Growing up in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India’s southernmost state, meant Peter Joseph was brought up on dishes such as idli, dosas and sambar, foods full of flavour and colour. But it was the importance of food in the home and the passion he saw when his parents cooked that really inspired him. ‘I loved watching my mum put dishes together – the way she used lots of fun colourful ingredients and spices was always something that intrigued me,’ he tells us. ‘She would always pack me off to school with a tiffin box full of delights such as parota (fried bread), appam (rice pancakes), sadam (flavoured rice) and always a few sweet treats such as halwa too.’

The rising popularity of Indian cuisine in Britain was also something that excited Peter. ‘It was fascinating to watch Madhur Jaffrey conquer the UK, using techniques and ingredients I understood from watching my mother,’ he says. ‘In some underlying way I suppose I wanted to be able to do the same; reading cookery and recipe books was a bit of a secret pastime for me and I loved finding new and exciting dishes to chat to my mum about. Food just started to become a bigger and bigger part of my life as I grew up.’

Ingredients

Fruit & Vegetables

Store Cupboard

Beverages

Dairy

Oils & Vinegars