Nadiya's Kitchen: Over 100 simple, delicious, family recipes from the Bake Off winner and bestselling author of Time to Eat

I'm probably one of the very few who purchased this cookbook without having ever actually SEEN the Great British Bake-Off or Nadiya on the small screen...chalk that up to several overseas moves and the last couple of years without a TV or cable. However, I was intrigued by the snippets of information out about her debut cookbook, and decided to preorder from the UK. Despite the lack of TV, I regularly follow the careers of former GBBO contestants and own cookbooks by several, including the excellent "Crumb" by Ruby Tanoh (one of my blog's top cookbooks of 2014) and Edd Kimber ("The Boy Who Bakes"). I love a good curry (Meera Sodha's books are some of my favorites), but due to a hectic work/life balance, I really fall for doable, delicious recipes with easy results, and "Nadiya's Kitchen" delivers on both counts. Nadiya grew up in a British Bangladeshi family in Luton, where she taught herself to cook from cookbooks and YouTube videos. In 2015, she was chosen to appear on Great British Bake-Off and won. An audience favorite, Nadiya now has a spinoff BBC documentary "The Chronicles of Nadiya" as well as several book deals ("Nadiya's Kitchen," the children's book / cookbook "Bake Me A Story," as well as her first novel). In her first cookbook, Nadiya collects familiar (British) favorites like the Full English (here presented as a frittata), meat pies, and cherry Bakewell with a hefty dose of the international (chilli cheese burritos, gnocchi with cheese, pine nuts and rocket, grilled halloumi with pomegranate salsa, kofta kebab, Asian-inspired seafood) as well as Indian and Bengali fare (meat samosas, korma, curry, kedgeree). True to her word, many recipes do come together quickly and are fairly simple. Thanks to the detailed step-by-step photographs for more involved recipes, even novice cooks can turn out a delicious dinner. The chapters are arranged by theme rather than meal (teatime, dessert for dinner, dinner date, cosy evenings and midnight feasts, etc.), so it may take a bit of flipping to locate the recipe or type of dish you're looking for. For this review, I made several recipes from "Nadiya's Kitchen" including the showstopping oven-roasted sweet tomato and Parmesan tart, mustard and kale mac and cheese, quick boiled egg curry, and sour cherry and almond Bundt cake. The tomato Parmesan tart has you essentially candy cherry tomatoes with a touch of sugar, balsamic and olive oil. If pressed for time, an all-butter refrigerated pie crust can be substituted for the homemade one. You first blind bake the crust before layering with half the tomatoes and adding a rich cheese-enhanced custard (I also added some sprigs of fresh thyme to add a little extra flavor). This was absolutely lovely served with a simple green salad (and I actually prefer eating it cold rather than warm). Next up was the quick boiled egg curry. I usually have a surplus of hard-boiled eggs in the refrigerator (I steam them in batches in my rice cooker), and am always looking for new ways to use them, so I loved the idea of adding them to a curry. You start by cooking down tomatoes, onion, and spices into a dry paste, then frying up the eggs separately. Two observations here: first, the amount of paste hardly seems generous enough for six eggs / several servings if you like your curry a bit heartier / saucier (I ended up with maybe 1.5 cups of sauce after cooking down, which would yield 1/4 cup per person if serving six as Nadiya recommends). Second, I had less success with frying up the eggs. You're supposed to score them then crisp in oil, but mine browned unevenly and didn't result in the crisp "shell" shown. I ended up using peeled hardboiled eggs and mixing them into the curry, and loved the final result. The mustard and kale mac and cheese was a great update on a beloved classic; I added some panko breadcrumbs to the top as I love crunchy mac and cheese! If you can't find Coleman's mustard powder in your neck of the woods, French mustard or Japanese mustard powder is a respectable substitute. Kale being a tougher green, it froze and reheated beautifully and didn't turn slimy or mushy on reheating. And as Nadiya is primarily known as a baker, how do the selection of baked goods hold up? The first recipe I tried was the sour cherry and almond Bundt, and it was every bit as gorgeous as the photo. My coworkers loved the balance of cherries and subtle hint of almond (the recipe uses both almond flour, although not entirely gluten-free, as well as almond extract). The crumb was moist and the cake held up well through several days of snacking. There are also recipes for mocha macarons, homemade candy (peanut, black sesame and ginger brittle, chocolate-dipped honeycomb, candied orange peel, guava Turkish delight, salted pretzel fudge, speculoos hazelnut truffles), cookies galore (candied lemon, coconut and strawberry Anzacs, chocolate and date, matcha and milk chocolate), chocolate and hazelnut profiteroles, chocolate and star anise fondants, pavlovas and cream pies, nutmeg and orange baked cheesecake, raspberry jam puddle brownies, and a recipe for Her Majesty's Cake. From comfort food (hello, mushroom, cheese and mustard croissants!) to more elegant fare (fresh sea bass fennel ceviche, crusted rack of lamb with aubergine bortha, crispy filo with seared tuna), "Nadiya's Kitchen" offers something for everyone, from beginning cooks to the more experienced.

