It’s not often that I link Bollywood’s luminaries with culinary expertise — though I am sure many of them wield a mean ladle. But there are some in the Hindi film industry who belong to a community known for its sublime food. I am talking about the Bunt community. Aishwarya Rai, Shilpa Shetty and Suniel Shetty are members of this group from Karnataka, primarily Mangaluru and Udupi. And you have to taste the region’s kori gassi (chicken curry) and yetti ghee roast (prawns) to know how delectable the dishes are.

The food is spicy, and since people are mostly from the coastal regions, fish plays a stellar role in the cuisine, as do fruits and vegetables that grow in the coastal areas. Seafood is a part of every feast, and fried mackerel is a Bunt must-have. Many of the dishes are prepared with coconut milk. The much-loved chicken curry, for instance, is flavoured with coconut milk (apart from a whole lot of spices).

I recall a superb meal I had many years ago, prepared by a doctor-cum-chef. The kori gassi came with delicious wafer-thin rotis prepared with rice flakes. I remember, in particular, the kotte mude, idlis steamed in jackfruit leaves, and pundi, a rice dumpling.

The recipes are simple. Red chilli powder is an important ingredient, but the ghee in many dishes balances the chillies. Though tamarind is the preferred souring agent, a few dishes are flavoured with jarige votte (kodampuli, or dried Malabar tamarind). Chicken sukka, for instance, is cooked with red chilli powder and kodampuli. Byadagi chillies, known for imparting a fiery red colour to the food, are a regional favourite. Chillies figure prominently in the yetti ghee roast, too. To prepare this dish at home (for 8-10 persons), take 2 kg prawns, 2 tbsp of cashew nut paste, 3 tbsp red chilli powder, half cup vinegar, salt and curry leaves. Clean and devein the prawns. Mix onion paste, red chilli powder, vinegar and salt. Marinate the prawns in this mix for about an hour. Heat some ghee in a pan, add the prawns and cook till they are soft. Add the cashew nut paste and curry leaves, and turn off the heat. Sprinkle some soaked cashews on the dish and serve.

The vegetable dishes included pathrode, a colocasia leaf roll, prepared differently in different parts of the country. The Mangalorean version is layered with a batter of rice and urad daal, mixed with grated coconut, jaggery, tamarind and spices. The veins of the leaf are trimmed, and the batter layered on it. Then, you repeat the process with more leaves, adding one on top of another and layered with the batter, till you get a thick cylinder. This is steamed, and then tempered with mustard seeds, peanuts, urad daal, chana daal and curry leaves. Steamed jackfruit cakes are often served for breakfast. And a special Mangalorean omelette — cooked in a spoon — is a great appetiser.

As I said, our Bollywood stars may be great cooks, but I have not been following their kitchen tips. But the other day, while watching YouTube cookery shows, I did find the actress Shilpa Shetty in the kitchen telling viewers about a Mangalorean dish called Bunt bomb. It’s an easy recipe, and I hope to try it out one day soon. For this, boil eggs, and then make thin vertical slits in them, using a sharp piece of the cracked shell. Fry red chilli powder and turmeric powder in ghee, add some pepper and salt, and then fry the eggs in this masala, coating them well. The bombs are ready!

And to think that I only knew her for her moves in the song, “Chura ke dil mera, goriya chali.”

BANGUDE MASALA FRY