As a nation we love Indian style food but the cuisine – normally high in fat, full of deep fried dishes and crammed with calories – is a slimmer’s nightmare. However, one Huddersfield curry chef, a slimmer himself, is leading the way with his own range of low-fat, healthier specialities. Hilarie Stelfox reports

ABBAS ALI knows what it is to battle with a bulging waistline and he also knows what was to blame for his weight gain – a love of his own traditional tasty Asian cooking.

The 33-year-old curry chef, who works at the family takeaway business, B Medina in New Mill, was once two stones heavier than he is today.

He decided the time had come to shed the pounds when his wife Amna, joined a Weight Watchers class.

Because he works every evening until midnight or 1am, Abbas couldn’t attend slimming club meetings but shared Amna’s diet plans at home.

To lose weight he created low-fat, healthier options of his favourite curries and Asian dishes.

Abbas, who trained in Pakistan, said: "Asian food is normally quite high in fat because of the onions fried in ghee (butter fat) that make the base for curries so I make my own vegetable curry with less fat.

"You can still get plenty of flavour from using the spices, but it’s healthier."

Abbas also cooks lamb chops and chicken, spiced and marinated but prepared without additional oil, and low-fat kebabs served in dry-fried chapatis.

When local slimming club leader Sue Heyer, from Hepworth, who takes Weight Watchers classes in Shepley, Meltham and Marsden, discovered that Abbas was a fellow slimmer she asked him if he could make his healthier option specialities for her.

They went down so well that he’s now planning to launch a separate low-fat menu for slimmers which will include popular dishes such as chicken and spinach curry and chicken karai.

Sue, who is married with two daughters, said: "I wanted to be able to enjoy a takeaway with my family.

"Unfortunately, a lot of takeaways and fast food is really high in fat and not great for slimmers."