Just as Britons’ favourite dish is chicken tikka masala, a London chef reckons that Indians will like an Asian version of bangers and mash.

From next month Manju Malhi will be presenting a 40-episode cookery series on British food for India’s largest commercial television channel. She hopes to improve the dire reputation of British cuisine in India by teaching viewers how to prepare the classic dishes with local ingredients. Ms Malhi, who is filming in Delhi this month, said: “Curry has become so popular in Britain, I thought I’d swap it around.”

The limited availability of some produce and restrictions on the sale of beef for economic and religious reasons mean that Ms Malhi has to be creative. Pseudo-British recipes on her menu include spaghetti bolognese using soya mince; bangers and mash with chicken sausages; mango crumble instead of apple; and roast chicken using black pepper and chilli spice to provide an Indian kick.

Her shepherd’s pie, made with the traditional lean lamb mince and a potato topping, went down well with the Indian film crew. “They demolished it,” she said. “They just ate it out of my sight, to be polite. In England, when the cameras go off the crew flock to the food like vultures.”

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Background

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• Now try some Indian bangers and mash

Ms Malhi is the author of the bestselling book Brit Spice and the voice of the BBC Food Channel. She is gaining a loyal following for her blend of Brit-Indi cooking derived from a North London upbringing — including “bean and chips for tea” — and a proud Indian parentage.

NDTV, which reaches 50 million people, invited her to help to inaugurate its English-language lifestyle channel with a daily food show. Smeeta Chakrabarti, of NDTV Lifestyle, said: “She is beginning to be known in India and we thought she represented a happy mix. She’s international, with an Indian face. She brings a personality and a flavour of the West.”

Ms Malhi said: “I cannot name one English restaurant in Delhi and I wondered, why so? “People here think that English food is pizzas and burgers and chips and more chips. Or they consider it to be bland and feel it is meat and nothing else. I am trying to show them that there is good cooking in the UK as well.”

Spam masala

Ingredients
2 tbsp vegetable or olive oil
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 green chilli, chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
1 tsp tomato purée
1 tsp peeled and grated root ginger
200g (7oz) can Spam or pork luncheon meat, cubed

Method
Heat the oil, then fry onion and chilli until golden brown.
Add garlic, tomato purée and ginger and stir for one minute.
Add Spam and sauté for another minute.
Add 65ml (3 fl oz) water and cook until evaporated.
Serve with hot pittas.
Serves 2

Source: Brit Spice by Manju Malhi

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