Chef and owner of the Le15 Patisserie chain Pooja Dhingra will soon release her second cookbook The Wholesome Kitchen. Her first, The Big Book of Treats, a compilation of the kind of decadent recipes that have made Le15 arguably Mumbai’s most popular patisserie, was published in 2014. In contrast, The Wholesome Kitchen, which is slated to be launched on Wednesday, February 22, focuses on healthier food. To this end, Dhingra has been assisted by her sister-in-law, city-based nutritionist Viddhi Dhingra.
Dhingra begins the book by addressing her struggles with weight loss, which is what prompted her to write The Wholesome Kitchen. Among its 80 recipes are those for smoothies, salads, breakfast bars, nut butters, soups, mains and desserts. The recipes substitute butter, flour and sugar with healthier alternatives such as nut butters, oat flour, honey and so on. Each includes a nutrition chart that indicates the amount of calories, carbs, protein and fat in the dishes.
In addition to Dhingra’s recipes, The Wholesome Kitchen also features contributions by Bollywood celebrities such as Sonam Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Rahul Khanna and Parineeti Chopra and by Dhingra’s chef friends like Karishma Dalal of Bombay Salad Co. and Kelvin Cheung, who runs Bastian and One Street Over. This weekend, Dhingra will host a high tea exclusively for The Daily Pao readers at Le15 Cafe in Colaba where she will serve dishes from The Wholesome Kitchen. The menu will feature watermelon feta salad; curry leaf and almond pesto with crackers; chocolate chip cookies; carrot cake; chocolate apricot bars; and lemon loaf. The tea will end with a book signing by Pooja and Viddhi Dhingra. The high tea, which will take place at 5pm on Sunday, February 19, is priced at Rs1,321 per person (including taxes and a copy of the book priced at Rs799). Tickets are being sold on Insider.in.
Le15 Cafe, Ground Floor, Lansdowne House Building, M. B. Marg, opposite Ling’s Pavilion, behind Regal Cinema, below Abode, Colaba. Open daily, from 8am to midnight. Get directions here.