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Nisha Katona's Home Kitchen Season 1 Episode 2
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00:00I'm Nisha Katona. Over the years I've been a barrister, a restaurateur, an entrepreneur but
00:08always a food lover. Gorgeous. It's a real cockle warmer. It's fantastic. From my home kitchen in
00:16the Wirral I'll show you how to cook simple delicious dishes from all around the world.
00:19Here we go, now it gets exciting. Tasty and fabulous recipes inspired by my heritage,
00:26my family and my northern roots. Now we can lick the pie. I'm also blessed to be part of a
00:34community that shares my passion for big flavours and homegrown produce. I've got some goodies for
00:39you. Look at these. Amazing, amazing, amazing. The potatoes have a real kick. Really tasty. The
00:45beauty of it is these cattle have never been inside. This is about as good as it gets. So
00:50join me and my extended two and four-legged family. No, I knew you would do that. No. For
00:56a slice of my life. Is she trying to feed it to the dog? And some amazing food.
01:02From cooking incredible meals to running my own business. This will define a restaurant.
01:23Absolutely love it. Life likes to keep me on my toes. Hello drama. Hello. And while at home
01:29there's always a few mouths to feed. This is a vegetarian soup, so I don't know why you're here.
01:33Thankfully, my style of cooking involves easy recipes and one-pot wonders that I can conjure
01:39up at a moment's notice. A skill I picked up as a youngster. What's great about my parents is that
01:47they were really brave about just letting me cook what I wanted. And so by the age of 10 I was asking
01:53for pans as my Christmas presents. I was always really food obsessed. I loved playing with spices
01:59and I loved the colours that you brought together and the flavours that you could conjure up. And I
02:03think that liberty that I had meant that I felt ownership over food.
02:09Today I'll be cooking the takeaway classic chicken corner. But first I have a quick tip that will help
02:16simplify your life when cooking a multitude of recipes. My ginger and garlic ice cubes.
02:22These are a real time saver and today I'm making a fresh batch in my beautiful outdoor kitchen with
02:28the help of my daughters. The backbone ingredients for any meat curry are garlic and ginger. And I think
02:35that is one of the reasons people are so put off cooking curry because they think I've got to peel the
02:38garlic and I've got to do the ginger and prep and all of that. So what I do, I blitz up garlic and ginger. I put it in ice
02:46cube trays, freeze it and then you're only ever 25 minutes away from a cracking curry. So what we
02:52do as a family, they love this knot, is that there are days where we have ginger garlic days. So we peel,
02:59we blitz, we freeze, then they can get on with their life, I can get on with cooking for their life.
03:04OK, so girls, who's doing ginger? I can do ginger. OK, you're gonna do ginger. So if you just peel it all
03:12with a teaspoon into there, that's yours. All right, you're gonna do garlic. I just need the cloves and I want the
03:18bottoms taking off the cloves. It may seem like a little bit of a faff, but I promise it's so easy,
03:24especially when you get the family involved. Is it easy with a knife? Yeah, so see how I'm doing it,
03:30like that. Thumb to the bottom. OK, hold it like that. Any knobbles pull off. So something like that,
03:37that's a complete pain. Break those bits off. But for another little tip, can I show you a really quick
03:43way of doing this? Let me show you honestly. That's why this is a good knife. Watch this, yeah?
03:50Yeah? And that's done the work for you. OK? So you can do two or three, but be very careful,
03:55because what you don't want to do is that. Do you see? It's done the work for you. And I just need it
04:01at that stage. Yeah? By crushing the garlic cloves first, it makes them easier to peel. From the minute
04:07they were born, I would cook with them on one hip, like this, and there's a little ledge next to the hob.
04:13And they would sit there, and they'd put the spices in. And I think they just loved it, because
04:17they could see the yellow of the turmeric, the red of the chilli powder. Do you remember that at
04:20all, girls? I remember very vividly cooking with my grandma. She used to make rutties, so chapatties,
04:27and she'd roll them out, and that physically was very satisfying. Except we weren't very good,
04:31so then she'd always have to go over it again. But do you know what you used to love, Beanie? You used to
04:36love things like putting kebabs together with mincemeat. You were always the one that would get into the
04:42meat. Do you remember that? Yeah. My hands would always turn yellow. Yeah. It's all the turmeric.
