All language subtitles for Nadiyas.Simple.Spices.S01E03.1080p.HDTV.H264-DARKFLiX

For as long as I can remember,
spice has been a part of my life -

effortlessly elevating
ordinary ingredients

into something sensational.

My mum, my nani
and my great-nani before her

all made incredible meals
with just a few humble spices.

These are the smells of home.

And now I want to teach you
what they taught me -

to create a whole host
of mouthwatering meals

for every occasion...

Mm!

...using just eight simple spices.

This is what feel-good looks like.

Simple can be spectacular -

from the Bangladeshi dishes
of my childhood...

If I've got my hand on my hip,
you know it's an easy recipe.

I am chill in"!

...to British classics
with a spicy twist

and my own deliciously cheeky
mash-ups that fuse both my worlds.

Ooh! It's got a kick!

Plus, I be showcasing amazing
cooks from around the country...

It's a very special
and precious spice.

...celebrating the spices
they can't live without.

Yes! It's going to be hot.

Spice just got simple.

So, are you ready to
cook up a storm?

This week, family favourites that
will have everyone begging for more.

My mouthwatering
turmeric and chilli prawns.

Mm! So good!

A cardamom traybake
that's a big hit with my loved ones.

Every single time
I take a bite of this cake

I am reminded of why this is
my boy's absolute favourite.

And a cumin-spiced snack

that no family gathering
is complete without.

There is nothing that says,
"I love you" in a Bangladeshi home

like samosas.

First up, my family's
generations-old recipe

for a curry
you'll all know and love.

This chicken korma goes way back.

It's so important to our family,
this recipe.

It is the first curry that
our children get a taste of

when they start weaning.

That was their first-ever
introduction to spice.

# All the time I knew
that you loved me

# Because you were always there. #

My authentic take on a chicken korma

laced with whole cinnamon,
bay and cardamom,

is sure to keep
the entire family happy.

And it starts with ghee -
which is simply clarified butter.

When I use ghee instead of oil or
butter, it feels more like a treat.

And for me, chicken korma is a treat

because my mum only ever cooks it
twice a year, on Eid,

when we're celebrating.

It's definitely the aroma of home.

What we want now is
to add our whole spices.

As soon as those spices
hit that hot ghee,

it really starts to wake them up.

Lots of people think spices, they
kind of think these spices, right?

The ground ones.

I'm only using the whole spices.

And the first of these is
cinnamon sticks...

...followed by a handful of
cardamom pods, and a few bay leaves.

This is a low and slow kind of cook.

And so, by leaving them in whole,

we kind of allow them
to release their flavours gently.

Each of these whole spices have
their own special flavour profile,

and like the cinnamon
brings sweetness,

and cardamom is fragrant
but almost slightly minty as well.

And there's an aroma
that bay leaf has

which is this subtle, sweet scent.

And so each of them individually
adds something completely different.

While those beautiful aromatics
sizzle away, it's on to the onions.

This might look like
a lot of onions

but it's onions, ginger, garlic.
That's it.

And that's why you need lots of it,

otherwise there is no sauce.

My diced onions go into the hot oil
along with the spices,

then, a generous sprinkling of salt.

What this is going to do is
release the moisture from the onions

so it kind of has a natural liquid
in which it's cooking.

Cook on a low heat for 30 minutes
until the onion is soft and mushy.

Kormas are not to be rushed.

We've got those whole spices.

The longer they cook,
the better your korma.

And this is why my mum used to cook
the korma two days in advance,

because you let those spices
develop.

They sit in the juices and they
develop, and that's what you want.

And in this simple sauce,
every ingredient earns its place.

I'm using 125g of ginger,

and I'm being bold with the garlic
and using two whole bulbs.

To that I'm adding 200ml of water

to make a smooth, velvety paste.

Perfect.

Just pop that in
and turn up the heat.

There are some really amazing
flavours going on in this pan

right now. The whole spices
have been cooking the longest

and they're going to give us that
beautiful aroma, that fragrance,

and your taste buds
will not know what hit them.

And, most importantly, there's
no cream. We don't need the cream.

We're still going to get
that beautiful, creamy richness

from the ghee.

