It's seven years since Luton wife and mum Nadiya Hussain won the Great Bake British Bake Off and her life has changed beyond recognition as a result. Her CV boasts seven best-selling recipe books and accompanying TV series in addition to telly travelogues, children’s books, an autobiography and an adult novel.
In fact, Nadiya’s become so famous that – like kitchen mates Jamie, Delia and Nigella – she is instantly recognisable by just her first name. However, she’s as down-to-earth and practical as she ever was, and credits her family with keeping her feet firmly on the ground.
“I have the best job in the world and get to do the most amazing things, but when I’m home, the floors still need mopping, the laundry still needs doing...all the usual household things,” she says. “My family are my foundation.”
They’re also her harshest critics, it seems!
“Oh, they’re always picking holes in the food I make,” she laughs. “My siblings and parents are all really good cooks. I love, for instance, going to their houses and eating whatever they happen to have cooked. But when I make something, they can’t help but scrutinise it to the ‘n’th degree. I’m like, ‘Guys! This isn’t Bake Off anymore. I don’t need this!’
My three kids – Musa (16), Dawud (15) and Maryam (12) – do it as well. They’ll say stuff like, ‘That’s a bit dry,’ and I’ll tell them to ‘ssssh’ and that it’s just dinner. No big deal.”
Sounds like Nadiya’s a firm but fair mum. How does she deal with things such as her kids’ access to social media and smartphones?
“My sons are 15 and 16 so I can’t just ban them from having phones,” she says. “When I need to distract them or feel they’ve been on their devices for too long, I find that food is a good way of doing it! Or I alert them to something interesting that’s happening outside. This usually means they still have their phones with them to take pictures with, do Snapchat or whatever but that’s their currency with each other and their friends.
“It’s what they do and how they live now. It’s not my way but that isn’t to say the way they’re growing up is a bad thing. I trust them to be responsible and as long as they’re off their phones when we’re eating dinner or have guests round, it’s OK.”
It’s well known that Nadiya’s marriage was an arranged one and we can’t help wondering if it will be the same for their three children when the time comes. “To begin with, I chose to have an arranged marriage,” she reveals. “To be honest, I couldn’t be bothered with the hassle of finding someone so I trusted my dad and then also my father-in-law to make the right choice for me.
“Will I do the same for my kids? Hmmm, it’s not a job that I want. It’s such a responsibility and I’d like to think that we will have raised three well-rounded human beings who are able to pick the right person for themselves. I mean, what if I picked the wrong person? I wouldn’t be able to deal with that.”
Back to more baking banter and it’s reassuring to hear that even a virtuoso like Nadiya (37) messes up at times.
“Oh, my goodness, yes!” she smiles. “There were the strawberry and cream cupcakes that came out all rubbery, and then the time when everything went wrong...
“I was baking a gooey chocolate cake, made using boiling water, and I put it in a loose-bottom tin but didn’t clip it properly, so it was slightly wonky and there was a little gap at the base of the tin. I put it in the oven and didn’t realise there was a slow leak throughout the 50-minute bake. I opened up the oven and all of the cake batter was at the bottom of the oven and there was none in the tin! The more you do, though, the better you get.”
Doesn’t she ever get tired of cooking?
“Not really,” she replies. “Cooking is like therapy to me. But, you know, I don’t cook from scratch every evening. When I do make a specific dish, I’ll make a lot of it and then freeze half to have at a later date. And, like most people, I do love a takeaway from time to time. Fish and chips is definitely my favourite.” Not that a chippie tea would be Nadiya’s ‘desert island’ dinner.
“That would have to be the chicken korma with egg my mum makes. It gently cooks away on the hob for three days and is absolutely, mouth-wateringly delicious. Followed by an Eton mess. I love Eton mess. It’s my favourite dessert ever.”