Ali is top of the popadoms for his curry
A Sunderland chef has won a prestigious award after turning up the heat with his curry skills.
Ali Hussain, 44, from Millfield, has been named Curry Chef of the Year 2017 at the Bangladesh Caterers Association at a ceremony which recognises the cream of the curry industry.
He was presented with his award at the Park Plaza Hotel, in London, after reaching the final stages over thousands of entries from across the country.
In order to make it to the finals, the 40 semi-finalists had to perform a live cooking demonstration at West London College while being judged.
The theme of the awards this year was ‘sourcing Britain’sloveforcurrysince1960’.
Ali made king prawn pimientos for the heat, which secured him a place in the finals.
Kamal Yakub, president
of the BCA said: “Our awardsshowcasethetalentof these extremely hard-workingchefs.Theyhavealottobe proud of – they are inspiring the next generation of curry chefs.”
Ali became well known for running Cafe Bangla, in East Boldon, before closing it in 2014.
Since then, he has worked at St James’s Park and the Stadium of Light as a chef and prepared food for the Rugby World Cup in
2016. Ali has also worked with celebritychef Mark Poynton from Cambridgeshire’s Alimentum restaurant – where they cooked a feast for royalty from the Punjab, India.
He runs East India Takeaway in Sedgefield, County Durham.
TheBCAwasestablishedin 1960andhasmorethan4,000 active members. The British curryindustrycontributesapproximately£4.5billiontothe economy every year.