And what I don't want to do is
dilute the flavours

that we've worked so hard to get
in the korma in the first place.

It's sticking to the pan now.

So what I'm going to do
is just turn the heat down.

Now we're ready for our chicken.

I've gone for bone-in thighs.

This is all about maximum flavour.

And chicken with the bone still in

is going to add bags and bags
of flavour

and it stays lovely and moist.

And scoring the thighs

ensures the delicious spicy sauce
penetrates the meat.

After 30 minutes, my three
whole spices will have infused

with the intense garlic and ginger,

and my curry will be
cooked to perfection.

Time to show you guys

what a proper chicken korma
is supposed to look like.

Oh, my goodness!

That aroma!

The smell of those whole spices
are literally jumping out at me.

All that's left to do now...
is serve.

Here it is -
my authentic chicken korma

packed with wonderful,
aromatic spices.

For me, it's the true taste of home.

If you've ever been tricked
into thinking

that you need hundreds of spices
to cook a really good curry,

this is proof that you don't.

Three simple spices -
cardamom, bay leaves and cinnamon.

That's it.

This curry is our favourite
for a reason.

It is absolutely delicious.

I'm a sucker for a savoury snack,

and next up is one I come back to
time and again.

You know what you guys want to
learn how to make? Samosas.

And you know
who's going to teach you? Me.

Delicately spiced with cumin,

my Bangladeshi-style samosas are
crisp pastry parcels of gorgeousness

that provide the centrepiece
to any family gathering.

There is nothing that says,
"I love you" in a Bangladeshi home

like samosas.

I'm going to show you
how to spread that love.

And we're starting with the pastry.

To 240gq of plain flour,
I'm adding a teaspoon of salt

and two teaspoons of caster sugar.

Now, this isn't to make the pastry
sweet,

but when we fry our samosas,

we will get this beautiful,
even, golden brown.

Now, for the all-important
four tablespoons of oil.

This is the bit that makes it
more like a biscuit.

If you don't add the oil, it
kind of becomes more like a pastry,

so it's a little bit more chewy.

Gently rub that into the flour.

When I am making samosas,
I am always with my sisters

and we make thousands.

I'm not even joking
and that's not even an exaggeration.

We make thousands of samosas

and then we split them and
we put them in our freezer drawers.

We have samosa drawers -

that's the level of our dedication
to samosas!

Add around 90ml of water and just
lightly bring the pastry together.

So just flatten it out,

cover it, and just leave it to rest.

This is a take on a street food
that we have in Bangladesh,

and this is one specific one
called shingara,

which is like a cone-shaped samosa
that's filled with potatoes, dill,

really simply spiced with cumin.
And I love it.

And that aromatic filling
starts with two diced onions

and three cloves of grated garlic.

Now, for this recipe,
I'm using just one spice.

Cumin and potato are
beautiful together.

When you add
an abundance of ground cumin

and it mixes in with the potato,
it tastes so, so good.

And one teaspoon is all I need.

Its warm, nutty flavour
is the spice backbone

to so many South Asian dishes.

And we're not cooking this
for long at all.

We are literally only cooking it

till the onions
just start to soften.

On to my 600g of mash.

And I've got a little trick
that saves time

and makes your samosas
even crispier.

Using leftover mashed potatoes
is perfect

because it's had time for the
moisture to dry out of the potatoes

so we don't have
a really kind of gooey filling.

Add the onion mix,

and a final flurry of fresh dill,

and now we're ready
to make our samosas.

And we are going to split this
into six equal pieces.

And we are going to take each one...

...and just roll it into a ball.

Now, each ball gets rolled out.

And this is where I get
a little bit nerdy.

For me, it's about precision
with samosas

because they have to look the same.

So, I'm going to take the ruler out,
guys, I'm sorry.

It's not a maths lesson.

Oh...right!

Emm.

Cut that in half.

Then it's my favourite bit.

Take the flat end...

...flip it over.

Grab a little dot of water.

Not a lot, you don't need loads,

otherwise it will just
slip and slide everywhere.

Then you take the other flat end.

Then you turn it over.

Open it up.

