Spice up your life: Three recipes from Nadiya Hussain’s new book that bring the heat

Nadiya Hussain’s new book aims to make cooking with spices accessible to anyone who likes a bit of a kick in their cuisine. Spice fiend Katie Wright gives it a whirl

Hussain’s new book is a guide to the eight main spices she uses in the kitchen (Chris Terry/PA)

I didn’t grow up eating crab, but I absolutely love the sweetness, which you can’t really get from any other seafood,” says former Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain.

“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.”

Crab bhuna

This quick curry dish uses tins of shredded crab and a trio of tasty spices (Chris Terry/PA)

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

1½ tsp salt

½ tsp ground turmeric

3 tsp curry powder

180g green beans, finely sliced

3 x 145g tins of shredded crab meat in brine, drained

Large handful of chopped fresh coriander

Method:

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. Now add the shredded crab meat. As you add the crab meat, 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.

4. Take off the heat, add the chopped coriander and mix through to serve.

Saag aloo chicken jalfrezi

This succulent curry is flavoured with the TV cook’s signature spice blend (Chris Terry/PA)

“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,” says Hussain.

“This is like the Bengali stir fry you never knew you needed. It’s spiced, fast and a feast for the eyes.”

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

Oil, for frying

3 dried red chillies

4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced

400g tin of cream of tomato soup

1½ tsp salt

4 tbsps brown sauce

4 tbsp 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

Method:

1. 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 as it’s important to make sure that the mix is well-blended.

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 – why should we if we don’t need to? 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!

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. Serve the curry immediately with the coriander and spring onion sprinkled over.

Milk fudge flapjack

The TV chef gives the oaty classic a cardamom-infused twist (Chris Terry/PA)

“This includes two of my favourite things and I have made their worlds collide,” says Hussain.

“Flapjack – sticky, sweet and oaty – 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

2 tsp 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

Method:

1. 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.

‘Simple Spices’ is Hussain’s eighth cookbook (Chris Terry/PA)

2. Preheat the oven to 160C fan and line and grease the base and sides of a 20cm square cake tin.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. For the milk fudge, put the unsalted butter, double cream and caster sugar into a pan and mix till the sugar has dissolved.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. Leave to cool in the tin and then leave to chill in the fridge. Cut into squares and they are ready.

‘Nadiya’s Simple Spices’ by Nadiya Hussain (Penguin Michael Joseph, £26).