"You know the yellow stain on your kitchen counter when you spill curry? That’s what a few grams of dried turmeric powder does to plastic. Imagine your hands after peeling 5kg of raw turmeric root," says head chef of Curry Leaf Café, Brighton, Gouranga Bera, in an interview to the Guardian.

While chefs are known to experiment with the most unusual ingredients to create some unique flavors, even they have their mortal enemies - and no, it's not the usual garlic or onions which leave them with smelly hands that they despite.

In an interview to the Guardian, some chefs revealed their most disliked ingredient, and instead of being something unusual, they turned out to be very ordinary, simple ingredients.

For a lot of chefs, some of the ingredients they despised the most were the ones which are very commonly part of Indian gastronomy.

Okra, or Lady's Fingers, or 'Bhindi' as its commonly called in Hindi, is one of the most hated ingredients. "Okra is the most foul thing ever grown," said one of the chefs. He backs it up with a boiling-hot argument: "If you don’t know what you’re doing with okra, it goes really slimy – and tastes bitter, too. The only time it’s near-edible is when you deep-fry the hell out of it. But anything works deep-fried; what’s the point?"

Not just okra, another common ingredient in India, especially the Southern states of India, coconut, found its way to the most hated list.

"Coconut milk in a curry I can deal with, but I can’t understand why anyone eats flavourless, sawdust-like desiccated coconut – or fresh coconut, for that matter," said Tommy Banks, chef-owner of the Black Swan in Oldstead. The chef disliked it so much, he added how "If I was on a desert island, I’d starve," instead of having coconuts.

Raw turmeric, which is often used as a cure for a lot of Indian ailments, also found its way onto the list.

Bera explained that when he worked in Madras, he would have to deal with a lot of it on a daily basis. "You wash and wash, but the yellow is still there. Good for the stomach, flavour and health. Not good for family photos," he added.

Another chef, Dhruv Mittal, chef-owner, DUM Biryani, London, revealed how a common spice in most Indian households, Asafoetida or hing, was his least favorite.

"There’s no way to test it other than throwing it in and seeing what happens," explaining how it was a spice which is indeed used, 'swaad anusar,' and how "a pinch of asafoetida will flavour any dal or curry, but even a milligram more can add a bitterness that ruins everything."

Maybe Ran in Queen was better off without finding the English name for 'hing'?