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use it’. So, he said, ‘Why don’t you make a paste of ginger?’ You get the flavour, but you don’t get the texture. It was interesting to hear this little person talk about food.”

Atul was born in Jamshedpur, India, and learned to cook from both his parents.

“We were a slightly unusual Indian family – boys are normally made to look like gods and they become couch potatoes, but not in my house. My mum said from day one, everybody lives in the house so everybody has to help. I paired up with my oldest sister, we always cooked together, and my other sister and younger brother were on cleaning duty. I hated it when I had to clean up, I still hate it. So that taught me how to cook.”

His favourite childhood food was a type of dumpling called Litti, which were stuffed with lentils and thrown in the hot ashes of a fire for a few hours: “You dust the ash away and then dip them in a nice potato curry. I absolutely loved it.”

He’s thrilled that Brits have long had a love affair with Indian food that is growing all the time: “I look at someone like Tom Kerridge, a quintessentially British chef, but he uses more coriander powder and cumin powder than I would ever use in my food. It’s heartwarming, it’s good to see that it’s opening up. I love it.”

Try out some of Atul’s quick curries for yourself...