MOST people probably hadn't cried at a cooking programme until Nadiya Hussain made that emotional victory speech on the Great British Bake Off four years ago: "I'm never gonna say, 'I don't think I can'. I can and I will," she said tearfully.
That self-doubt blossoming into confidence pretty much catapulted Hussain into national treasure status in Britain. And it's there that she's stayed – on TV, releasing cookbooks, children's books and a novel, proving that yes, she really can. It's doubly impressive because she has three young children and recently spoke publicly about struggling with anxiety and panic disorder. What's more, in the crowded space of celebrity chefs, women of colour aren't exactly plentiful.
"Growing up, I couldn't pick up a novel or a cookbook or watch television and see somebody who I related to," she says, being Luton-born to Bangladeshi parents and Muslim. "So I think its really important that people can say, 'Actually, she cooks just like us, she eats just like us, she represents us'. It's saying, 'I'm here and I can do this and anyone else can'."
Hussain's belief that 'if she can, anyone can' is really the premise behind her new cookbook too, Time To Eat. Her fourth since winning Bake Off, this no-nonsense, family orientated collection of recipes shares the approach to cooking that she lives and breathes at home: Time-efficient, money-saving, and with nothing wasted.
Hussain (34) says her time-efficient methods in the kitchen are the "only reason" she can juggle such a full-on career and manage life with three children – Musa (12), Dawud (11) and eight-year-old Maryam – with husband, Abdal.
"You can cook and you can save time and you can eat really well – I think you can manage all of those, and manage a career," she says. "I've done it for the last four years."
You don't generally imagine most celebrity chefs budgeting or stretching ingredients for family meals (although they might), which makes Hussain refreshingly normal. "Since I've had children, I've had to think about budgeting and worrying, 'Have I got enough buy to buy things?', worrying about gas bills, things we all face.
"Because I was a very young mum, and we were a really young family, we had to be really time-savvy and learn how to save money properly and eat well at the same time."
From waste and time-saving recipes – think spicy scrap soup (literally made from vegetable peel) and crustless spinach quiche (because pastry takes time), to combinations you've never heard of; breakfast trifle, spaghetti hoop fish bake, and marmalade haddock – Hussain's new book may be practical but her food is still her own unique version of fusion, and always a lot of fun.
"I'm very lucky because I've not been bogged down with traditions – I'm Bangladeshi and I've learned how to cook Bandladeshi food, but equally I'm British and I've never grown up in a traditional British home, so I don't have those rules.
"My mum hates it," she adds with a laugh, "that I toss around with her Bandladesh recipes."
In this health conscious, mum-shaming social media age, it can feel as if we're bombarded by a narrative of fresh, 'natural' food and judgement if we're doing it wrong.
"I grew up in a working-class family and we didn't think about organic or fresh vegetables – we ate what we had! We grew up eating offal because it was cheap," Hussain says.
"There's nothing wrong with canned potatoes, they're delicious!" she adds, alluding to social media backlash she received for cooking with them.
Of course, exclusively buying fresh invariably leads to more waste too. "I'm one of six kids and my parents, even to this day, will not waste anything – if they can cook it and eat it, dry it or preserve it, they will. They do not throw anything away," she says.
"Of all the things my parents have taught me, that has to be one of the best things. If we can save an ingredient that would otherwise have gone in the bin, we should find joy out of that."
So, to help avoid waste, the freezer is used with military planning in the Hussain household. "My husband has an audit. He says, 'Oh I know what's in the second drawer from the top'. I used to laugh at him and tell him that was silly but it's actually really clever."
And let's face it, most freezers are probably under-utilised. "We're using electricity to have that thing plugged in, so it's far more energy-efficient to actually fill it with things – so let's put meals in there and use it properly!"
It might not sound glamorous or worth showing off on Instagram, but cooking with canned food ("Pre-cooked so it saves money on the gas bill"), heating in the microwave ("It's got a bad rep but it really does save time") and buying frozen ("Very nutritious, frozen straight away, and cheap to buy"), makes a lot of sense for busy working parents.
"The more you cook like this, the more you free up evenings of cooking. Which means you'll have a week's worth of dinners in your freezer, without even really realising it," Hussain says.
:: Time To Eat by Nadiya Hussain, is published by Michael Joseph, priced £20. The accompanying series is on BBC Two. Below are two recipes from the book for you to try.
RAS MALAI CAKE
(Serves 8)
For the cake:
10 strands of saffron, dropped into 4tbsp of warm milk
250g unsalted butter
250g caster sugar
5 medium eggs, beaten
250g self-raising flour
1tsp baking powder
For the milk drizzle:
100g milk powder
150ml boiling water
Cardamom seeds, removed from the pods and ground
For the buttercream:
2 cardamom pods, crushed
3tbsp whole milk
300g unsalted butter, softened
600g icing sugar, sifted
To decorate:
Edible rose petals, mixed with 100g roughly chopped pistachios
Method:
Preheat the oven to 170C/fan 150C. Grease and line two 20cm sandwich tins. Make the saffron milk. Place the butter and sugar in a bowl and whisk until light and fluffy and almost white. Add the eggs a little at a time, making sure to keep whisking. Add the flour, baking powder and saffron milk, and fold the mixture until you have a smooth, shiny batter. Divide the mixture between the two tins and level the tops. Bake for 20-25 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the milk drizzle by mixing the milk powder with the boiling water in a bowl. Add the ground cardamom seeds and mix. As soon as the cakes are out of the oven, drizzle some of the milk all over the top of both cakes and leave in the tin for at least 10 minutes before turning them out and removing them to cool on a rack.
To make the buttercream, put the crushed cardamom pods in a small bowl of the milk and leave to infuse. Meanwhile, put the butter into a mixing bowl and whisk until very soft and light in colour. Add the icing sugar a little at a time, whisking after each addition, until all combined. Then pour the cardamom milk through a sieve into the buttercream and whisk until really light and fluffy.
Once the cakes are totally cool, place one cake on your serving dish and spread an even layer of buttercream over it. Put the other cake on top. Flip the cake over so the milk drizzle top becomes the bottom and sandwiches the buttercream. Spread some buttercream evenly across the top and the sides and use a ruler to level off the edges.
If you have any cream left over you can pipe little kisses on top. Then gently take the rose petals and pistachios and press them into the bottom edge of the cake.
HARISSA BEAN PIZZA
(Serves 4)
2 large naan breads (or pittas, or leftover bread)
2 x 400g tins of baked beans
4tsprose harissa
A handful of baby spinach/2 cubes frozen spinach
4 eggs
4 spring onions
Method:
Preheat the grill to medium-high and have a baking tray at the ready. Place the naan breads on the tray. Open the tins of beans and get rid of any excess sauce off the top, then pour into a saucepan with the harissa and baby spinach, mix through and heat gently over a medium heat.
Spoon the beans over the surface of each naan, and use the back of your spoon to create two little dips for the eggs in each one. Don't be tempted to add too many beans. If you have any left over, just decant them into a Tupperware container and leave them in the fridge, ready to microwave for another meal.
Crack two eggs into each naan, then chop the spring onions and sprinkle all over the beans and eggs. Don't worry if the egg runs a little.
Put under the grill for five minutes - this will just set the whites and leave the yolk runny, which is the way I like it. My husband cannot bear to eat runny eggs, so I would grill his for a further three minutes or at least until the yolk is no longer runny. Serve and devour straight away.
