Meet the Staffordshire cook sharing her passion for Indian cuisine and culture with her incredible School of Spice

Her School of Spice provides a range of cookery classes suitable for absolute beginners as well as those more experienced in the kitchen. She also offers team building and corporate events, hen and stag parties, one-to-one lessons and caters for small parties.

Jas has been cooking since she was seven years old when she would stand on a stool and make rotis with her dad. “I learned to cook from my mum but my real passion for cooking comes from my dad. My mum cooked because she had to, my dad cooked because he loved cooking up a feast for family and friends. My dad came to the UK in the early 1960s and me, my mum and my brothers followed in 1966,” explains Jas, who was born in Punjab, India, and moved to Wolverhampton when she was five.

Jas first started teaching the classes before the pandemic and they were just taking off when the UK went into lockdown. She went on to catch Covid and was admitted to hospital where doctors discovered Jas had thyroid cancer. After undergoing treatment, Jas was inspired to start teaching again. “I was out walking and I met a lady, called Trudi Law, who asked me what I did. I told her that I used to run these classes.

“Soon after that I was in a WhatsApp group with 10 ladies who all wanted to learn Indian cooking. That original group are now good friends. These classes have brought some beautiful friendships into my life,” she explains. For the past two years, Jas has been running regular classes at Codsall Village Hall.

During her beginners classes she takes people on a journey through her childhood and gives an insight into Indian culture.