04:49Once the ginger is peeled, it's important to cut it into smaller pieces, as this will help it blend
04:53more easily. So let's get it in the blender. In with the garlic, in with the ginger. You're after equal
05:02measures of garlic and ginger. So we'll try and blitz it. If it doesn't blitz really well,
05:07we can add a little bit of water, so don't worry. Ginger and garlic are two of the most important
05:13ingredients in an Indian kitchen, but most cuisines worldwide are incomplete without them.
05:20The other really good tip is blitzing up coriander stalks into that. If you're somebody who loves
05:25coriander, coriander stalks and you're halfway towards, you know, whatever, Thai, Vietnamese,
05:30Indian food. Once you're happy with your garlic and ginger paste, it's time to get out your ice cube
05:35trays. Teaspoons each. And let's start spooning.
05:47Can we fill them all the way to the top? Yeah, right to the top.
05:50Do they last forever, these, or do they last a while? Honestly, it'll last about six months,
05:55so it's ages. It'll get eaten well before then. The only thing is it's better for it to have its own
06:03little section of the freezer, because whatever you put in the freezer with your garlic ginger cubes
06:08is going to taste the garlic and ginger, which for me is fantastic for most things.
06:12But if you put in... It's ice, when we get ice lollies out the freezer.
06:14Our ice creams always taste of different spices.
06:19That is really true, isn't it? I think that's a complete Indian child thing, all your ice lollies.
06:26These aromatic ice cubes might not be great for your ice lollies, but after a few hours freezing,
06:31they'll be the perfect addition to my next curry. Here we go, lid on.
06:38Oh, it's your own little section for garlic ginger, away from the ice cream.
06:44Okay, nice. And that's it, it's clean down time.
06:50Quick and simple, with very little fuss, there's something fun to do with the whole family.
06:55While chicken tikka masala might be one of the Brits' top curry, one of my favourites has always been chicken korma.
07:06Fragrant, creamy and a subtle hint of almond, my chicken korma is served alongside rice, infused with cumin and black cardamom.
07:16So, the way we start all meat curries is on a foundation of three ingredients.
07:22They are onion, ginger, garlic, okay? But the way that you start this dish is oil in the pan.
07:27And it's not a lot of oil, you just want enough for those onions to soften.
07:34It's bedtime for the goats, and here I am cooking, but they can wait, it's only half an hour.
07:39Okay, onions in. Next, I'm using my pre-made garlic and ginger ice cubes.
07:45The way I work it is it's about a cube of garlic ginger per person. So, this is going to be for four people.
07:51I go in with four of my garlic ginger cubes and a pinch of salt. Stir.
07:59And here's the thing with a korma. You don't want it very brown, so you want the onions
08:06sweated, translucent, but not necessarily that lovely kind of brown that I would want for something like
08:12a Dansak or a Madras or a Rogan Josh. While my onions cook, I'm going to start preparing my rice.
08:19There are some ingredients that make rice magical. I don't know what it is about them, but these two
08:25ingredients, cumin seeds and black cardamom pods, bring out an aroma in rice like nothing else.
08:33Little bit of oil in the pan. I'm waiting for that oil to get hot, because into it,
08:39I'm going to drop a good teaspoon of cumin seeds. When you're cooking with seeds in the Indian kitchen,
08:47this is that sacred moment where you have to wait for those seeds to start fizzing and popping and
08:53going almost black. Into that, we drop three of these. These are black cardamom. It's not that green
09:02cardamom that you get in a lot of desserts. This is black cardamom and it's dried and it's smoked
09:08and it's intense. We stir those in. The way I cook rice is very simple. Whatever receptacle you are
09:15using to measure your rice, you're going to do double of water and that's it. That's the formula.
09:23Into my pan goes half a jar of rice, but before I add my water, I want to make sure my rice grains
09:28are coated in that fragrant oil. Double. And it's as simple as that. And in it goes.
09:39That's my rice pretty much done. All I'm going to do is wait for it to nearly dry out and then at the
09:45point of panic, I'm going to put my lid on and just switch the heat off and it will cook itself in 10
09:51minutes. So let's leave it to do that. And in the meantime, we get on with this chicken curry.
