A junior doctor has won the BBC’s Masterchef title, with a menu of “East meets West” dishes inspired by her Pakistani heritage.

Saliha Mahmood-Ahmed, 29, from Watford, beat off fellow-competitors Giovanna Ryan and Steve Kielty.

Saliha impressed judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace as a “class act”.

She said she wanted to combine her love of cooking with her medical career, by helping people with special dietary conditions find their ideal foods.

The junior doctor and mum-of-one, who battled from 64 amateur cooks to take the prize, swapped on-call shifts with colleagues to ensure she could take part in the contest.

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Saliha fought her way through seven weeks of gruelling culinary challenges to take the top prize

In her career, she specialises in gastroenterology – but she also dreams of writing cookbooks and tackling obesity.

On her win, Saliha said: “To be the Masterchef champion is fantastic and wonderful. Adjectives are not sufficient. This is definitely the coolest thing I’ve ever done in my life!

“It involved a lot of hard work and early starts – late nights cooking after 13-hour long shifts, no holidays, no breaks, no sleep – but it was well worth it!”

Friday night’s final on BBC One saw the trio tasked with preparing a three-course meal in three hours for the judges to sample.