When she was growing up, her mother would make the same dishes for iftar and suhoor – curry, rice, chicken, fried fish, vegetables – but Nadiya does things differently. ‘I make my kids overnight oats, toast, boiled eggs, anything they fancy really,’ she says. One year, her children – now in their teens and early twenties – asked whether they could try having rice and curry in the morning, and she happily obliged. ‘Then after a day of indigestion and burping up spices, they said “never again”,’ she remembers, laughing. After sunset, Nadiya’s family often enjoy traditional curries and fried goodies like samosas, pakoras and bhajis, but she mixes it up from day to day, depending on what she has to hand. ‘When I’ve got an ingredient, I want to use it, so I do a little bit of digging into different cuisines to find something that will work,’ she says, explaining how the idea for her book Rooza was born.
As well as limiting waste, Nadiya likes to limit her time in the kitchen when fasting, so preparation is key. Before Ramadhan, she buys at least 10kg of onions, roasts them, blitzes them and freezes them to serve as the base for countless dishes. There’s also the matter of not being able to taste as you cook, which bothers Nadiya a lot less than it would many of us. ‘I think cooking has become so natural to me that I don’t really taste anything, I tell just by looking,’ she says. ‘The only problem is when I can’t remember whether or not I’ve added salt, but my little nieces and nephews are very good at tasting things for me.’ Children are exempt from fasting, as are those who are sick, menstruating, pregnant or breastfeeding, but they can still partake in other acts of worship, charity and education. ‘There’s a peace that comes with knowing there are so many people out there doing exactly what you are, there’s no sense of doing it alone,’ adds Nadiya.
Chris Terry
Later in the month, thoughts will turn to the Eid celebrations that mark the end of Ramadhan. For Nadiya, this means planning a feast, which includes fresh brioche and shemai (vermicelli noodles toasted in ghee and simmered in milk, sugar and spices), Bengali chicken korma with eggs, sweet and savoury samosas and, of course, a couple of her famous cakes. And, with that, her kitchen will come back to life and her old friend will depart for another year.
Nadiya’s latest cookbook ‘Quick Comforts’ is on sale now.
Nadiya’s Quick Comforts
Three of Nadiya Hussain’s favourite recipes for breaking the fast
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