A RETIRED Walton man is taking the world of cooking by storm after racking up 2.3 million views on his YouTube channel.

Richard Sayce, 48, launched Misty Ricardo's Curry Kitchen two and a half years ago shortly after his trial chicken dopiaza recipe video.

But what started as little more than an experiment to pass some time has turned into the focal point of his life.

The channel, which features a variety of Indian dishes, both meat and vegetarian, has now amassed 2.3 million views and has 11,899 subscribers.

Around a third of his fans have come from the UK, with the others from nations all over the globe including India, Pakistan, USA, Germany, Australia and Canada.

The total number of hours watched by people since the channel launched is 107,000, with 'watch time' in June alone coming to 4,500 hours.

Richard, a former software consultant, admits his 'hobby' has 'become an obsession' following the response from the world.

He said: "I've always had a love of cooking, particularly Indian food, from an early age.

"I retired seven to eight years ago and thought I need to find something to do.

"I did a few things that were not food related but then gradually got into cooking more and started meeting like-minded people and did curry nights.

"I started doing them more and continued to release videos showing my recipes and how to cook dishes.

"I have now put together more than 100 – there is a lot of skill and technique involved.

"Many people have sent feedback and commented on the videos saying they never knew how to cook dishes before watching – that is very gratifying.

"The vast majority of the recipes are my own creation."

Although Richard is in receipt of some income from YouTube, it is just enough to cover his costs and is reinvested into video equipment.

Richard, who also does catering and sells hot Indian food each month at the Thai Supermarket in Latchford, also made some videos during his 'inspiring' trip to Mumbai last year.

But he admits the editing can be an arduous task, at times.

He added: "It is the hardest thing as I am a perfectionist and put a lot of attention into them.

"But the fact that I have no boss breathing down my neck makes it easier."

The most popular video to date is Richard's 'Indian restaurant style' chicken madras, with 304,374 views, but other favourites include chicken tikka, aloo gobi and pilau rice.

To watch the videos head to youtube.com/c/MistyRicardo.

For further information head to Misty Ricardo's Curry Kitchen Facebook page.