Five aspiring curry chefs are through to the next round of a national cooking contest after battling it out at Bradford’s International Food Academy.

Competitors as young as 12 prepared, cooked and presented a curry dish of their choice for the regional semi-final of the Junior Curry Chef 2011 competition.

The contest is being held in response to a national shortage of curry chefs as restaurants across the country struggle due to a tightening of immigration laws.

Entrants pulled out all the stops to impress a panel of judges including Kaushy Patel, founder and chief executive of Prashad Restaurant, Mumtaz Khan, owner of the Mumtaz Restaurants, and Charalene Lee, general manager of the Chino Thai restaurants.

Dishes included a Vietnamese curry topped with puff pastry, chicken karahahi and Thai green curry with bamboo shoots and grilled king prawns.

  • Read more on this story in today's T&A