Coy Celina Jaitley

Celina Jaitley is so gorgeous; she has men eating out of her hands. The beauty can be traced back to her genes. She says, “My grandmother is Kashmiri (we still have apple orchards in J&K), my grandfather Punjabi. And my mother’s parents are from Afghanistan.”

Compelled to cook because she lives alone, Celina find cooking a great stress reliever.The sensuous beauty who possesses an innocent smile, will be seen next, as Fardeen Khan’s love interest in Feroz Khan’s Jaanasheen. Celina steams up the kitchen with her infectious warmth.

I begin my day with a glass of hot water laced with honey. Later, I say my prayers in my heart.

If I have a 7 am shoot then I wake up at three in the morning for my make-up and all, but if I am not shooting then I wake up around 8 am.

I generally don’t eat breakfast but my dietician Ira Samanthan (she is from South Africa), insists that I follow a chart. So I am forced to eat a bowl of muesli with hot or cold milk. It gives me a lot of energy and I don’t feel like snacking till lunchtime.

I either go to the gym or work out at home. I walk the treadmill regularly.

Sometimes I am very tempted to eat the unit food specially when there is fish made in mustard. I love unit food, it’s very heavy on oil, but I don’t mind it once in a while. Usually, I like eating homemade iceberg lettuce salad with toast, butter and soup.

I keep varying my lunch menu otherwise you get bored of your diet and then you want to eat everything on earth.

Juices or fruits are healthy but I need salt, pepper and spices in my diet. So I make sure that there is a lot of vinegar and paprika in my salads — it tastes like chaat.

My mother makes excellent rajma chawal. On Sundays, earlier, mama would make excellent Mughlai biryani.

My father is a disciplinarian so there has to be one green vegetable and one aloo dish with chapatti and dal for lunch.

We hated baingan and tinda but my father would force us to eat it because he liked them. We preferred eating white small rajma (roongi) and prawn curry with rice. In the evenings we generally had only a baked dish.

Since my father is an army man and has travelled a lot, he likes to try out different cuisines. He is fond of Russian salad with toast, my mum’s home-cooked pizzas, egg soufflé and vegetables steamed in sauce.

I became a tea lover ever since our posting to Assam. I drink eight-nine cups of tea a day. Coffee gives me severe acidity.

I dig chaats and paani puri. Once in a while I love to have jhaal moori. I have taught my cooks to make moori with boiled potatoes, chopped onions, green chutney and masalas.

My favourite fruits are papayas, mangoes and strawberries.

I relish fresh watermelon juice and a cocktail of orange and carrot juice.

I love the Shetland prawns of the south. The Kimonos make their meat with a lot of spice. While in Sikkim, I relished momos and thupkas. The ghosht and rice with dry fruits is worth trying in Kashmir. We used to wait for the apples in our orchards to turn green because we loved eating them when they are sour. I also savour Kashmiri tea.

I am not a restaurant person any more. In Calcutta’s China town, you get the best authentic Chinese food cooked by Chinese families.

Angithi, Bangalore has a village-dhaba ambience and amazing Punjabi food.

You get the best food in the country in dhabas.

In sweets I am partial to seviyan ki kheer, khoya burfi (without any flavours and nuts in it), rasgollas and mishti doi.

I am happy if my meal includes one of these — methi aloo, jeera aloo, stuffed karela, biryani and tandoori chicken.

My favourite beverage is a black drink — Coke, Pepsi, and Jaljeera.

I enjoy sipping a glass of French wine with food.

I can’t sleep without having a cup of Horlicks.

On a hot summer’s day I would like to fill myself with a bowl of chilled, cubed papaya and a big glass of lassi.

On a rainy day, I would like to eat hot samosas with chai, and paani puri.

On a wintry day I look forward to my mum’s gobi ka paratha with white butter and mirchi achaar.

I remember when I was in the Xth standard I made ras malai. The pedha became hard as a rock but I forced my brother to eat it. I cannot make sweet dishes but, by and large, I am a good cook. From the age of 17, I’ve been living alone so I learned to cook.

I can’t cook without my special set of knives that I bought from Ikea. My kitchen has to be very spic and span.

I think I resemble a green chilli.

Prahlad Kakar’s Papa Pancho, Indigo and India Jones at the Oberoi’s are the Mumbai eateries worth visiting. Once in a while I order food from Only Parathas.

For the best seafood in the entire world, I recommend Cape Town and a chain of restaurants called The Ocean Basket.

In Australia, we stayed next to the bay and I freaked out on seafood. I ate a lot of steaks and drank some fine wine too.

The unit food of Feroz Khan’s Jaanasheen included interesting stuff like paaya and biryani.

I love Swiss wines and food, especially fondues.

Scandinavian food is very bland. The closest they come to a spicy dish is mushroom sauce with a dash of pepper. Also they are very much into raw meat. I don’t have a palate for that.

My idea of a romantic meal is a wintry ambience. I don’t fancy a candlelight dinner because I like to see what I am eating. The meal could be mussels with onion sauce and a famous French white wine or a steak with vegetables. The venue should be a restaurant amidst the mountains. I have enjoyed many such romantic dinners with my boyfriend at St Moritz, Switzerland.