Another brilliant Nadiya cookbook! I need more time in the day to try all of these fantastic recipes. Very easy to follow, full of excellent pictures, and very inspiring.

Nadiyah Hussain's burgeoning reputation as a great bakery chef and now cook continues to grow and deservedly so, on the basis of this excellent book. Her infectious and likeable character also come to the fore and her new found confidence can be seen in the recipes. The book is bright, attention-grabbing and well illustrated with a genuine, earthly and endearing charm to it. It's wonderful how she incorporates her delightful family into the book. Another major part of the appeal is due to the recipes being simple and intuitive to follow. The recipes are explained in a single page, so avoid the irritating instances of recipes appearing on one page and then continuing on the page overleaf. All the ingredients are easy to find at every supermarket, so nothing is every inaccessible. I feel confident when I approach each recipe and that the outcome will be, by and large favourable. The book consists of a wide gamut of recipes ranging from sweet dishes to more savoury ones. I particularly like her approach of infusing her traditional Bengali food with western food to create original and fresh perspectives on these dishes. I've tried out the 'Feta and dill savoury muffins', 'Salted pretzel fudge', 'Green mango and fish curry' and 'Quick and easy boiled egg curry' among many other recipes I have already prepared. Encouragingly, my family, friends and co-workers have generally been in approval of the taste of my finished creations. I've never cooked too much before, but with my new found enthusiasm, thanks to Nadiyah (and indeed her mentors Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry), I think I can be a world beater, or at least a semi-competent cook. The book reaches out to all and is just as pertinent for beginners and novices like myself to more seasoned cooks. A steal at £ 9.99 and I'm very confident it will provide me, my family and friends with many years of delicious treats. I happily wholly endorse this book to all. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks for reading this review. If you found it helpful please click the 'Yes' button below. If you have a question regarding the item, I will endeavour to answer it.

I got it for my friend and it's okay. It has loads of bold pictures but the book organisation wasn't well thought out. I read a previous review on this book that some of the measurements to the ingredients were wrong, so I checked mine as soon as I got it, the unfortunate misprints the other reviewer had was non-existent in my version. It seems they may have corrected it. Very bold and appealing pictures however vague recipes. Overall I would recommend this book if you want to experience food from different cultures.

Well done to this lovely lady for her achievements! Nadiya should be so proud of this beautifully put together book, which I would recommend to beginners and experienced cooks. What I like best is everything about the recipe fits on one page. Ther's a little introduction for the recipe, a short ingredients list (no South American Fennell Seeds or Mongolian Grass Chewed Goat's Milk... Jamie, I'm looking at you) and finally a paragraph or two of clear instructions on how to make the food. No flicking pages, no re-reading of instructions. And of course, most of the recipes have a colour photo of the dish on the opposite page. It sounds like a cliché but there is a good mix of quick and almost quick recipes for dinner and dessert, all with British, Bengali, South Asian, European and American influences. Enough talk, now I'm off to make "Raspberry Jam Puddle Brownies"! ... "Her Majesty's Cake" (which is in the book by the way) will have to wait. Update: I ended up making this 'mint and chocolate mousse with raspberries' which honestly did only took 15 minutes, I had all the ingredients too which makes a nice change. The only thing I would do is put more raspberries into the bottom of the glasses as it turns out I'm not a huge fan of dark chocolate! Well done Nadiya you should be so proud!

