Masterchef winner Saliha Mahmood is writing a cookbook inspired by Mughal cuisine

If there is one thing all Pakistanis living abroad can agree on, it’s that legitimate desi Chinese is impossible to find, and MasterChef UK 2017 winner, British Pakistani Saliha Mahmood-Ahmed is no different.

When asked what her favourite things to eat are when she visits Lahore, honey sesame chicken from Sing Kuong, plus dishes at Golden Wok and Yum were on the top of the list. She described desi Chinese as a “very strange and different fusion not available anywhere else in the world”.

Saliha is a doctor training to specialise in gastroenterology, which takes up pretty much all of her time, but her “serious hobby” of cooking won her the MasterChef UK title this year, after blowing away judges with dishes that Pakistanis will very easily be able to relate to, such as shami kabab (though hers were made of venison).

"Desi Chinese is a very strange and different fusion not available anywhere else in the world”

The dish is likely to feature in her upcoming cookbook called Khazana out next September that she is spending all her free time writing, and which will feature a modern take on Mughal recipes aimed at a western audience (without toning down the spices).

Saliha said she has always been fascinated by the art, culture and history around the Mughals, particular the stories about how passionate they were about food and cooking, adding that she “loves how they use nuts, saffron and cream and yoghurt to make rich foods”.

“Why not write a cookbook which celebrates my heritage and culture and what it is to be a Pakistani.. or even north Indian or Persian,” she said. “The Mughals influence spread across that entire region from Iran to Pakistan to India... a lot of our dishes are influenced by their techniques and recipes”.

“It is exciting for me to be able to bring something quite traditional and inherent to Pakistani people to a western audience,” she said.

Her book will include anecdotes about the history or recipes. For instance, she said shami kababs were invented by the chef of a Mughal emperor who had lost his teeth and couldn’t chew normal kababs.

How she has any time write a cookbook is a wonder given weekends are often spent performing cookery demonstrations at food festivals, supper clubs and collaborations with various restaurants.

The most recent one was with Sameer Taneja, the chef at a popular Indian restaurant in London called Talli Joe. The idea was to mark 70 years of independence for India and Pakistan with a feast of ten dishes which celebrates food on the Grand Trunk road.

It is exciting for me to be able to bring something quite traditional and inherent to Pakistani people to a western audience

Saliha said the food included “corn chaat, namkeen gosht, deep fried stuff, fish curries - things you would find on the highway with our ‘chefy’ influences to make it something special”.

One does wonder how someone so clearly passionate about food ended up becoming a doctor. When she was 15, she won a cooking competition, with the prize being an apprenticeship at a London restaurant – something that would have been the perfect segue into a career in cooking.

However, she gave the prize to the runner-up because she was far too involved in school, where she was into “debating and academia, and where she ended up becoming head girl.

Now, she is happy her medical career is going smoothly enough for her to spend some serious time with cooking – although it does seem to be quite a balancing act, being on call at all hours.

Saliha’s family is originally from Srinagar, Kashmir but she says she has “a strong connection with Punjab” as she would visit her grandparents two to three times a year in Lahore when they were alive.

She mentioned she has received a lot of accolade from Pakistan, with journalists keen to cover her story as it shows a positive side of someone from the country being successful abroad.Her parents have a home in Lahore and though she hasn’t been in a few years, she is itching to go back.

A trip is long overdue, she tells me.

“For inspiration?”, I ask

“For more eating!” she was quick to reply.