Sunny Leone on why Delhi’s chaats are the best and her food faves: The Foodie Interview

What do you indulge in?
Chocolates. They’re both my indulgence and my comfort food. Whenever I travel, I make sure I buy chocolates. Parathas are another indulgence. I eat food that is fattening once in a while but ensure that I eat smaller portions.

What is your diet like?
I eat balanced meals. I don’t starve but I make sure I eat freshly prepared meals. No frozen food or packaged meals for me. I eat dry fruits or egg whites with toast between meals.

What would you break your diet for?
When I cheat, I eat all kinds of chaat in Delhi. I love the street food in Delhi. I love gol gappe and dahi chaat. When I’m breaking the diet, I also eat sushi although Japanese cuisine is among the healthiest in the world.

So what are meal times like?
I’m a really light eater. So breakfast would be maybe a Dunkin’ Donut coffee, some egg whites on toast, or a pancake. I sometimes drink milk at breakfast. I’m actually a boring eater. I love kiwifruit and there are a lot of seasonal fruit in all my meals. There are a lot of veggies or grilled chicken for lunch. Dinner is usually the same as lunch, except I might add a soup. Sodium causes bloating so I’m particular about the amount of salt that goes in and make sure there’s very little salt in my meals.

What’s the one drink that you’re addicted to?
I love coconut water. I feel it’s great for my skin and makes it glow. It also keeps me fresh. My favourite poison is a chilled bottle of Sauvignon Blanc.

What are your earliest food memories?
My mother used to make delicious parathas, paneer and aloo. I’m a Punjabi girl who grew up in a traditional Punjabi home. So it was rajma, chawal and chhole all the time. I ate Indian food every day while growing up.

Do you cook?
I love cooking. I cook together a lot with Daniel (Weber, her husband). While I cook most of the greasy, unhealthy food, he makes the wholesome healthy stuff like salads. Breakfast is the one meal that we cook together often. I don’t make fancy stuff. It’s just eggs, pasta, noodles, omelettes, that I cook

Which are the restaurants you like going to?
I go to Fatty Bao, in Mumbai and Bangalore, when I want good Asian food. But I love Italian cuisine the most, so I go to as many new restaurants that serve Italian as possible. We also love Mughlai and recently went to Persian Durbar in Byculla (Mumbai). I loved their raan biryani and the Lucknow seekh Kababs.

Have you had any memorable meals when you travel?
Every time I travel, I break my diet and I don’t regret it. I eat very well, especially if there’s pasta on the menu. I like trying out pastas in all parts of the world just to know how they make it locally. I still recall a mussel and pineapple pasta that I ate in Hawaii. It was the finest I’ve ever had. It was tangy and sweet at once. I want to learn how to cook aloko some day. It’s a dish that included tempered bananas with onions and chillies – it’s tastes fantastic and I want to make a trip to the Ivory Coast to learn how to make it.

Do you bring back a lot of food when you travel?
Yes, I’m really into kitchen gadgets and buy all kinds of ladles and grills when I travel. Cheese, chocolates, sauces and condiments are also some of the things I bring back when I go abroad.