Gurdeep Loyal's Storecupboard

These are the Sous Chef ingredients Gurdeep keeps in his storecupboard. Gurdeep Loyal is redefining what British cooking can be. Winner of the Jane Grigson Trust award, this chef, food writer, and musician approaches flavor with radical joy and boundless curiosity. His question - "Why can't I have garam masala with za'atar in black treacle?" - captures everything about his fearless, playful style.

Growing up in Leicester's vibrant multicultural community, Gurdeep experienced "all of India, all the subcontinent" through the exchange of food between immigrant families. This shaped his groundbreaking approach to "flavor chords" - understanding how ingredients from different cultures can harmonize together, just like music.

His cookbook "Mother Tongue: Flavours of a Second Generation" is part memoir, part cookbook, part love letter to Britain's diasporic grocery stores. Recipes like 'aloo chaat wedge salad with pink peppercorn ranch' and 'peanut butter tandoori mushroom pittas' aren't fusion for fusion's sake - they're the natural evolution of how cultures actually cook when they live side by side.

Gurdeep's work celebrates the radical pluralism at the heart of British Punjabi culture, where abundance and generosity aren't just values - they're recipes for living.