hot pantry

Candice Kumai shows how to ‘Cook Yourself Sexy’

‘Champagne and pho … in bed!” That and well, the right guy, are the three key ingredients for a spicy date night in Candice Kumai’s shabby-chic downtown bachelorette pad. “It’s sexy and so much fun,” says the former model and “Top Chef” contestant about her dream combo. “And you can enjoy yourselves ‘dot dot dot.’ ”

The svelte chef continues: “Sexy means confidence. Most men will agree it’s the most attractive quality in a woman.”

With that in mind, the Le Cordon Bleutrained chef whipped up her latest cookbook, “Cook Yourself Sexy: Easy, Delicious Recipes for the Hottest, Most Confident You.”

Her previous collections, “Cook Yourself Thin, and “Pretty Delicious,” spoke to her then-twentysomething self, but Kumai, now 30, has since shifted her focus to “real foods.”

“Eating bad food is like dating a bad guy,” she says with a smirk.

But food, like dating and relationships, require a fair amount of discipline and will power. So Kumai devised an easy-touse list of “foods with benefits” and new recipes that ditch imitation products for items that make you look and feel healthy and hot.

Peek into the chef’s well-stocked refrigerator and pantry display and you’ll find some of her personal favorites: almonds, fresh rosemary and parsley, seasonal vegetables and fruits, goat cheese, olive oil, Dijon mustard, soy sauce, Champagne and berries.

“Berries contain antioxidants which keep you aroused and turned on,” she explains. “It’s similar to the feeling you have before sex.”

Like irresistible men, though, Kumai allows for an occasional culinary splurge, and her popular dark chocolate-orange cake is a succulent quick fix. In keeping with her focus on healthy eating, she removed some of the unnecessary eggs and butter from the flourless recipe.

“Chocolate is life’s greatest Band-Aid,” she jokes, pointing to the two bars of Godiva dark chocolate on her desk.

But it’s not just a passionate relationship with food that’s vital to the fit chef’s confidence. Exercise is a priority. Kumai, who runs five miles a day and recently finished a half marathon in her home state of California, recommends yoga or even window-shopping with girlfriends.

The Asian cuisine she grew up with — Kumai is half Japanese and half Polish — also has a strong influence in her cooking. Sushi, for example, was a household staple.

“Sushi is delicate, intricate, gorgeous and sexy,” she says, while looking at a photograph of her Japanese mother, whom she calls her “number one influencer and teacher.”

The “Asian Persuasion” chapter of her book includes user-friendly recipes for nori hand rolls, vegetable gyoza with orange ponzu sauce and spicy peanut soba noodles.

Though she has become known as a vivacious television star — Kumai is a regular judge on “Iron Chef America” — she’s really a “food geek” who prefers writing to being in front of the camera.

Kumai reads a line from a sentimental poster that hangs over her desk: “When you eat, appreciate every last bite.”

“It became so relevant to me,” she says. “My job is to make real food cool again.”

Along with Sam Talbot and Ursula Cary, Kumai will host “Kickstart Your Cookbook,” a seminar on how to break into food publishing, at the James Beard Foundation on Monday.

“It’s the biggest honor in my career,” she says about the event.

Despite her jam-packed life, Kumai is still open to finding love.

Again, she points to the poster and reads: “If you are looking for the love of your life, stop; they will be waiting for you when you start doing things you love.”

What could be sexier? Candice Kumai, author of “Cook Yourself Sexy,” says eating bad food is “like dating

a bad guy.”