NADIYA ‘I LOVE THE SPRING SUNSHINE!’
Bake Of f winner Nadiya Hussain shares her favourite Easter recipes and explains why this season always lifts her spirits
She’s baked for the Queen, been awarded an MBE and written children’s stories as well as several best-selling cooker y books, but Nadiya Hussain reveals that her mum still wonders when she’s going to get a proper job.
“It’s been an incredible six years. I’ve been having fun, but don’t tell my mum that. She says, ‘Get back to work, that’s not a real job!’” Nadiya laughs.
“We don’t know anyone in our family who is in the public eye, so for her it’s really weird and I don’t think she fully gets what I do. She doesn’t beat about the bush. It’s not always welcomed, but she will give me her opinion!”
Nadiya’s mum Asma (56) is a key worker, cleaning hospital linen in a factor y. Meanwhile Nadiya’s three sisters work in a school, a pharmacy and a doctor’s sur ger y.
The Great British Bake Of f winner adds, “My mum says, ‘Are you ever going to get a real job?’ And I say, ‘It kind of is a real job!’ She doesn’t put me on a pedestal, which is exactly how it should be. My job is no more impor tant than anybody else in my family.”
Nadiya (36) rose to fame after winning the sixth series of Bake Off in 2015. Since then her popular TV cooker y series have shown she can turn her hand to most things, so not surprisingly she has a few speciality dishes up her sleeve for Easter.
One of her top treats is Simnel Cake. A light fruitcake, distinguished by two layers of marzipan, it is traditionally made for Easter Sunday, but Nadiya loves it so much that she eats it all year round!
“Simnel cake is one of my favourites, because I love marzipan!” she enthuses. “I actually make it through the year, especially in winter, because fruit cake and winter go hand in hand.”
Meanwhile, as soon as the sun star ts to shine, she and husband Abdal fire up the barbecue and cook her speciality Lamb with Rhubarb and Rosemar y Glaze.
“I grill my leg of lamb on the special take on the recipe, substituting jam for spices.
“I’m not a massive fan,” she laughs. “I love baking them, but I do my own twist, taking out the spices. I add in cranberries and stuff them with jam. It means they’re already filled, so they’re like a doughnut hot cross bun.”
Sounds delicious to us! barbecue and then near the end I brush it with stewed rhubarb, rosemar y and garlic. It creates a gorgeous pink, sweet and sour fragrant glaze,” she says.
Warm, shy and with an infectious smile, the nation has taken Nadiya to their hear ts. After 14.5 million people watched her win the Bake Off final, she was immediately heralded as a new kind of role model – a
“I get to do what I enjoy every day, but also I get to represent a community”
young, modern British Muslim woman of colour. It is an aspect of fame that she takes ver y seriously.
“I love my job, not just because I get to do what I enjoy ever y day, but also I get
to represent a community that isn’t represented in mainstream media,” she explains. “To be able to be that face is a heavy responsibility, but I feel proud that I can do that.”
Nadiya only entered Bake Off in the first place because of her struggles with anxiety.
“My husband said I needed to do something for me, so it wasn’t even my idea,” she recalls.
“I have good days and sometimes I have really bad days, but one of the most liberating things for me over the last few years has been to allow myself to be vulnerable, both in the public eye, as well as with my own family.”
The spring sunshine is thankfully good at lifting ever yone’s spirits and this time of year gives Nadiya a boost too.
“Having the sun kiss my face is the most beautiful feeling.” She smiles. “I love the transition into spring; the daf fodils and hyacinths are out. The house feels ver y dif ferent too, because we spend more time in the garden, discussing what vegetables we’re going to grow, which is always really exciting.
“The lighter days make us all feel better. It makes such a different to my mental health and makes me feel a bit more positive.”