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MasterChef Pankaj shares what was on her mind as she put together her first cookbook.

She is the first to win the title of Indias MasterChef,but Pankaj Bhadouria of Lucknow never forgot the travails a common housewife in a small town faces.

In most recipe books I had read,ingredients were too exotic and expensive,so when I got the chance to author a cookbook I chose to keep it simple, she said at the launch of Master Chef India Cookbook (Shine Group,Rs 350) at Landmark bookstore in Lucknow on Friday. The book was part of the contract by which she also got to host a show of her own on StarPlus,besides the Rs 1-crore prize.

From the dish that got me through the auditions to the favourite recipes of my late mother or my husbands…I have included in my first book recipes that are unique but simple, says the housewife turned celebrity cook who has visited Manchester and New York for lectures and demonstration. The Indian diaspora in the west is of the perception that exotic Indian food is drowned in grease and spice and so it is delicious but fairly unhealthy too. I surprised them with my chicken no-butter masala and other such dishes that were low on fat but high on taste, said Pankaj,who will soon be opening her restaurant opposite Halwasiya in Hazratganj. It will have a buffet spread of Indian cuisine and every week there will be an add-on,from Spanish or Italian to Tex-Mex or Chinese, she said giving a peek into things to come.

Try the balushai recipe from the book, she suggests to an onlooker while autographing a copy at the store. The best dishes are the simplest, she signs off.

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