09:55I'm using a mix of chicken breast and chicken thigh in my corner, but whatever you have in the fridge
10:00will work just as well. Onions getting translucent. I am going to chop this chicken. And this is quite
10:08a quick cook. So we're just going to chop it quite small. So see the thighs, you can get them like this,
10:14completely boneless, completely skinless, ready to go. No different to breast in the way that you prep it,
10:21but so much flavour. Give my hands a little wash and those onions are nearly there.
10:32When the onions have picked up a little colour, in goes my chicken.
10:37And again, we don't want too much colour on the meat either. It's nice that this is a kind of
10:42lovely pale light dish. But what we do need is our spices. I'm using a teaspoon of turmeric
10:50and a little chilli powder for warm. And the third spice that you need in any meat curry,
10:55it's as simple as this, is garam masala. And we go in with a good heaped teaspoon.
11:04And we stir that in. With my curry starting to come together, I can't forget my rice.
11:10This is a really important point in rice cooking. You get to this point, you start to panic. And you
11:15think, is that dry? Is it not? Am I meant to stir it? Am I meant to prod it? What am I meant to do?
11:20Well, as soon as it starts pitting like that, and you start to panic, you give it one stir.
11:28There's quite a bit of water in there. And then all I'm going to do, I'm going to put the lid on,
11:33switch the heat off, and that just goes in what I call the naughty step. It just goes into the back
11:42of my kitchen on a heatproof pad, and it will cook itself, and it's out of your hair. You do not need
11:48to worry about that. With my rice left to steam, I need to focus on my curry, as I've got an
11:54unexpected visitor. Hello, drama. Hello. This is, this is... You're not busy. My Auntie Geeta.
12:02She's only, she's only small, aren't you? The best cook in the family. I've got to hope my chicken
12:08korma is up to scratch. Whenever I get the chance, I love to whip up delicious dishes in my beautiful
12:24outdoor kitchen. And with a little help from my Auntie Geeta, I'm cooking one of the most well-known
12:30dishes in the Indian kitchen. Chicken korma. So look. Oh, that looks very nice.
12:37Do you like the smell? It smells lovely. Mmm. Chicken korma, only gurum moshla. So we say for
12:42garam masala, we say gurum moshla. Gurum means hot, moshla means spice. Yeah. Warming spices, yeah.
12:50So... No turmeric. Yeah, a little bit of turmeric. Onion, garlic, ginger. Onion, garlic, ginger. And
12:56gurum moshla. Gurum moshla, exactly. Donne? No, Donne. I didn't put any extra Donne in. Okay.
13:02Oh, that's disappointed her. Donne is coriander. No, no, no, no, no. Me and my Auntie are big
13:07coriander lovers. So we will always put hands, don't we? We always put a load of coriander in at
13:12the end. Yes. So with this korma, we've got the spices in. The chicken is just nearly done. Now,
13:18what I want to do is I want to create a bit of sauce. And the way that we create sauce is by simply
13:23adding a bit of water. You are loosening the dish with water. So you're getting the body and the
13:29volume with a bit of water. I'm just going to throw some seasoning in it. So a bit of salt.
13:34And the other seasoning that is really important in a korma is brown sugar. It's a sweeter curry. So
13:41if you like a sweeter korma, you can add more in. Sometimes I put bananas in this dish. I kid you
13:45not, have you ever had that bone? So delicious bones. Yeah. Banana with chicken, no way. Yeah.
13:52So good. What about banana ketchup? That is a thing. Yeah, that is a thing, no doubt.
14:00What are you going to put for thickening? Well, for the thickening, she makes a really good point.
14:05I want that to be a thicker sauce. Yeah. If you want that luxury, ground almonds. Oh, excellent.
14:11You do like a ground almond, don't you? Yes, I do like it. So ground almonds in. Yeah.
14:15That already looks very nice. Can you see how instantly you've got that thickness? My korma just
14:22needs to simmer to soak up all that almondy goodness. My father came from a town called
14:27Lucknow. And in Lucknow, they used to cook a lot of korma, didn't they? So my dad loved a korma.
14:33So last stages of this curry. I'm using a big dollop of creme fraiche for a little richness.
