My culinary journey began as a toddler watching my mum cook in our home in Kenya. She cooked wholesome Indian vegetarian dishes predominantly from the north-central Punjab region of India where she was born. Some Gujarati influence crept into our dishes as our neighbours in Kenya were largely Gujaratis from the west coast of India.

We left Kenya in the late 1960s for the United Kingdom, where my parents worked all hours to provide for the family. To help out, I cooked daily meals from around the age of 11.

I am an intuitive home cook with an innate understanding of food groups and nutrition. Having been used to research and development from my career as a Development Microbiologist, I’m at my very best when I can apply this methodical and analytical approach to my recipes.

In 2014, I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. I was devastated by the news as, this being a chronic disease, I feared my life would slip away. With a view to preventing its progression and hoping to go into remission, I looked closely at my lifestyle and diet. I eliminated gluten, refined sugars, dairy milk and processed foods from my already vegetarian diet and immediately felt more energetic and lean. This spurred me to further refine my recipes and research new ones.

I’ve sought to make my recipes even more wholesome by creating a now-thriving vegetable garden at my home in Wiltshire. It has everything from hot red chillies to everyday staples such as onions which I dash out to pick whenever I fire up the pan.

In addition to cooking and gardening, I enjoy Qigong, countryside walks, nature and wildlife photography, travel and live concerts and theatre.

I’ve been on an extraordinary journey—culinary and otherwise—and I would like to share all that I have learned with you. I hope you enjoy my recipes. Please drop me a line if you have any queries or suggestions. I’m always happy to learn, develop and share ideas.