ON THE COVER Nadiya Hussain on the weird things her family eat
Nadiya keeps a notebook by the bed for new recipes ideas…
When Nadiya Hussain says she dreams up recipes, she means it literally. The Bake Off winner-turned-TV chef reveals that ideas for new dishes come to her when she’s fast asleep!
“Things come to me in the night. I’ve a little sequinned notebook on the bedside table where I’ll jot things down,” says Nadiya, 33, when we meet to talk about her newest cookery book, Nadiya’ s Family Favourites, and accompanying TV show.
“As soon as I think of something I write it down. I’ve even written things in my sleep. Sometimes I’ll get up and write a recipe and not known I’ve written it until the morning when I see it. It doesn’t always work, but often it does.”
Ever since she won the nation’s hearts with her cake-making skills on Bake Off in 2015, Nadiya’s career has gone from strength to strength. She’s diversified into TV presenting on shows like TheChroniclesof Nadiya, The One Show, The Big Family Cooking Showdown and upcoming Nadiya’ s Family Favourites this July. Since 2015 she’s penned four cookery books and written a novel, with more on the way.
Her fifth cookery book, Nadiya’ s Family Favourites, gave her a moment’s pause. Writing it made her realise that her family – husband Abdal and children Musa, 11, Dawud, ten, and seven-yearold Maryam – have unusual tastes in food.
“We do eat weird stuff,” confesses Nadiya. “For example, we can all make a toastie, but for my kids it has to be made with really strong cheese and orange marmalade on a thick bagel, then basted in mayonnaise and griddled.”
She reels off a list of more curious flavour combos the family likes. “I’ve got a recipe in my book for choux pastry with mackerel pate and pineapple chutney on top, and I invented a grapefruit and chicken stew – it works! The bitterness of the grapefruit is great with chicken. My kids love all that.
“That’s why I’m writing the book. What I’ve realised after looking at the recipes is we’re a bit weird. That’s why testing recipes for the book is really easy because they’re willing to try everything. Before I wrote the book I just sat down with them and said, ‘What’s your favourite?’”
She tells an anecdote about tricking her Marmitehating daughter into eating the salty brown condiment by putting it in a savoury bakewell tart made with cheese and marmite instead of jam, but still including the sugary frangipane.
Inventing and testing recipes all day may be Nadiya’s dream job, but the downside is that it’s harder for her to stay slim.
“I’ve always struggled with my weight,” sighs Nadiya. “I was three stones heavier after my daughter.” She lost it through diet and exercise.
“Now we’re just a lot more careful. My husband and I will go on a walk in the morning when the kids are at school. Yesterday we all did six hours of gardening. But I feel my weight creeping up because I’ve just been too busy to exercise.”
Her schedule sounds a crazy mix of filming new shows, doing promotions and writing and testing recipes. Like most working mums, Nadiya suffers guilt when work takes her away from home, but she counters that by being a devoted mum when she is around. She also confesses to having a few tricks that ensure the kids miss her when she’s away.
“After my last trip, my kids said they missed my banana smoothie,” she explains. “I said, ‘You can make yourself a banana smoothie’ and they say, ‘No, no, there’s something special you do to it and Daddy can’t make it like that,’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, I know.’ It’s because I’m really sneaky and put vanilla bean paste in it and don’t tell my husband, so they think mine is more special.” Nadiya gives a devious chuckle.
Despite the whirlwind her life’s become since winning BakeOff, Nadiya is relishing her moment in the spotlight. “I just love writing recipes,” she says with a smile. “It’s a dream come true.”
“My kids eat really weird stuff and are willing to try everything I dream up”