STANDING in the cold on a Friday lunchtime warmed only by the glare of hostile faces, explaining to the company’s big cheeses why we had just been evacuated was not how I imagined the day panning out.

“Do you like curry?” was all I could think of to explain the wailing fire alarms.

Somehow it seemed to get me out of a hole because come Monday my desk had not been cleared.

The thing is, the rice gave off an unexpected amount of steam, which obviously aggravated the alarm.

Prior to that – and after, in fact - the wonderful aromas from a fabulous cooking workshop had all the reporters at Shopper Towers salivating when the boardroom was transformed into a kitchen.

Sushma Raval of Healthy Yummy Cookery visited HQ for a two hour workshop with her husband Chetan, during which time we learnt about the health benefits of the spices and vegetables she uses and learnt to prepare delicious, healthy Indian dishes.

The couple brought everything we needed, including pots, pans, utensils and mobile hobs.

With a career in holistic therapy, Sushma, from Bromley, set up her cooking business two years ago inspired by the dishes that’d been passed down her family for generations.

Healthy Yummy Cookery now caters to events including hen parties, healthy eating team building workshops, corporate events and school and community workshops, festivals and fairs.

Sushma has an abundance of passion and charisma, which made the cooking demonstration extremely enjoyable for us, and the other News Shopper reporters who were supposed to be working but kept sniffing around the board room and waiting to be fed.

Speaking to Sushma, you can see how much thought goes into the food she makes.

We made a dish called Chana Masala which consisted of chickpeas in a tomato sauce.

Sushma explained that putting ginger in this dish not only added to the flavour but aids digestion.
We also learnt that a pinch of turmeric per day will keep the wrinkles at bay, just add it to hot water with lemon, ginger or honey.

As well as the chickpeas, we made Garlic and Jeera Aloo – a potato dish – and a mushroom curry.

All of the food we made was Slimming World friendly; we were delighted to find out.

There was no cream, milk or butter used, and all the ingredients were fried with a one calorie frying spray.

Sushma said: “My main objective is to raise awareness of how what we eat affects us.

“Every ingredient used holds antiseptic, antibacterial, anti- inflammatory, antifungal or anaesthetic value.”

Sushma was in her element, enlightening the room about her healthy cooking.

Healthy Yummy Cookery has a number of projects in the pipeline, including at the OneSpace Community Centre in Kidbrooke on November 19 in liaison with Greenwich Foodbank.

Keep up to date by following @SushmaRaval on Twitter and by searching Healthy Yummy Cookery on Facebook or at yummymummycooking.com