Introduction

I am a bit of an anomaly. I am entirely British, a native of these isles, and have for some time run successful courses teaching people how to cook home-style Indian food. Sure, we are all global citizens now, but in my case, I guess it was triggered by meeting and then marrying my husband. He was born in Kolkata and came to the UK as a young boy. His family, like all Indian families I know, have a strong culinary tradition, appreciate good food and are all adept in the kitchen. I watched, I noted, I tried, I failed, I tried again and got the hang of it and then the addiction. Combine that with visits to India over the decades plus a healthy dose of curiosity and soon enough my friends were all hankering for invitations to dinner. Then came the inevitable interrogations as to how all these ubiquitous British ingredients tasted so good, followed by my blog, Chilli and Mint, and the cooking classes. I was a working mother, I juggled it all and this was a great way of creating something wonderful, with surprisingly good results once the basics were orientated.