& DRINK N I never try to be anything other than myself...
400g frozen mixed summer fruits; 100g caster sugar; 3tbsp water; 7 slices of white bread (about 170g), crusts removed, halved lengthways; 600ml double cream; 2tbsp golden syrup ADIYA HUSSAIN is, without doubt, The Great British Bake Off’s most successful winner. Two years ago, the Luton-born mother-of-three first appeared on our TV screens, and won the hearts of the nation as well as the BBC competition.
There isn’t a single Bake Off fan who wasn’t stirred by her victory speech. “I’m never going to put boundaries on myself ever again,” she declared.
“I’m never going to say I can’t do it. I can. And I will.”
And she has. From fronting her own TV programmes, appearing on talk shows, game shows and cookery shows, to releasing four cookbooks and being asked to bake a birthday cake for the Queen, it’s been a busy time.
“I can’t believe it’s been two years already,” says the 32-yearold cook, when we discuss her latest project, a TV show and cookbook called Nadiya’s British Food Adventure. “I’ve been so busy, it feels like a bit of a blur.
“It’s all happened so fast. I’m having a blast though!”
Claiming “British food has become a melting pot of cuisines and cultures”, Nadiya wanted to find out what was being eaten in the hubs of our homes, before getting creative in her own kitchen and coming up with her take on Brit-style cooking.
“Because I’m from Bangladesh, from England, Muslim, a mixture of a little bit of everything, I’ve always asked myself, ‘What makes me British?’
“If somebody asks me what British food is, I’d say it’s what I eat at home. What I ate at home as a child was rice and curry, and then at school, I’d have pie and mash – to me, that’s British food.
“I think everybody’s own experiences shape what British food is for them, so it was really interesting to go on that journey and find out what my interpretation is.
“Apart from what I grew up with and what I eat now, what I found, travelling between Scotland and Wales and parts of England, is that there’s no hard and fast rule. It’s actually about what British food has become – all these different cuisines and cultures, and that’s exactly what the book’s about.
“It’s recipes that I love and think make up what British food is today. I’m really proud of it.”
Cooking has always been a big part of Nadiya’s life. She started around age eight, “copying her dad”, who used to run restaurants, and asking her mum questions in the kitchen.
“My mum is an amazing cook. She was a stay-at-home mum who would cook for all of us (Nadiya has five siblings).
“She never wanted us to learn how to cook. She always said, ‘No, no, you will not be doomed with a life of cooking for your extended family. Do whatever you want, but don’t cook’.
“She still doesn’t enjoy it but she’s amazing.”
Asked what it is that makes her so likeable, Nadiya is stuck for words. She shrugs, cracks a beautiful open smile and says: “I don’t know, I’m just me.
“Whether I’m talking to you, on telly or whatever it is I’m doing, I don’t ever try to be anything other than myself. Perhaps that’s what people see?”
She also takes everything in her stride, as and when it comes along. There’s no life plan.
“Nah, I don’t set myself any goals,” she says. “What’s happened over the last two years, I didn’t plan for any of it. I didn’t plan to go on Bake Off – my husband did the application.
“I didn’t plan on winning it, I just completely fluked that.
“I never planned anything up to this point, and I think that works because I’m a strong believer in ‘here today, gone tomorrow’. I don’t believe anything’s forever.
“We all have to go and, as morbid as that sounds, that’s what makes me enjoy every single day. Life is too short to be doing something you don’t love.”
Here are three of Nadiya’s recipes to try for yourself.
Nadiya’s British Food Adventure by Nadiya Hussain is published by Michael Joseph, priced £20. The TV show is on BBC2 on Mondays at 8.30pm, and on BBC iPlayer.