A CURRY connoisseur who married his partner after she made him the perfect spicy dish has been crowned as 'Scottish Curry Lover of the Year'.

Iain MacKenzie, from Wemyss Bay, has won free curries for a year after winning the tasty accolade at the Scottish Curry Awards.

The 59-year-old won over judges after revealing in a video that it was his love of curries that led to him to tying the knot with his soulmate Laura nearly 10 years ago.

Iain said that after years of joking that he would marry Laura after she made him the perfect curry, he got down on one knee after she served up a mouthwatering chicken chilli masala.

He said: "For the past 19 years I have a snooker night with the guys and afterwards we come back to our home and Laura makes us a curry.

"So we had this running joke that if Laura made the perfect curry then I would propose.

"It was after one of our snooker nights back in 2009 when Laura made this chicken chilli masala.

"Afterwards I said to one of the guys, that was the perfect curry.

"So shortly after that, I proposed while we were on holiday in Egypt."

Laura, 42, added: "Curry is pretty much all we cook!

"We love spicy food so everyone has been saying the award is well deserved."

Iain, who is a director of infrastructure at Sykes, said he was a very fussy eater until he discovered his love of curries.

He said: "As a child, I was very fussy.

"It was just Spam, sausages and chips and I used to love tripe before I knew what it was.

"Then in 1978 I started working in Woodlands Road in Glasgow and the office was very close to great curry restaurants.

"I used to go to one of the restaurants every Friday lunchtime for a £3.50 buffet."

Laura, who works as a service delivery manager, says Iain's love of spicy food inspired her to hone her spicy cooking skills.

Laura, who also absolutely loves curries, has now become an expert making her curries from scratch.

She added: "We eat something spicy every night and have curry about three times a week.

"We make all the base sauces ourselves.

"The sauce takes about two days to make, so we make a lot and then freeze it.

"I make my own spices as well."

The couple, who have a huge spice cupboard in their home, also take inspiration from their travels around the world.

Iain said: "We were in Mauritius recently.

"At the hotel we were staying in we enjoyed amazing curry dishes so we asked for the recipes."

The couple received the accolade at the Scottish Curry Awards at the Marriott Hotel in Glasgow earlier this week.

At the ceremony, they renewed their wedding vows in a comical curry fashion with comedian host Mani Liaqat.

Laura said it marked a milestone moment after beating bladder cancer.

Last year she bravely opened up in the Tele about her experience with the illness which resulted in her having a permanent colostomy and urostomy, a stoma opening on the surface of the abdomen.

She said: "I want to show people that you can get back to normal with a stoma."