing a fish dish as my favourite recipe for Business Standard readers.
What sort of food do you like eating on a daily basis for breakfast, lunch and dinner?
I am a convert to veganism from a hard core non-vegetarian. The new-age lifestyle centred on wellness is a potent phenomenon and the future, I strongly believe, belongs to organic food, slow cooking, superfoods.
The most important meal is breakfast. I prefer a wholesome helping of active foods, including high fibre and unpolished cereals like muesli with berries, oat clusters and whole wheatgerm. As far as fruits go, I like fruits like blueberry, strawberry, red papaya, apart from antioxidant-rich veggies like bell peppers, carrots, sun-dried tomatoes. For lunch, I prefer lots of greens, including varieties of lettuce such as iceberg, lollo rosso, rocket and arugula leaf, which I combine with olives and vegetables like broccoli, brussels sprouts, knol khol. For carbs, I opt for a basket of olive oil gratine multi-grain bread. Sometimes, I also have palm jaggery with beverages.
I prefer to grab small bites of roasted and boiled protein-rich beans and lentils. With green tea, I eat almonds and seeds, including sun flower, pumpkin, flax and melon. For dinner, I usually opt for broken wheat porridge with vegetables.
What else is a must in your daily diet?
I drink at least two litres of water every morning and evening.
I also make it a point to have fresh juices, including wheatgrass juice, banana-stem juice, bitter gourd-fenugreek juice, apart from fenugreek, caraway, cinnamon and tomato juice.
Don’t you ever miss eating south Indian meals?
My transition to being a committed vegan took 90 gruelling days. So, every Sunday is a ‘fun’ day for me and I indulge my palate with a typical south Indian breakfast of steaming idlis, home dosas or puttu followed by an appetising fish curry, masala grilled mackerels and sardines, with rice and tomato-garlic rasam.
Any sinful indulgences in food?
I cannot resist fresh fruit desserts sans sugar and jelly creations. I would recommend probiotic ice-creams, flavoured yogurt and other fruit-based desserts as well.
Which is your favourite restaurant in India and abroad?
Karavalli and Blue Ginger in Bangalore, followed by Quilon at 51 Buckingham Gate, London. I also love Spice Market in New York. In each of these places, I love the authenticity of the food, the ambiance that they create.
Apart from vegan and south Indian food, which other cuisine do you like?
I like Italian cuisine a lot. Penne arrabbiata, herb-crusted John Dory with grainy mustard sauce or tomato vinaigrette with olives and capers, is what I usually order when I eat Italian food. I also like Mediterranean cuisine, especially olive oil-poached salmon and grilled cod with caper sauce.
| FAVOURITE RECIPE
Clean the fish by removing skin. |
KANE FRY FROM KARAVALLI