And you literally let it sit
between your thumb and your fingers.

You create like a little C shape.

Can you see that pocket?

We're going to add that filling
straight in there.

Nobody likes a saggy samosa.

No, thank you, ma'am,
I am not into that.

So I like a really
well-filled samosa.

Now, fold over to seal the edges.

You just pinch, pinch, pinch, pinch.

Make sure you've got
all of the air out.

And then, add a little bit of water
around the edge

and then...just join together.

Then simply repeat.

When I learned to make samosas
as a kid,

I used to think
it was really, really complicated.

And then you eat samosas
and you're like,

this might be worth learning.

That is a very special shape.

I know it's not a triangle.
I don't really know what it is.

But that is a shingara,
which is a beautiful samosa

that is packed, and it's delicious,
and all it needs is to be fried.

Heat the oil so that it's just warm.

We're looking to fry these
from the outside in, gently,

so we really get that
biscuity, crunchy outside.

So I'm going to just gently
drop my samosas in.

Drop them in.

Take care not to splash any oil.

# Come on, baby
Let me through your soul... #

Then turn the temperature up
to a medium heat.

You can see that the pastry
starts to bubble and crisp up

and that's where you're going to
get that biscuity texture.

Turn occasionally
for an even colour.

And look at them. They are going
a beautiful golden brown.

Some of the joy of making a samosa
is standing there and frying it.

This is the chef's perk.

And then when everyone
sits down to eat samosas,

you're like, "Have a samosa."
You're like, "Nah, I'm not hungry."

But actually I've eaten...12!

After 30 minutes, they are ready.

And look at those.

Dark, crisp, biscuity,
perfect samosas.

My delicately-spiced,
made-from-scratch samosas

are the perfect family snack.

They may be a lab our of love but
they're worth every single second.

I'm going in. Let me show you.

You've got that crisp,
very slightly sweet biscuity pastry.

CRUNCHING

Can you hear that?

The leftover mashed potatoes

with that delicious, smoky, woody,
earthy cumin, and that fresh dill -

so delicious.

I love them so much that
I wanted to share them with you.

And now that I have,

I hope that they become
a part of your family favourites.

Cooking with spices
is a sure-fire way

to connect me to the food of
my heritage. And I'm not alone.

Food writer and supper club host
Ping Coombes

loves to champion the flavours
of her Malaysian-Chinese ancestry

in the food she cooks her children.

My earliest memory of food

is the sound of my mum chopping
on the chopping block

and waking up to that

and the smell of the broth
that she's cooking that day.

And there's one spice that has
a special place in her heart.

Star anise, to me,

is the most beautiful spice
in my spice cupboard.

It imparts such a beautiful aroma -

a floral note, a spicy note,

a little bit of something magical
into a dish.

Today I'm going to cook
braised chicken with star anise,

soy sauce, spring onions and ginger,

served with Chinese pancakes,
and pickled carrots on the side.

This is a family favourite
because we cook it quite a lot.

There you go, you can
do the job of the cutlery.

# I can see the look in your eye

# What you been fixin'
there in your kitchen?

# Because everything is
starting to rise. #

I love getting the kids involved,
and I think they quite like that.

We need spring onions

and we need some ginger.

And then we"ll need an orange peel,

and this just gives it
a little bit of a citrusy flavour

to the braising liquid.

My mother is a fantastic cook

and we live with my grandmother
who also is a fantastic cook.

And she actually originated
from China

so a lot of the food that we eat
has Chinese origins.

Brown sugar, light soy sauce,

dark soy sauce.

Light is for flavour.
Dark is for colour.

Food to me is a way
to remember my roots.

When they go back to Malaysia,
both my girls will say,

"I want paw-paw's broth."

Paw-paw is "grandma" in Chinese

and it's just a wonderful thing
that they love the food that I love.

So, this is the moment where
we actually add more complexity

to the braising liquid.

Our star of the show -
the star anise.

Star anise is very commonly used
for Malaysian cooking.

For me, the perfect partner
for star anise is soy sauce.

It takes away the harsh saltiness
of the soy sauce.

It almost picks out
the best flavour of the soy sauce

and enhances it and
makes it a little bit more sweet.

