IF you fancy indulging your sweet tooth, Nadiya Hussain has some deliciously creative recipes.
The TV chef returns to her baking roots with her new book, which is packed full of easy-to-make comfort food.
Nadiya’s Everyday Baking and upcoming TV series include both sweet and savoury dishes and are full of tips to turn up the wow factor.
And unlike sugar tax advocate Jamie Oliver, Nadiya says the odd treat is good for you.
The Great British Bake Off winner says: “My kids had chocolate brownies for breakfast this morning.
“On other days they might have noodles. My rule is, eat what you want — but make it yourself.
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“I won’t have them thinking that food is the enemy. I was a short, chubby kid and I was regularly shamed.
“Relatives would take things off my plate at family gatherings, which was so embarrassing. I won’t let that happen to my children.
“Ruin their love of food with talk of BMI and obesity? No way.”
She adds: “I hate being told what to do. A sugar tax will make certain products more expensive, but where is the education in that? Leave me to make my own decisions, thank you.”
Nadiya shows how making these three showstoppers is a piece of cake.
NADIYA said: “Made from very few ingredients, this cake’s hero ingredient is defrosted ice cream.
“It is one of my absolute favourite cakes to make. Why? Because it’s simple. Another reason? It’s a way of adding more ice cream to my diet.
“It’s so much fun, marbled with strawberry and chocolate.”
Serves 6 to 8
YOU NEED:
For the cake:
Oil, for greasing
150g strawberry ice cream, defrosted completely
150g chocolate ice cream, defrosted completely
9g freeze-dried strawberry pieces
140g self-raising flour, sifted
For the topping:
150g dark chocolate, chopped
150ml double cream
150g strawberries, halved
METHOD:
Start by preheating the oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas mark 5. Line and lightly grease a 900g loaf tin.
Have the defrosted ice creams in two separate bowls – what we want is two distinct colours that we can marble.
To the strawberry ice cream, add the freeze-dried strawberries and mix through. Add 70g of the sifted flour and mix through till you have a batter.
Do the same with the chocolate ice cream, adding the flour and mixing till you have a smooth batter.
Now, a spoonful at a time, alternate the batter into the prepared cake tin till you have used up all of both mixtures.
Take a long skewer and, using sweeping motions, gently marble the mixture. Pop into the oven to bake for 30 to 35 minutes.
While the cake bakes, make the ganache.
Put the chopped chocolate in a bowl. Place the cream in a pan and put it on a medium to high heat.
As soon as the cream just starts to come up to the boil, but is not actually boiling, take it off the heat.
Pour the hot cream all over the chocolate and stir till you have no more chunks of chocolate and a rich, smooth, glossy mixture. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Take the cake out of the oven and leave to cool in the tin for ten minutes before removing and cooling completely on a rack.
Remove the ganache from the fridge – it should be cooled and smooth and easy to spoon. Whisk the ganache mixture till light, fluffy and it has doubled in size.
Pop into a piping bag with a star nozzle attached and pipe all over the top of the cake.
Dress with halved strawberries.
NADIYA said: “These are so much fun to make, not to mention delicious and beautiful.
“Crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside, simple meringue is baked on to sticks and sandwiched with chocolate for an alternative to a lolly and a great treat for children and grown-ups alike.
“They are lovely wrapped up as a gift or as cake toppers.”
Makes 6
YOU NEED:
3 egg whites
250g caster sugar
Gel food colouring
6 long lolly sticks
Dried flowers/sprinkles, to decorate
150g white chocolate, melted
9g freeze-dried raspberries
METHOD:
Line two baking trays with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 100C/fan 90C/gas mark ¼.
Take a bowl and wipe with some vinegar to remove any grease. Pour in the egg whites and start whisking.
As soon as they begin to get frothy, add a tsp of sugar, one at a time, till the sugar is incorporated after each addition.
Keep going till you have used up all the sugar. You should have a mixture that is stiff and glossy.
Take a paintbrush and dip it into your food colouring. Paint a generous line of colouring all the way up the inside of a piping bag.
Now, add the meringue straight in. The painted line will create a beautiful streak of colour as you pipe.
Place a lolly stick flat on the tray so you have enough room to pipe right on top of it.
Pipe a swirl of meringue on to one end of the stick, starting in the centre and piping all the way around several times to create a circle.
Pipe another swirl of meringue next to it, the exact same size, but without a stick – this is the one to be sandwiched later.
Do this till you have filled the trays with six meringue swirls with sticks underneath and six without.
Sprinkle on your dried flowers or sprinkles and bake for 1 hour.
After an hour, turn off the oven, open the oven door and leave to cool completely.
Now, take your melted chocolate, mix in the freeze-dried berries and use this as the glue to sandwich the meringues together. Do this to all six.
Once the chocolate has set they are ready to wrap as gifts or eat as a treat.
NADIYA said: “I love savoury popcorn and when I can’t decide on one flavour, I have all the flavours.
And when I can’t decide on one colour, I have all the colours and all the flavours.”
Serves 4 to 6
YOU NEED:
250g garlic butter, melted
1 tbsp smoked paprika
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tbsp dried parsley, crushed to a powder
1 tbsp ground black pepper
For the popcorn:
50g unsalted butter
1½ tsp fine salt
150g popping corn
METHOD:
Melt the garlic butter until completely liquid. Divide the mixture equally into four medium-sized bowls.
To each bowl add one of the four spices/colours. Give each bowl a good mix and set the bowls aside.
Take a very large pan with a lid, pop on the heat and drop in the butter and salt.
As soon as the butter has melted, add the popcorn.
Swirl the corn in the pan and turn up to a medium to high heat.
As soon as the first kernel pops, put the lid on and let the popping commence.
Every few seconds, hold the lid and swirl the whole thing on the heat, to agitate and move the corn around. The key is to listen out.
Once the popping has totally slowed down and you can’t hear any more, take it off the heat.
Take the lid off and divide the popcorn into the bowls.
After each addition, mix each one well until it is covered in its tasty colours.
Have a large baking tray at the ready and turn the oven on to 180C/fan 160C/gas mark 4.
Put the corn in the tray one colour at a time, not mixing right now but putting each batch next to each other, side by side.
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Pop in the oven for just five minutes to set the colour.
Take out, mix the colours, serve up and eat while still a little warm.
