About me

Born and brought up in a town called Jabalpur in Central India, I moved to Mumbai to train as a Fashion Designer in NIFT. After college, I worked in Mumbai for a few years before moving to the UK in 2004. I have always been interested in food and cooking, and have been greatly inspired by my mum’s cooking who has taught me everything I know about flavours and spices.

Growing up I watched her cook everything from scratch, all meals freshly prepared everyday. My parents also love hosting family and friends and my mother always cooked the best feasts for everyone. Her love for cooking has been passed down to me. My dad was in charge of buying the best ingredients for everything she cooked. He would visit the vegetable markets early in the morning and take his time to pick the best produce on offer. He didn’t cook but he did enjoy providing and feeding others, and absolutely loved his food. They both also have a strong sweet tooth which I have surely inherited.

I learnt to bake the basic cake from my mum. She had this portable oven that you could plug in any room of the house and the biggest cake you could make was a 10 inch round cake. I still remember the amazing aroma coming from different rooms the cakes were baked in.

Once I moved to the UK I found it very hard to find good authentic Indian food which made me learn more and more of the recipes from back home. Everything from big feasts to Indian street food, I slowly tried to pick up recipes on my trips back to India.

After having my 2 children I found my interest in baking grew. It was the perfect way for me to relax and I found it very rewarding. I am a creative yet meticulous baker and find baking a perfect outlet for my creativity.

Trying out new techniques and challenging myself is what keeps me going. Being on the Great British Bake Off 2014 was an amazing journey and it gave me the confidence to try new combinations of flavours. I will always cherish the experience and the time I spent in the tent with my fellow bakers.

Since the show I have written 10 cookbooks, all of which you can find in the Books section of my website. It started with a baking book, using the flavours I used on the show, with lots of Indian spices in western bakes. From there I moved on to Indian street food, healthy Indian food and healthy vegetarian food. What followed was 30 minute Indian recipes, easy baking, Indian feasting and some easy vegetarian recipes.

My latest book is ‘5 Ingredient Indian’ and you can check out all the details for it on my website.