IF the name Madhur Jaffrey only makes you think of jars of Tikka sauce, cookery programmes and hugely successful recipes for Indian food, it's time to think again.

Jaffrey is also an actress and she's about to join the cast of EastEnders for a couple of months of explosive storylines.

Her acting CV includes a selection of Merchant Ivory films, a Bollywood movie, an appearance in Holby City last year and a string of other TV and film roles.

''I do think of myself as an actress,'' she says, ''that's my profession, that's what I started out with, cooking came almost my accident,'' she laughs.

''I've done acting all my life. I went to RADA so my background, my training is as an actress, not as a cook at all.

''Even if I chop an onion, I chop it very unevenly like a housewife because I don't have training really in that.'' But the self-confessed acting perfectionist realises that some people will be surprised to see her walking into Albert Square.

''I remember when I was in a play a couple of years ago and we were touring England. I heard people looking at the poster saying, 'Oh, I didn't know she was an actress'. I think for some people it will be a discovery.''

Her character in the BBC1 soap is being kept strictly secret, and she won't give away anything about the storyline.

''No, no, I won't, I'll keep the mystery going,'' she smiles. ''All I can say is it's going to be very exciting and full of fireworks.''

She reveals her character's name is Pushpa, although she won't give away the surname, and is linked to the Ferreira family, who joined the cast at the beginning of the month. And while she starts quietly, viewers should watch out for the big storylines beginning next month.

Rumoured to be the family's mother, who is supposed to be dead, it's also been suggested Jaffrey's character is the love interest for Ferreira father Dan, played by Bollywood star Dalip Tahil, who she has worked with in the past.

But while she refers to the young actors playing the Ferreira children as ''my kids'', she refuses to elaborate, or in fact give anything away.

''It's very exciting,'' she adds, saying her scenes are very impassioned, and plenty of skeletons are let out of the closet. ''I won't say anything else.''

Based in New York for many years, Jaffrey - who won't admit to her real age, but is generally believed to be in her late 60s - says she hadn't seen many episodes of EastEnders before she started work.

But she's now as much of a fan as anyone. ''You can't help being drawn in. If you watch a few programmes you get sucked into the story. And for me it was so exciting actually walking around the Square the first day and staring at the set. Everybody was saying that for the first few days you walk around like that, but then you get used to it and you'll be sick of the set,'' she laughs.

She had plenty of fans of her own though. ''I've had cookbooks to sign from various people, various members of the EastEnders cast,'' she says. ''They were young people, so it was quite exciting for me.''

Madhur Jaffrey will appear in EastEnders on BBC1 from Monday

Published: 26/06/2003