14:40It smells lovely. I'm putting some coriander. I'm going to put some coriander. Do you want a chocolate?
14:46Good. Thank you. That is beautiful. My pleasure, ma'am.
14:56Alongside Antiguitous coriander, I also want a little green chilli. Because you don't want the whole dish
15:01to be hot. No. But this way you get that lovely flavour. Yeah, that lovely green kind of notes,
15:08don't you? Oh, that has now given its life. Looks lively. Smell that chilli. Wow, beautiful.
15:18My korma's coming together nicely, but I need to check on my rice.
15:21So all the grains are completely separate. You can see they're ready when they start
15:25standing to attention, but that is done. Perfect. And it's ready for serving.
15:31Let me see if my Antiguita approves. You going to try it? Yes. Are you ready, Drama? So am I.
15:43Heavenly. Wow. You're so nice to me, Drama. Very, very nice.
15:50Just try it. What do you like about it? The flavour of it and the consistency and the meat
15:55just cooked, not overcooked, not undercooked. And the sauce is really rich, yet not greasy.
16:03That's what it is like. Very nice. You're getting that lovely, that creaminess from the creme
16:08fraiche. But that lovely level of spices. Just nice and gentle. Very, very nice.
16:13They're really way too much. But what I love is, I love that green chilli and that coriander as well.
16:17Because it brightens up. Doesn't it brighten up? You can get a fork
16:20full of brightness with that. That is very nice. It's very nice. Well done.
16:24You're so nice to me, Drama Queen. A dish we all know and love. There's no need for a takeaway
16:29when in 30 minutes you can whip up a simple chicken korma that's this delicious.
16:40When I'm not cooking or looking after my family, a big part of my life is my restaurant business,
16:45Mowgli. I started Mowgli 10 years ago. And it is like, when you start a business,
16:52it's like adopting a child that totally needs all of your attention. And you've got to love it.
16:58And I do love it. To me, I feel I've not worked a day in 50 years, which is amazing. But my word,
17:02I do work hard. I take real pleasure being involved in every element of the business,
17:07including the design of all my restaurants. I'm in the process of building four restaurants.
17:13And it's really important to me that each restaurant is really individual. And I design
17:20them on the basis of an ancient temple that's behind my grandmother's house in Varanasi in India.
17:26It's a temple that's covered in vines, and it's covered in monkeys, and it's all broken down.
17:31And that is my inspiration for every single one of my restaurants.
17:35So today, I'm on the way to Reclaimed World, a furniture emporium in Cheshire, in the hopes
17:41of finding some unique pieces for a new restaurant. To help me with my mission,
17:47I'm meeting owner and founder, Jeff. Hiya, Jeff.
17:50Hey, hi, Misha. Nice to see you. Hi, good to see you.
17:53I love coming here. Oh, great. And we've got some interesting pieces, haven't we?
17:57Oh, you have. Please don't ever get tired of the weird and the wonderful. Well, honestly,
18:01it means I don't have to go around the world. I can just come here. That's great.
18:04But despite this impressive business, it could have all been very different.
18:08I was severely dyslexic, and I couldn't read and write even my own name at the age of 14.
18:13And I worked with my mum as a child on the markets in Liverpool. My mum couldn't understand
18:20that I was a very clever child in business with her on the market selling things. And I was fast
18:25to learn, but I just couldn't learn reading and writing. So I left school at 14, market stall,
18:31first shop, went on for six shops, boutiques in the high streets. We had offices in Manchester.
18:35And I was designing ladies clothes and supplying all the majors on the high street.
18:40So it's weird. And then at the age of 56, I sold my business and I had a burning desire to
18:50learn to read and write and write my life story, which I did.
18:53When did you learn to read and write? At the age of 56.
18:55That's incredible, Jeff. And you built all those businesses.
19:00And they were successful. It's fantastic, isn't it? So encouraging.
19:03I couldn't pack any more in my life. But along the way,
19:06Jeff also discovered his love of giving old furniture a second chance.
19:10And then from being a market trader, and that's when I got my first shop with no money,
19:15but I wanted to do it nice. So I did it with second hand materials and second hand furniture.
