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Nauheed Cyrusi

Parsi New Year is that time of the year when the city’s Bawa families get together and spend some much needed quality time. Besides wishing each other Navroze Mubarak, food and especially sweets play an important part in any Parsi festivity.
Comedian Cyrus Broacha reveals, “All our festivals are about food and sweets. Parsi festivals are celebrated with food and of course family. Today I am going to be shooting so I do not have a day off but I will try and wrap up early to head home for a late lunch. We have called for Mutton Pulao and since the oil spill, my mother is really skeptical of cooking fish, so no fish for the family. For dessert, there is Lagan Nu Custard, a burnt milk yogurt special delicacy.”
For model Parizad Kolah Marshall, bringing in the New Year with her family and friends has been a ritual she has been religiously following over the years.
The actress who grew up in Cusrow Baug in South Mumbai has fond memories of celebrating Navroze with her entire gang.
“Yesterday was our last day of the year, Pateti, and today is the New Year. I took my grandparents out for lunch yesterday and then spent the day with my friends. When I was young, all of us would bring in the New Year at midnight and it was so much fun. We visit the fire temple early in the morning and then head home to have a nice breakfast. For lunch, it is Dhan Dar Patio, which is dal and rice with either fish or prawn. Our celebrations are all about getting together, having fun along with some good food.”
Actress Kainaz Motivala and her family make it a point to catch up on Parsi plays that are staged especially on the day. “After a sumptuous lunch, we all usually head out in the evening to watch a Parsi play. It has been like a tradition for years now.”
Actress Nauheed Cyrusi confesses that Navroze is that one time of the year she never misses being home.
“I have been home to bring in the New Year every single time since the time I can remember. In fact when we all meet up, we laugh over how we have been so regular with our yearly meetings.”
Biz honcho Parvez Damania says he has always celebrated the festival with his family. “We start the day with a visit to the fire temple, followed by a traditional breakfast of Sev — a vermicelli and curd preparation. Lunch is also the traditional yellow dal, white rice and patio. We visit each other’s houses and send sweets to each other but usually it is a family affair.”

John Abraham

Here’s a tidbit: John Abraham can eat 45 appams in one sitting.
“It’s not a problem for someone with my body size,” he explains. He also knows everything you ever wanted to know about iddi-appam, vella-appam, indri-appam and so on.
Then there’s puttu, steamed cylinders of ground rice and coconut in alternate layers. “It’s supposed to be eaten steaming hot, with coconut milk poured on it. It’s the most delicious thing you’ll ever have had,” he says with childlike glee. This is John Abraham’s soul food; his happy place. Give him anything with coconut milk, he says, and he’ll lap it up.
“No place in the world can beat Kerala when it comes to a good, healthy breakfast,” says the Parsi-Malayalee actor. Brought up in Bombay with his mother’s side of the family, John grew up mainly on Parsi food, while his father’s relatives (Syrian Christians from Kerala), were mostly abroad. Dhansak dal, chicken farcha, patrani machhi, salli boti, saas ni machhi were therefore as much a staple for him as appam.
“My mom makes the most amazing avial. Can you believe that? A Parsi makes thequintessential Kerala dish better than most
Mallus I know,” he gushes.
John is obviously quite taken up with his mom’s cooking. “Take karela, or brinjal. These are things most people hate, but I die for them when my mom cooks them. No one can beat the baingan ka bharta she makes,” smiles John, adding that though he lives alone, he rushes to his mom at the first chance he gets so that he can have some of her special dishes.
His everyday diet is as boring as they come, however. His Man Friday Santosh mostly puts together salads for him, and lunch usually consists of jowar or bajre ki roti with rajma, moong, masur or tuvar dal. “You would think a guy with a name like John Abraham lives on pizzas and burgers,” he grins, adding that almost all his food choices are driven by the health factor, which sometimes goes overboard. “I have always been fussy about food, and it seems to be getting worse with age. Even from the health point of view, you’d rather eat crappy food than not eat at all. But I only want the right kind of food, and if I don’t get it, I eat nothing. The body suffers in the bargain,” says the muscular actor. When he’s shooting, his co-stars tend to run away from him at lunch time. “I start talking of the nutritional value, or the lack of it, of each item that people around me eat. They don’t like that,” he rues.
John, known for his love for fast cars and bikes, then says,“An expensive car needs Octane 97 to run smoothly, whereas a regular car can run on unleaded petrol too. My body needs nothing less than Octane 97. Or rocket petrol.” Right.