Diced and spiced
Former Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain’s new recipe book includes a succulent curry flavoured with the TV cook’s signature spice blend. Pictures by Chris Terry.
Saag aloo chicken jalfrezi
“This is like the Bengali stir fry you never knew you needed. It’s spiced, fast and a feast for the eyes,” says Nadiya.
Serves 4. Ingredients: oil, for frying; 3 dried red chillies; 4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced; 400g tin of cream of tomato soup; 1½tsp salt; 4tbsp brown sauce; 4tbsp art masala mix; 2 red onions, quartered; 2 red peppers, cut into large chunks; 560g tin of potatoes, halved; 200g cooked chicken; 80g fresh baby spinach; handful of fresh coriander; 2 spring onions, thinly sliced. For the art masala mix: 28g cardamom pods; 3g bay leaves; 34g fennel seeds; 100g cumin seeds or ground cumin; 38g ground cinnamon; 100g ground turmeric; 44g chilli powder; 200g curry powder.
To make the art masala mix, use a spice grinder. Lots of smoothie-makers also come with a milling blade that works well to really crush down these whole spices.
Put the cardamom pods in the grinder, husk and all. Whack them in and blend to a fine powder, then pour out into a large bowl.
Now put your bay leaves, fennel and cumin seeds into the same grinder and blitz to a powder. If your grinder is small, you can do each spice alone, but just note that when doing the bay leaves, always blend them with the fennel seeds. They need the seeds to get them moving enough to crush to a powder. Add to the bowl. Mix thoroughly, being sure to do this after each addition.
Now for the cinnamon. I prefer to use ground cinnamon as it’s readily available and will save you from having to crush something quite hard? Add to the bowl and mix.
Chuck in the ground turmeric and mix. Add the chilli powder and mix. Lastly, add the curry powder and give everything a good stir. Transfer into a jar or jars and you are ready to go!
Put a large non-stick frying pan or wok over a high heat and drizzle a good amount of oil into the base. Throw in the dried red chillies and toast in the oil until they swell up. Lower the heat, add the garlic and toast till it turns a deep golden brown.
Pour in the tin of cream of tomato soup, add the salt, brown sauce and art masala mix and cook till the liquid thickens and is reduced by half.
Add the red onion, red pepper, tinned potatoes and cooked chicken and stir in the sauce on a really high heat until everything is coated in the sauce and catching on the base of the pan. Take off the heat and stir in the spinach until just wilted.
Serve the curry immediately with the coriander and spring onion sprinkled over.
Milk fudge flapjack
“This includes two of my favourite things and I have made their worlds collide,” says Nadiya. “Flapjack topped with a spiced Indian milk fudge. Why have one world when you can build a bridge between two?”
Makes 12. Ingredients: For the flapjack: 250g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing the tin; 180g golden syrup; 180g caster sugar; 500g porridge oats; 2tsps almond extract. For the milk fudge: 60g unsalted butter; 200ml double cream; 60g caster sugar; 6 cardamom pods; 100ml condensed milk; 250g semi-skimmed milk powder, blitzed in a processor to remove any lumps; 100g toasted almond flakes.
For the flapjack, start by putting the butter, golden syrup and caster sugar into a pan and warming it all through until the butter has melted and sugar dissolved. Take off the heat.
Preheat the oven to 160°C fan and line and grease the base and sides of a 20cm square cake tin.
Add the oats to a bowl, pour in the melted butter/sugar mix and add the almond extract. Stir the mixture till everything is well combined.
Tip into the prepared tin and flatten, making sure to pat down so everything is well compressed.
Pop into the oven and bake for 30 minutes. When the flapjack is ready, it will be golden around the edges and lighter in the centre.
Take out and leave to cool completely, then chill in the fridge so we have a firm base for our fudge to sit on.
For the milk fudge, put the unsalted butter, double cream and caster sugar into a pan and mix till the sugar has dissolved.
Crush the cardamom pods, remove the husks and crush the black seeds. Add to the sugar mix. Stir in and then add the condensed milk and semi-skimmed milk powder. Bring to a gentle simmer over a medium heat and keep stirring till the mixture is thick and coming away from the sides of the pan.
Spoon the mixture right on top of the flapjack and press into an even layer. Sprinkle over the toasted almond flakes and press them in.
Leave to cool in the tin and then leave to chill in the fridge. Cut into squares and they are ready.
Crab bhuna
“I didn’t grow up eating crab, but I absolutely love the sweetness, which you can’t really get from any other seafood,” says Nadiya. “This natural sweetness is quite a wonder and it really does work well cooked with the slight crunch of the green beans and the simple spicing, making it a bhuna I cook time and time again."
Serves 4. Ingredients: oil, for frying; 4 cloves of garlic, crushed; 2 red onions, finely diced; 2 red peppers, finely diced; 3 mild red chillies, finely diced; 1½tsp salt; ½tsp ground turmeric; 3tsp curry powder; 180g green beans, finely sliced; 3 x 145g tins of shredded crab meat in brine, drained; large handful of chopped fresh coriander.
Start with a large non-stick pan or wok and put it onto the hob over a high heat. Add the oil and as soon as it is hot, add the garlic and cook until golden.
Now add the red onion, red pepper and red chilli along with the salt, turmeric and curry powder. Add a splash of water and the green beans and cook till there is no liquid left.
Now add the shredded crab meat. As you do so, make sure you remove any excess moisture. A bhuna is meant to be dry so we want to avoid any excess liquid. Cook with the lid off over a high heat for 10 minutes.
Take off the heat, add the chopped coriander and mix through to serve.