Navy's flagship hosts special Hindu festival with famous Punjab Restaurant chefs
Chefs from one of the UK's oldest and most famous Indian restaurants have been welcomed aboard the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth to help celebrate a special Hindu festival.
This collaboration between naval chefs and the Punjab Restaurant in London was created to celebrate the Navaratri festival by the Royal Navy's Race Diversity Network.
"We are proud British Punjabi owners, and it has been a real blessing to celebrate Navaratri with everyone on board today with our traditional dishes," said the Punjab's managing director, Amrit Maan.
Together the chefs made an incredible meal filled with Asian spices for the celebration in Portsmouth, catering for 700 members of the crew, their guests and members of the National Hindu Students' Forum.
Petty Officer Carl Tester said: "Curry night is a mainstay of the weekly menu in all Royal Navy warships, and the opportunity to cook alongside some of the country's top Indian chefs was not to be missed.
"It took our guests a while to get used to the scale of the equipment we use on board, but they soon settled in.
"The chefs from the Punjab Restaurant were especially good with engaging the more junior Navy chefs and encouraging them to get involved.
"No matter their backgrounds or environments, there is an unwritten understanding between chefs about the level of hard work that goes into producing meals, and I could really see that today."
The meal included Punjabi dishes and regional delicacies such as village tarka daal, a traditional Punjabi lentil dish, Amritsari chole, a chickpea curry from Amritsar, and a spiced onion kulcha naan bread.
Navaratri is a festival dedicated to the Divine Feminine and takes place over 10 days and nine nights.
Each day of Navratri, which is celebrated by Hindu communities across the world, has an associated colour which devotees are encouraged to wear.
Guests were also treated to a performance of Hindu Garbha dancing by the National Hindu Students Forum – which the crew of HMS Queen Elizabeth attempted to copy.
Mr Maan said: "The size of the ship and the scale of the catering operation here is incredible."
And Lieutenant Commander Matthew Key added: "The food today was absolutely delicious, it has been a real privilege to taste some of these authentic Punjabi dishes in our own dining halls.
"It was interesting to learn about the festival of Navaratri – and we did our best to keep up during the dancing demonstration."
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