What Padma Lakshmi eats when she’s too tired to cook

Ordinarily, multitasking Top Chef host, executive producer, author, model and mom Padma Lakshmi keeps a busy enough schedule. But lately she’s been promoting her new memoir as well, and yet somehow she found time to tell us a little bit about how she feeds herself and her daughter.

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Here’s how Padma tells us she fuels herself when she’s on her own.

When it’s just me at home, my go-to dishes are usually the ones I grew up eating as a kid: khichdi, a lentil and rice porridge with lots of vegetables, or thayir sadam, a savory yogurt rice. That’s my version of soul food! I included the recipes for both dishes in my new food memoir, Love, Loss, and What We Ate.

And when she’s with her daughter, Krishna, here’s what they nosh on together.

My daughter and I eat a mostly plant-based diet at home. One of her favorite dishes is called nasi goreng, or Balinese fried rice. It’s a vegetable stir-fry with lots of bell peppers, onions, carrots, fresh green chilies, garlic and ginger. I serve it with the Thai jasmine rice from my Padma’s Easy Exotic selection of frozen rices. They’re organic, gluten-free, made without GMOs and [are] ready in just three minutes.

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Check out Padma’s Balinese fried rice recipe below.

Balinese fried rice (nasi goreng) recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1/2 cup diced bell peppers
• 1/2 cup diced onions
• 1/2 cup diced carrots
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh green chilies
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon minced ginger root
• 10 ounces Padma’s Easy Exotic Thai jasmine rice or 2 cups cooked jasmine rice
• 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1/4 cup fresh chopped mint or cilantro
• 1 – 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 2 eggs

Directions:

1. In a skillet on medium high, heat the canola oil, and stir-fry the diced bell peppers, onions and carrots along with the green chilies, garlic and ginger.
2. Heat the Easy Exotic Thai jasmine rice in the microwave for 3 minutes.
3. Add the hoisin sauce to the skillet, and stir to evenly coat the veggies, then add the Thai jasmine rice to the pan, with salt to taste. Stir.
4. Drizzle in the toasted sesame oil. Garnish with the chopped mint or cilantro and the lime juice, and stir.
5. In a separate pan, scramble or fry 2 eggs over easy in a bit of canola oil. Serve the eggs on top of the rice, or stir them into the rice.

Before you go, check out our slideshow below.