We're going to turn it down
to a simmer.

There is something so magical

about a dish being passed down
through generations.

Who knows, in ten years' time

that my girls would make this dish
for their family.

And, you know,
that makes me quite emotional.

And I want to ladle some of the
braising liquid over the chicken.

Give it a good amount of
that soy sauce and star anise hit.

We've got your favourite tonight,
girls.

Whenever I cook this dish, it fills
the room with such great aroma.

A little bit of chicken? Thank you.
Do you want to roll it up?

And I know that my kids
will definitely eat it...

...and love it.

Bringing joy to your loved ones
through food

is one of life's great pleasures,

and it's a passion Ping and I share.

Using spice is one of the quickest
and easiest ways to change

an ordinary meal
into a family favourite,

and my next recipe is exactly that.

Prawns love spice,

and this family-friendly
one-pot wonder is no exception.

Succulent king prawns
in a rich sauce of turmeric,

tamarind,
and just a kiss of chilli -

my zingy tomato prawns served
with a pillowy soft flatbread

is not only the quickest dinner
ever, it's a fail-safe hit.

My family have so many favourites.

I could have gone on for hours
and hours and days and days.

But if I was going to pick
just a few of their favourites,

this would make it
to the top five, for sure -

because we love prawns.

And as they're so great at
taking on flavour,

I'm making a rich, tangy sauce
to smother them in

and it starts with
six finely diced tomatoes.

If you wanted to, you could
totally use tinned tomatoes.

But tinned tomatoes
can be quite acidic

so I would say add a spoon of sugar

and that will help to
kind of balance out the acidity.

To my pan, I'm adding
a good glug of olive oil

and four cloves of chopped garlic.

As soon as you can
smell that garlic,

I'm going to get the tomatoes
straight in.

This is a really quick recipe

and I think the reason why my family
really love it, especially the kids,

is because they're thinking,
"Ooh, this is nice, this is fancy."

But it's not.
It's quick, it's easy, it's simple,

but it's still packed with flavour.

Add a sprinkle of salt...

...and the juice of a whole lemon.

Lemon doesn't just add
a tart flavour to your tomato,

it also acts as seasoning.

So I kind of reduce
the amount of salt I use

because I'm using the lemon.

And I have a secret ingredient
to add another layer of tang.

But I don't want tang

that makes you curl up into a ball
and makes your eyes all squinty

and like, just like, ugh!
No, we don't want all of that.

We want a delicious tangy
with some sweetness -

and for that,
I'm going to add tamarind.

In goes about three teaspoons.

And I love this stuff.

It's sweet but tart
at the same time

and that works really well
with the tomatoes and the lemon.

Mix that in.

And now on to our spices.

If I've got my hand on my hip,
you know it's an easy recipe!

I am chillin'. It is easy.

So...

Two of my favourite spices
that go hand-in-hand with tomatoes

are turmeric and chilli powder.

Turmeric works so well because
you've got the gorgeous colour

that kind of seeps through
that redness of the tomato,

and then you've got that undertone
of smokiness and chilli powder.

There's something about tomatoes
and chillies that work really well.

To my sauce, I'm adding
one teaspoon of golden turmeric...

...and two teaspoons
of chilli powder.

Or for less of a kick, stick to one.

Spices need cooking down so
we are going to just take our time

and allow the sauce
to just reduce down

until there's not too much of that
liquid left at the base.

Once my spicy sauce is thickened,
it's ready for those beautiful,

plump king prawns.

The prawns take a minute,
if that, to cook, which makes them

the perfect supper.

Um! So good.

This works brilliantly with pasta
or rice, but I love it with paratha.

We used to make parathas
from scratch.

Now you can find them in the
supermarket, which is amazing.

So good.

Two complementary spices
and just a few simple ingredients

are all it takes to create
a total flavour explosion.

Just a flourish of coriander.

# Just one look

# And I fell so hard... #

And look at that.
It really is that simple.

And now it's ready to eat.

# With you... #

My zingy turmeric, chilli and tomato
prawns are a quick and easy fix

for the whole family.

Oh, my God.

