Gurkha cookbook marks 12 years of friendship

A Gurkha cookbook bringing together British and Nepali family recipes has been released to mark 12 years of friendship between the communities.

The Kukri Kitchen Cookbook is a collaboration between the Reading Gurkha Ladies Project and SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity.

Featuring a foreword by Gurkha campaigner Dame Joanna Lumley, it celebrates the initiative that has helped Gurkha wives settle into life in the UK.

Pam Reynolds BEM, who helped establish the project, said she had "lots of interesting things in my life, but working with the Gurkhas was the most significant".

Reynolds met the first Gurkha ladies in the SSAFA office about 15 years ago, she said in an interview with BBC Radio Berkshire's Lucy Horobin.

She started teaching English classes, which gradually grew to include about 120 students.

"We had parties and we would eat their food and they would rather unwillingly eat mince pies," Reynolds said.

The book's title was inspired by the Gurkha's traditional weapon - an 18-inch long curved knife known as the kukri.

Reynolds said anybody who had connected with them had contributed with recipes.

Featured dishes range from traditional Nepali momos and Amna's Lamb Rogan Josh to Welsh cakes.

Reynolds said all the profits were divided between SSAFA and the Gurkha Welfare Trust.

Reynolds said the Gurkhas were "wonderful to work with, they're full of fun, they're loyal and they're genuine".

She said Dame Joanna, who has pledged her support to the Gurkhas, was "devoted to the ladies".

"I didn't tell them she was coming when she came to visit and she crept in through the back and there was a great gasp when they realised who it was," she said.

In her foreword to the cookbook, the actress called food "the greatest icebreaker".

Reynolds said that message reflected the project well because it "signified the unity that was building up between us".

Dame Joanna presented Reynolds with SSAFA's Sir James Gildea Award for her "tireless commitment to the charity".