A SINGING Pakistani chef will add some extra spice - and music - to this weekend's World Curry Festival in Bradford.

Karachi-based Aamir Iqbal is a TV cookery star in his homeland and features on Pakistan's version of ITV show This Morning.

And as well as whipping up delicious food, Mr Iqbal likes to croon while he cooks.

The 33-year-old, who has flown to the UK especially for the curry festival, will showcase his cooking and vocal skills throughout the weekend's festival at Lister Park, when he takes part in demonstrations.

Mr Iqbal said: "I am excited. It is about showing another side of curry that you won't see in Bradford."

On his singing, which included one about the weather yesterday, he said: "I love singing - I have always had a good interest in singing."

Curry festival organiser Zulfi Karim said: "He is a cooking sensation. They call him the singing chef - while cooking he will burst into song."

He added: "We want to get people confident enough to cook a curry themselves so then they will know the difference. You go in a curry house and it all tastes the same after 12 pints. We want people to try a milder curry, taste the spices and wash it down with a Diet Coke!"

As the Telegraph & Argus's resident curry fanatic, I took the opportunity to join forces with Mr Iqbal yesterday to rustle up a Pakistani chicken karahi - with a few extra chillies added.

"It is not the chicken karahi you would eat in Bradford - it is the one you would eat in Karachi," said Mr Iqbal. "It has ground chillies, oil, ginger, garlic, tomatoes, chicken, salt, and a mixture of cumin, black pepper and coriander seeds. No powder, no water, no onion.

"I will be making this curry recipe on Saturday at the festival in the cooking demonstrations. People will be able to try it."

During cooking yesterday, Mr Iqbal joked to me: "You are a real Indian chef - making chapatis and using powders."

Mr Iqbal, who has been a chef for 14-and-a-half years, begins his work in earnest tonight when he leads a team of chefs in preparing the festival's opening gala dinner.

Marquees and stages were in the process of being built at Lister Park yesterday, and Mr Karim said: "It is quite a moment for us. Even though we have done it for many years, doing it here is something different."

Mr Karim praised festival sponsors Coca-Cola, saying: "Without them it probably wouldn't have happened.

"With all the cuts, events and festivals are the first thing to go. But we wanted to keep it going. We are absolutely chuffed to bits that they have come on board.

"Mercedes-Benz in Bradford also wanted to be a part of it and put something back into the community. They see us as a big community event."

The curry festival this year in is in Lister Park, on September 12 and 13. There will be curry theatres, cookery schools and a street food market, with chefs from Malaysia, Pakistan, India, Thailand and Britain.