You've got the tangy, slightly sweet
tamarind, and then you've got

the turmeric, which gives
you that beautiful

kind of smoky aroma.

And then you've got the chilli
powder, which gives it a lovely,

great big kick.

My kids love it because
it's delicious.

I love it because it's easy to make.

And that's why it's one
of our favourites.

Next up, I'm using spice to zhoosh
up the simplest of cakes

into something really special.

We all have a favourite cake
in our family.

And this creamy, cardamom-fuel led
traybake is my boy's number one.

Vanilla sponge doused in sweet
cardamom milk, sprinkled with rose

petals and freeze-dried raspberries.

My fragrant traybake is so good,
it's sure to go to the top

of your family favourites, too.

We have cake in our house
all the time.

I bake one cake, it finishes,
and then I bake another.

And then that finishes.

And we just keep going round
and round. One in, one out.

And you'd think that they wouldn't
have a favourite.

But this one, my son absolutely
loves.

I can make it every day
for the rest of my life

and he will say, "Please,
can I have another?"

This cake starts off with a really
simple Genoise sponge.

So it's really light and really
fluffy.

For that, I need six eggs
and 180g of caster sugar.

I am just going to whisk that
till it's tripled in size

and full of air.

So you can see the mixture
has completely changed.

It has gone light and fluffy
and airy, and it has definitely

tripled in size.

For extra flavour, I'm using a mix
of vanilla...

...and almond extract.

One teaspoon of each.

And just for a bit of a
fresh flavour,

I'm going to zest a lemon.

So I've got 180g of plain flour.

Notice I'm not using self-raising
flour - we don't need it,

we've got loads of air in our egg
and sugar mixture, and we're going

to use that to create that kind
of really fluffy, light cake.

Now gently fold it all together
using a large metal spoon,

which cuts through the mixture,
keeping those precious

air bubbles intact.

Then pour that beautiful
batter into a brownie tin.

And that's the simplest cake done.

I'm just going to pop that straight
into the oven...

...and let it bake.

Just look...

...at that. This is the lightest,
lightest cake you are ever, ever

going to eat.

And now I'm going to make
it even better with my

subtly spiced cardamom milk.

And for this, I'm using four pods.

Release those beautiful
little scented black seeds.

I just want to very lightly
scent this milk.

Remember, we've already got some
really beautiful, subtle flavours

already in there.

We just want it to complement
it and not overpower.

Pop the ground cardamom
into a bowl and add a small tin

of condensed milk.

We're going to add that straight
in there with the cardamom.

To that, add 100ml of whole milk.

And this will just loosen
the condensed milk up.

And then just give that a good mix.

Simply drizzle the beautifully
scented milk all over the cake

and let our soft, fluffy sponge
soak up every last drop.

It actually makes me really happy
that this is my son's favourite

cake, because it is so easy.

Imagine his favourite cake
was something really elaborate.

He loves this. It's easy.

I love making it for him.

Now, pop that in the fridge and let
all those fabulous flavours infuse.

As soon as it's chilled,
we're ready to decorate.

You can see that sweetened,
condensed cardamom milk is all gone.

Why? Because it's all in the cake.

For pure indulgence,

crown with pillows of
freshly whipped cream.

And then just to finish it off,
just because I can't help myself

and I want it to look absolutely
beautiful,

I am going to sprinkle over

dried rose petals,

because flowers make
everything better.

And for my final flourish, tart
freeze-dried raspberries.

This beautiful cardamom traybake
is simple enough to bake every day,

but special enough for any family
occasion.

# Because you're my desire... #

Every single time I take a bite
of this cake, I am reminded of why

this is my boy's absolute
favourite.

Beautiful light sponge with almond
vanilla and a hint of lemon zest.

And then it's that sweet cardamom
milk that soaks into that sponge.

Simple, but delicious.

This cake is one of our absolute
favourites, and I know that you guys

are going to love it, too.

Next time, the simplest of spicing

for the easiest of recipes.

It's like a superhero spice.

My wickedly cheeky breakfast muffin.

This is the breakfast of champions.

And my epic twist on a classic
cottage pie.

Oh, that's good!