Not Just Desserts

BETWEEN 9 and 10 in the morning, Frenny Billimoria is in agony aunt mode. 8216;8216;Whether they need a bearer, a cook, a boyfriend or a h...

BETWEEN 9 and 10 in the morning, Frenny Billimoria is in agony aunt mode. 8216;8216;Whether they need a bearer, a cook, a boyfriend or a husband, everyone in Delhi calls me,8217;8217; says the cherubic sexagenarian, only half-despairingly.

Add the phone friends to her social circle, and it8217;s safe to say that Billimoria knows everyone worth knowing in Delhi. She knows something more: That one in every 10 people she meets is diabetic, full-blown or borderline, like she is herself. She also knows how drastic it can be: She lost her 24-year-old daughter, a Cordon Bleu chef, to the disease.

8216;8216;The Diabetic8217;s Cookbook just published by Penguin, Rs 250 has been a long time in the making,8217;8217; says Billimoria. Described by Delhi8217;s other Parsi grande dame Bhicoo Manekshaw as having 8216;8216;one of the finest tables in the city8217;8217;, Billimoria8217;s instinctive reaction to the diabetes epidemic was a collection of recipes that takes the boring out of diet food.

8216;8216;The diabetic dinner plate should be different from the regular healthy dinner plate only in proportions and certain limitations,8217;8217; says Billimoria. 8216;8216;If anything is completely taboo, it8217;s white flour and sugar, all kinds of it, white, brown, jaggery, shakkar. And fat intake should be controlled. None of this should bother anyone concerned about eating well.8217;8217;

And eat well the diabetic can. Conjure up a meal fit for a diabetic king, we ask her, and it8217;s an exercise she relishes. For hors d8217;oeuvres, she chooses an aubergine dip with wholewheat crackers, and eggs with assorted fillings. The last is a visual delight, created by cutting hard-boiled eggs lengthways, removing the yolks and filling the cup with yummies as disparate as green peas mashed with curd and mint, and tuna combined with lime juice, coriander and chilli.

LAUKI KHEER
INGREDIENTS
1 500 gm bottlegourd lauki
3 cups fat-free milk
2 green cardamoms, crushed
3-4 tablets sugar-free
sweetener, powdered
For decoration: 1 tbsp blanched, peeled and sliced almonds, a pinch grated nutmeg
METHOD
Wash, peel and grate
bottlegourd.
Pour milk into a non-stick pan, add bottlegourd and cardamoms and simmer over low heat till the lauki is cooked.
Remove from heat, cool and add sweetener.
Spoon into wine glasses or individual dessert bowls, sprinkle with almonds and nutmeg and refrigerate till chilled. Serve chilled.

8216;8216;It8217;s still warm, so let8217;s do a cold celery and tomato soup, followed by a green papaya salad and a fish and french bean salad. For the entreacute;e, we could have cold gingered fish or spicy king prawns8212;if it8217;s a really, really special meal8212;and masala chops, for a nice Indian touch. Two veggies8212;I like Caponata, an Italian mixed vegetable dish, and Romanian bell peppers.8217;8217;

A.M. RULES

Limit and substitute can be the diabetic8217;s watchword at lunch and dinner, but breakfast is a special meal, believes Frenny Billimoria. Here8217;s how her day begins:
8226; A tablespoon of oat bran, the diabetic8217;s best friend, with low-fat milk and a sprinkling of elaichi for flavouring
8226; One slice of atta bread, one half smothered with hung curd and chopped garlic and the other topped with low-fat cheese
8226; A slice of papaya, grapefruit, guava or apple

Wishful thinking is all very well, but Billimoria knows well enough that the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

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So the last course comes to life, straight out of her kitchen: A kheer, served in elegant dark-red dessert bowls, sprinkled with slivers of almond. 8216;8216;Taste it,8217;8217; she commands. 8216;8216;Totally diabetic-friendly.8217;8217;

The first spoonful is a pleasing mixture of soft and crunchy, not overly sweet and strangely familiar. It8217;s not rice, not vermicelli, certainly not sago or semolina. What is the main ingredient, we ask innocently, downing another spoonful.

Billimoria peers over her gold-rimmed glasses, her eyes twinkling. 8216;8216;I thought of giving it some fancy name, then didn8217;t bother. This is lauki kheer!8217;8217;

Chances are, the diabetic at the table won8217;t be the only one asking for seconds.