Madhu's masala lamb

Finding a wine that can pair perfectly with the chilli, spices and meat in this flavour-packed dish is not an easy task, but focus on matching the spices, and the wine combinations can work surprisingly well

- POONAM BALL

With culinary inspiration dating back to 1935, our restaurant brand Madhu's specialises in South Asian cuisine with an East African influence. It's thanks to the secret recipes handed down across eight decades that we have become caterers for royalty, dignitaries and Asian weddings - and that our original Southall location has been named Best Indian Restaurant multiple times by Pat Chapman's Cobra Good Curry Guide.

Over the past few years I've been working on creative combinations to find the perfect wine and Champagne pairings for the specific spices in our recipes. Historically, wines were matched to French cuisine, and so it could be said that pairing wine with Indian spices is almost uncharted territory. We have dedicated countless hours to wine-pairing sessions to find the perfect combinations for the differing levels of heat, sweet and sour.

Indian food is not easily matched as it uses a variety of spices, and each main course has a variety of accompaniments that are also spiced. Non-vegetarian proteins are sometimes all eaten together, and finding one wine to work with all proteins in play is almost impossible. So my rule of thumb is to match the wine to the predominant spices, and not the protein. It's a concept that came from years of experimenting - and although some take a little convincing, once tried and tested our diners have been greatly appreciative of the results.