A BRIDPORT chef will be cooking up a storm as she competes for an international award.

Sarah Ali-Choudhury, the daughter of Rafique and Helen Choudhury of the Taj Mahal Restaurant in Bridport, is a finalist in the International Indian Chef Awards 2017.

She will be joining seven other finalists selected from some 8,000 entrants in a process that included heats in India and Bangladesh.

Sarah is hoping to wow judges with her coconut fish curry, with aubergine, red pepper and potato bhaji, and two other dishes. 

Speaking about the competition, Sarah said: "I am nervous but very excited. Whatever the outcome it is a great honour to have been selected as one of the seven finalist, high praise for Indian cuisine in Dorset."

The International Indian Chef of the Year Competition for 2017 was launched in April at the House of Commons.

Cooking for the final of the competition will be done at Billingsgate Seafood School in London this week. Final tasting by the judges will take place later that day in the first class coaches of a Virgin East Coast train, which will leave King’s Cross at 1.08pm for York. 

The award ceremony is taking place at the ILEC Conference Centre, London on Monday October 9 in the presence of guest of Honour HRH The Princess Royal. 

The judging panel for the 2017 competition consists of chairman Patricia Thomson; Kevin Steele, former CEO of Bangladesh Biman Airways; Simon Robinson (Reuters Europe, Middle East and Africa Editor); Alessandra Galloni (Reuters Chief News Editor); Nigel Terry, Greenyard Frozen UK chairman; Mridula Baljekar, award-winning food writer and the best-selling author of 27 cookery books; Paul Griffiths, chairman of The Monastery Manchester; Andrew Selley, chief executive of Bidfood; David Smith, The Curry House website; Mark Strippel, head of two of UK’s biggest platforms for reaching young, BAME audiences; Shamim Syed, executive head chef at Durbar Restaurant, London and Dame Joan Stringer, former Edinburgh Napier University vice-chancellor.

Further information about the competition can be found at indianchefoftheyear.com