19:19It just became a passion and a love of mine. And in the end, we sold the business and retired
19:2520 years ago. And I was bored out of my mind. And I said, I'm going to open a reclamation business.
19:3212 years ago, Jeff and his wife, Gina, jumped at the chance to acquire this former plant nursery.
19:37But through time and perseverance, they transformed this three acre site to what it is today.
19:42So it's born out of a hobby, really. It's just your passion for old things.
19:46Just a passion. It's gone a bit bananas. Oh, it's just a magical place.
19:51From Indian furniture and antique mirrors to racing cars and garden ornaments,
19:56Jeff sources his pieces from around the world. Some of them are 100 years old, maybe more.
20:02Some of them could be 200, 300 years old. And yeah, it's given it another lease of life, isn't it?
20:06It's like a cabinet like that. I mean, that used to be in somebody's house in India. And now it could
20:13end up anywhere in England. That's the thing, isn't it? And it's that history and it really just anchors
20:18the whole place, you know, just having a piece that's got real life and soul and tales to tell
20:24itself is an amazing thing. It's addictive. I could talk about these pieces all day, but I need to get
20:29back to business. I've got to go buy some doors and mirrors and killers. Give me a shower if you need
20:34any help. I will grill. Amazing. Give me a shout. See you later. When I visit Jeff's place, I'm always on
20:39the lookout for extraordinary pieces that make a real statement. So these arches and these doors with
20:45all of this really intricate carving, they are just everywhere. In India, because they are carved
20:51everywhere by everyone, they're not super expensive. This is just what you have in your homes. It means
20:57everything to me to have things like this in my restaurants. And the reason is, is because I grew
21:02up with this kind of thing. You know, this is what I know. This is what I would have played hide and seek
21:07behind and bringing bits of this that are like my grandmother's home into, you know, my place in the
21:14West really matters. I feel really spoiled being able to do that. I love it. Around every corner,
21:21there are incredible items ready to be given a new lease of life. But there's something particularly
21:26special that's caught my eye. Oh, this is so pretty. It's so pretty because, can you see the layers
21:33and layers of paint? This has been painted so many times. But it's also these colours, you know,
21:37these really brave ice cream sorbet playful colours. But what matters to me? See this? This is the
21:45om. That's, you know, one of the Hindu symbols. During prayer ceremonies, we'd have to write that out
21:50100 times. So for me and my brother, that means everything. And most people will just walk past
21:55that. But my father was a Hindu priest. And this is obviously a Hindu door. It just, you know, little
21:59things like that just make it so authentic. And look, there's a symbol here. So that will have been
22:04somebody's name as well. And then they upgraded and got themselves a name tag. I love it. And I love
22:10the fact that it's all peeling off. It wouldn't last five minutes outside. But in a restaurant,
22:16it's centre of attention, and it gets this new lease of life. It's probably never been centre of
22:20attention, because it will have been in a street where every door is like this. But for me, this will
22:26define a restaurant. Absolutely love it. Definitely a winner. This beautiful door was reclaimed from
22:33Rajasthan in northwest India. Bringing a door like this in brings a little bit of my heritage in, you know,
22:41my culture, the fact that there's this little home there that nobody will really will spot. But it's part of
22:48that language that was in my house and in my home. I'm not going to be here forever. But things like this
22:54will be. With its sunshine colours and unique history, this magical door is a must have for my new restaurant.
23:01I love coming here. It's so inspirational. I can start to see how the next restaurants are going to look.
23:06And I've seen a door that I think is gorgeous. I'm just going to go and see if I can take the price
23:10tag off. With business out of the way, I can get back to my special place, my outdoor kitchen,
23:17where later I'll be making my Moorish Little Sparrow soup.
23:21From our next recipe, I'm taking a little detour to Eastern Europe with a flavourful clear soup filled
23:37with root veg and my simple dumplings. Filling, warming and utterly satisfying, this dish reminds
23:43me of my family. I know it's very common for chefs to stand at a table and say this is a family favourite,
23:50but honestly this is completely a proper family favourite. It's a Hungarian pea and dumpling soup,
23:56but the truth is this is the kind of soup that you would get throughout Europe. The best thing about
24:01this soup is it uses whatever veg you can get your hands on. It could be celeriac, parsnip, carrot,
24:07it could be a little bit of potato. And what I'm going to do is just prep these veg to start.