Finally had the chance to look through it and I have to say I look forward to trying out her recipes. I've been such a huge fan of Nadiya since Bake Off and I was so excited to get this book and now I just cannot wait to get started. I'm surprised but in a good way that she made recipes that are mainly seen in restaurants, she mentions she likes to try different things and I'm quite excited with the prospect that perhaps I should be more adventurous. The brownie recipe is something I will definitely try, brownies is one baking element that I fail miserably but I definitely will give her recipe a go. Her Bangladeshi background is captured in many of her recipes for example; samosas which isn't just in Bangladeshi cuisine, but also in Indian/Pakistani cuisine so I look forward to trying out her version. Her book is so vibrant, so colourful and I just can't wait to get started!

I absolutely fell in love with Nadiya over the weeks of last Season's Great British Bake Off along with so many of my friends and family and people up and down the country. On the screen, she comes across as the friend you want not only for her delicious concoctions but for her humour, her friendship and of course those famous facial expressions!! On paper, her spirit transfers with every note she tells to the recipes she has wrote and every prelude to the chapters (my favourite being 'Lazy Sunday Mornings' because who doesn't love one of those!). The book is bright and colourful and has easy to follow recipes which are perfect for me because I like to keep things simple and fuss-free. Good luck in everything you do Nadiya, I will continue to support you on your journey and hope the success continues!

i own almost 200 cookbooks! this is by far the greatest! i am excited about her future in cook books and i hope she does many more. how superb that she tells us on every recipe in this book whether the recipe is freezable or not and if so then anything specific we might need to know about it. its opened up a world of make ahead interesting meals to me. my chest freezer is going to get filled with delights! i adore all the recipes in this book except smores. everything is sooooo different and interesting. the most refreshing cookbook of the century! well done that lady. golly i wish i could meet with her and share a cuppa. happy book owner over n out. x

Maravilloso!! Estupendas recetas y formato así como la fotografía. Muy recomendado!

Ok

Yes, this is the contestant who won the Great British Bake Off following an unlikely, insecurity to a very competent, confidence trajectory bound to win most watchers' heart. (Although I will also admit a fondness for the man who built his own useful equipment and foraged for ingredients.) I expected a book geared towards the experienced baker ... and if I were a baker I would not be disappointed. I also expected to gain insight into how cooking cultures blend through immigration - this is what I got in glorious spades. This is not fusion cooking so much as a housewife picking the best to which she has been exposed and presenting it to her family - with all the quirks of children's palates, time constraints and food memories. All of which is served up with conversational introductions reflect her family's experience. Recipes often include notes with regards to freezing, allowing children to assist and serving suggestion. Breakfast begins with "Scotch pancakes with a mixed berry and lemon thyme compote" a Western recipe, moves on to "Breakfast halwa croissants" a fusion recipe, and "Kipper kedgeree" her adaptation to using kippers. For snack one find "Crispy taco chicken salsa cups" near "Easy aromatic meat samosas"; For teatime "Green mango and fish curry" near "Lemon thyme Irish stew". All the recipes are within the capability of a home cook but some require a very dedicated home cook. What holds them all together is a broad flavor profile - sophisticated but child friendly - and a strong sense of family cooking and eating together.

Unlike Ruby Tandoh's book, this cookbook feels disconnected from the author. Less a baking guide (GBBO fans beware) and more a general cookbook, Nadiya's personality doesn't really come through. I was hoping for something a lot better, to be honest. This feels forced and ghost-written. Hopefully, if she gets around to writing another book, she'll concentrate more on baking and more on putting her personality onto the page.

My wife loves this book, great present.