Cooking for Rushdie is fun: Lakshmi

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><span style="" font-style:="" italic=""><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script></span><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="" font-style:="" italic="">TOI </span><span style="" font-style:="" italic="">catches Padmalakshmi on her first visit to Delhi after her wedding with celebrity author Salman Rushdie</span><br /><br /></div> <div class="Normal" style="" text-align:="" center=""><img src="/photo/844189.cms" alt="/photo/844189.cms" border="0" /></div> <div class="Normal">Of course, I cook for Salman...I''m cooking as much as I was when we weren''t married. That''s Padmalakshmi. Model, actress, cook-book author, TV hostess and, of course, wife to celeb author Salman Rushdie. <br /><br />In town on her first visit to India post-marriage, Padmalakshmi took time off to give some exclusive sound bytes to <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Delhi Times</span>.<br /><br />Marriage, if anything, has imparted a radiance to her. As Padmalakshmi herself puts it: "Marriage? Great. It''s made me very content." <br /><br />While in the Capital, Padmalakshmi is catching up with her relatives "since I hadn''t met them after my marriage." <br /><br />Meanwhile, Rushdie''s catching up with work after arriving in India with Padmalakshmi last month. "After spending quite a few weeks here, he''s gone back to London to finish a novel. I''m sitting around, waiting for him to complete it." <br /><br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal"><br /></div> <div class="Normal" style="" text-align:="" center=""><img src="/photo/844190.cms" alt="/photo/844190.cms" border="0" /></div> <div class="Normal"><span style="" font-style:="" italic=""><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script></span>Out with her own work in words, <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Easy Exotic</span>, a cook book on low-fat cooking which bagged the Best Cookbook for a first-time author, Padmalakshmi is contemplating another book in the same genre.<br /><br />"This time, it''ll be like me – more expansive. And it''ll come with a variety of recipes from around the world, including Continental and Indian. And no, they won''t necessarily be low-fat recipes." <br /><br />Padmalakshmi collects unusual recipes whenever she''s out traveling. "On my last trip to India, I came across this exotic pickle in Ahmedabad. The book will have stuff like that."<br /><br />Having done the strut-and-smile stuff for Versace, Armani and Ralph Lauren, the 5'' 10"-tall Padmalakshmi''s obviously a hit in the West. <br /><br />"That''s because of my special looks," she explains, "The idea was to capitalise on being different than trying to be like the others." <br /><br />One way in which she''s different is in her never-say-die attitude. "There''s a seven-inch scar on my arm from a car accident in Los Angeles when I was an adolescent. My arm was broken and I''ve been through three surgeries. I''m lucky to be alive."<br /><br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section3"><div class="Normal"><br /></div> <div class="Normal" style="" text-align:="" center=""><img src="/photo/844191.cms" alt="/photo/844191.cms" border="0" /></div> <div class="Normal"><span style="" font-style:="" italic=""><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script></span>For now, she''s into a bit of shopping in Delhi. <br /><br />Among other things, her baggage will carry "a variety of <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">churans, anaardana and ramgoli</span> – I love all that," she elaborates. Once she''s back in Chennai, from where she''s hopped to Delhi, most of Padmalakshmi''s time will be spent with her grandparents. <br /><br />Does this mean work will take a backseat? "To quite an extent, yes. Though there were some meetings with film producers thrown in," says Padmalakshmi, who finds Satyajit Ray''s work inspirational. <br /><br />"I''ve seen most of his films abroad. I''d love to see them here – that''ll be a different experience." <br /><br />And yes, she claims to have recovered from the box-office performance of <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Boom</span>. "I''ve recovered. Of course, what happened to me was mild compared to what the film did to other people."<br /></div> </div>