24:11Hello, David. This is a vegetarian soup, so I don't know why you're here. Yes.
24:18This soup honours the Eastern European side of our family, which means it's a great time to practice
24:22my Hungarian. I'll tell you, they call this a pirosh repa. Repa is a carrot. And this is a
24:29feje repa. Feje means white carrot. They call it white carrot. Parsnip is always good in a Hungarian soup.
24:35To help cut down the cooking time, it's important to cut the veg into small chunks.
24:42But the way I start this soup is with a little oil and some garlic. Okay, in with the veg. Any veg.
24:50Chopped. Could be mange too, sugar snap peas, green beans, chopped into this are fantastic.
24:58Whenever I'm frying veg and I want them to crack on, I put my salt in with them,
25:04because that makes them cook quicker. Encourages the water out of things.
25:09Into this, while the oil is nice and warm, I'm going to add a little half teaspoon of
25:17Hungarian paprika powder. When I say Hungarian, don't freak out. I mean just paprika powder.
25:23Just not smoked. And that's got to go into the oil because, oh my word, when paprika powder hits oil,
25:32you get the most wonderful nutty flavour coming out instantly. So when I walk into the house,
25:41and it smells like this, I know my mother-in-law's there. With the base of my soup coming together,
25:45I'm adding some roughly chopped tomatoes, because that'll slow down the cook. Once you put tomato in,
25:50you're putting water in essentially, and that will kill all of that magical alchemy that's going on.
25:57It just needs a little seasoning. I'm just going to get those tomatoes to soften a little,
26:01and then I'm just going to go in with a load of water. So I'm going to go in
26:04with as much water as I want soup. Water in.
26:08I want a good bit of water. So here's the thing, because into that water, I'm going to drop some
26:20dumpling batter. So it's going to fill up, you know, so in fact, you're going to get a good amount of
26:25soup. So you want it quite deep. So honestly, stock cubes are your instant way to flavour. So these are
26:31vegetable stock cubes. The way I work it is it's a stock cube per person. While my soup simmers away,
26:37I can crack on with making my dumpling batter. I'm not a dough lover. I'm not someone that bakes
26:43a lot of bread. So the idea of making a dough and getting it right can be a bit daunting.
26:53So I never grew up with things like, you know, making pasta and making bread that's leavened.
26:59So honestly, for me, it's a little bit daunting. At your grandmother's knee in India,
27:04you make unleavened bread. You don't make things like this. So simple, though.
27:09My dough uses plain flour and two eggs. And I'm looking for a kind of pancake mix consistency,
27:19because you're going to see I'm going to feed this through a colander. The dumplings that I create
27:27look like little knobbly nuggets. And in German, they're called Spätzle. And Spätzle translates
27:35as little sparrows. So cute. Little sparrow soup. Why I find this soup so charming, I think, is because
27:42in India, we just don't have clear soups like this. You have dahls, which are completely different. You eat
27:47those with rice. But that concept of having a soup with bits floating in it with a light liquor, we've
27:54got no idea. It's a completely foreign concept. And then to have one with little nobbles of kind of
28:00pasta in, that's even more exciting. But there's one more ingredient I need before creating my little
28:06sparrows. This is a pea and spatial soup. I'm going to go into my freezer. I'm going to get out a heap of
28:14peas. I'm going to tip them in. A good load of them. Bring that back up to the boil. You put them in
28:26towards the end because you don't want your peas to be boiled to death. You just want them so that
28:30they're just boiled through. And then I'm going to put my dumplings in. Can you hear my guinea fowl?
28:35They sound like they're doing handbrake turns. They're such noisy birds. They're brilliant guard birds.
28:40Okay. Here we go. Now it gets exciting.
28:47When my soup is bubbling, it's ready for some kitchen magic. So what I'm going to do,
28:51colander over the pan. The batter goes in like that. A little bit at a time. That'll do for now.
29:00I take my spoon and can you see it dropping through? And you see it comes out in little drips. That's fine.
29:08As they hit the water, can you see those tiny little noodles it's forming?
29:12And what's amazing is these dumplings, they go a long, long way. Can you see how many dumplings are
29:18coming out of that? So just keep rubbing it through like that. So these are little sparrows.
