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The sweet and savoury side of simple spices with Nadiya Hussain

Focussing on just eight spices, the recipes in Nadiya's Simple Spices range from hearty daal to fun creations such as her milk fudge flapjacks.

A smiling woman in a brik pink top with bue headscarf sits at a table. A baking tray of tray sits on the table, and she holds a serve of the dish in her hand.

Nadiya Hussain in 'Nadiya's Simple Spices' Credit: BBC

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“Often when people think about cooking with spices, I believe there is a notion that there will be hundreds of spices, huge ingredients lists and prep work that can go into the double digits of hours,” Nadiya Hussain writes in Nadiya’s Simple Spices. This book accompanies the TV series of the same name. “Well, you’re not wrong, it can be like that… But at its core, the cooking I grew up with was delicious but simple. We almost always used only a few spices.”

In the book and the six-part series, she focuses on just eight spices, ones you probably already have in the pantry: cinnamon, turmeric, cumin, bay leaves, fennel, chilli, cardamom and curry powder.

“My mum, my Nani and my great-Nani before her all made incredible meals with just a few humble spices and now I want to teach you what they taught me, to create a host of mouthwatering meals for every occasion,” she says in the television series, which features traditional and new ideas, “from the Bangladeshi dishes of my childhood to British classics with a spicy twist and my own deliciously cheeky mashups that fuse both my worlds.”

That translates into savoury dishes – comforting, hearty things like a juicy, colourful saag aloo chicken jalfrezi or egg fried rice – and sweet creations, such as milk fudge flapjacks that bring together oaty flapjacks and spiced Indian fudge.

Here’s a sample of the dishes she cooks up in the show:

Milk fudge flapjack

Deep squarish pieces of a layered bake, with a thick brownish bottom later and creamy top layer, scattered with flaked almonds, sit on wide plates. Each plate sits on a napkin in tones of blue, grey and pink.

Milk fudge flapjack. Credit: Nadiya's Simple Spices / Penguin Michael Joseph / Chris Terry

"This includes two of my favourite things and I have made their worlds collide: flapjack – sticky, sweet and oaty – topped with a spiced Indian milk fudge. Why have one world when you can build a bridge between two," she says of this sweet combination recipe.

Brown daal with garlic and chill tarka

A woman in an orange top and green headscarf stands behind a kitchen bench, holding a copper pot of dhal. A box of various spices sits on the bench.

Nadiya Hussain with her brown dahl. Credit: BBC

“You can’t beat a hug in a bowl and this warming recipe is exactly that,” she says in the show's first episode while making this bay leaf and turmeric daal, topped with garlic and chilli tarka.

Saag aloo chicken jalfrezi

A colourful chicken and vegetable dish sits in a blue bowl. A hand can be seen scooping up some food with a folded piece of flatbread.

Saag aloo chicken jalfrezi. Credit: Nadiya's Simple Spices / Penguin Michael Joseph / Chris Terry

"This is the kind of dish that you often see being served up at an Indian restaurant and while it may look complicated, it doesn’t have to be at all. This is like the Bengali stir fry you never knew you needed. It’s spiced, fast and a feast for the eyes."

Curry egg fried rice

A green dish holds a yellow-toned rice dish.

Egg fried rice. Credit: BBC

Perfect for a speedy mid-week meal, this egg fried rice will give takeaway a run for its money. Fried rice is a great way to

use up leftover rice, but you can also use a packet of 90-second rice.

Kulfi ice-cream bars

Serves of a layered ice-cream dessert sit on three different beautiful plates in tones of cream, grey and teal. A cup of tea sits nearby.

Kulfi ice-cream bars. Credit: Nadiya's Simple Spices / Penguin Michael Joseph / Chris Terry

"Kulfi ice cream needs nothing else, but when you make this easy, no-churn kulfi ice cream with cardamom and then sandwich it between soft biscuits, kulfi just got better," she says of this double-the-deliciousness recipe.

Yoghurt chicken

A woman in a pink headscarf holds up a green plate of coated chicken pieces.

Yoghurt chicken. Credit: BBC

With juicy chicken smothered in a zingy spiced yoghurt marinated, this is a great dish to serve a crowd and can be cooked in the oven or on a barbecue.

Paneer and chilli bread

A woman in an orange top and olive green headscarf leands on a kitchen bench. A loaf of bread sits on a green board in front of her. A few slices have been cut from the loaf and sit, leaning, beside the rest of the loaf.

Paneer and chilli bread. Credit: Nadiya's Simple Spices

This one comes from the first episode of the show, which has a 'Feel Good Food' theme. With its delightfully springy centre and crisp punchy crust, a cheese and onion loaf laced with chilli and cumin doesn't just feel good to eat, it's great to make too.

Dhansak bake

Nadiya Hussain in 'Nadiya's Simple Spices' Credit: BBC

Looking for a big, hearty savoury tray bake? Meet Nadiya's dhansak bake, a twist on cottage pie. A dhansak is a simple but flavourful beef and lentil curry. Here, she's created a baked version, with rich beef and lentil curry under an onion, cheese and garlic-flavoured potato mash. Eggs on top are optional - leave them out if you'd like to freeze the bake.

More from Naidya

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Peanut butter egg curry

Sprinkle butter babka loaf

‘Money can’t buy you happiness’ brownies

Banana ice-cream cheesecake with blueberry compote

Sumac plums

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SBS Food is a 24/7 foodie channel for all Australians, with a focus on simple, authentic and everyday food inspiration from cultures everywhere. NSW stream only.

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4 min read

Published 19 June 2024 1:06pm

Updated 19 June 2024 2:04pm

By SBS Food bite-sized

Source: SBS