29:24And the hotter it is, the more they become sparrow-like. And what's incredible is they never
29:31stick together. And you think they're going to stick together and you start to panic, but they don't.
29:34They are so well behaved. Get a final stir. And this is done.
29:40They are done. They're done in seconds. It just looks so interesting. And it is so novelly.
29:46And it's like an activity centre for your mouth. All I need is a good handful of parsley to finish.
29:51And we are done. We have a little ferret round in, just to check. So I've got my peas, carrots, parsnips, tomatoes,
30:03and my little sparrows. What's better than a warming bowl of garden soup, whatever the weather?
30:11There's so much flavour in that. It's warming. It's got that fantastic roundness that comes from the
30:20paprika. But do you know what I love? It's that pop of the peas. That's what's so important about this
30:25dish. It's that sweet pop of the peas. And then that gnarly texture of those fantastic little sparrows.
30:32Such a good job that this is such a family favourite, because it is honestly so good for you,
30:36it's so easy to make. And it uses up all those bits that you're using up in the kitchen. And it's
30:41exciting. So that's my little sparrows Hungarian soup. Light enough for a summer's day, but hearty
30:47and warming enough for winter. This soup is a dish that can see you right through the year.
30:58I grew up in the northwest, but I still continue to be amazed by the range of local producers living
31:03and working in this area. For me, the food community is one of the most important things,
31:08especially as you get older. It's an instant way of making friends. Food is an extraordinary social
31:14lubricant in that way. And while it's crucial for me to find the best ingredients for my recipes,
31:20it's even better when I can support a local business.
31:25Today, I'm visiting Ward's Fish in Birkenhead because I know fishmonger Simon can help me decide
31:30the best fish for a delicious recipe. Hiya, Simon. Hi, Alicia. You okay? I'm good, yeah.
31:37Lovely day for it. It's sunny Birkenhead. It's a fishy day, isn't it? Simon has been in the family
31:42business since he was a kid, but this Fishmongers has a much older history. We established in 1927.
31:49Wow. And it was my great-grandmother who started the business off. My great-grandfather was a ship's cook,
31:55so he was away at sea. And in those days, in Birkenhead, there was about 50 fishmongers. Then
32:00my grandfather took over the business, and then it went to my father. 50 fishmongers? In Birkenhead.
32:06And now, well, in Birkenhead, is it just you? Birkenhead is just us now. Which is extraordinary.
32:12What's the secret, honestly? Long hours, passion. It's knowing your customers. You have to know what
32:19they want and knowing their names. It goes an awful long way. As well as the personal touch,
32:24it's their range of fresh fish and seafood that has also got people talking. The aim is to buy as
32:30much British fish as possible. Some things you can't, like tuna, swordfish. They're all warmer water
32:35fish. But we have some sea bass there, which is from the Liverpool Bay, which is just down the road.
32:40And the guys go and catch those in the rim with them every day when the tide's right.
32:44Those enormous, beautiful fish are from our shore. It's amazing.
32:49And these fish are on the counter within 24 hours of being pulled out of the sea.
32:54What are your biggest sellers? Biggest sellers, traditionally, are things like
32:57cod fillets, because that's traditional. We do an awful lot of salmon. We only use
33:02lock dew at Scottish salmon. Sea bass. Around here, we've got fresh langoustines there from
33:06the lock find today. They're still moving. Amazing. Like that. And the whelks.
33:11Yeah, my favourite. My favourite are the whelks. And do they sell?
33:16No.
33:19So show me your whelks.
33:22That's a cooked whelk. Can I eat one now?
33:23Yeah. Do you want me to take it out or you?
33:25I can do it. Can I honestly just eat it now?
33:35I'd like to join you, but I don't do them. With rice vinegar and mirin,
33:38I will, honestly, I'll shred the country for good whelks.
33:43The best thing about Simon's shop is it also caters for people from many different backgrounds.
33:48What about different types of communities? Do you find the Chinese community,
33:51the Asian community, are they ordering anything in particular?
33:53So yeah, the Asian community like the things like the sea bream and the sea bass,
33:57and traditionally mackerel, sardines and trout, rainbow trout, they're traditional.
34:02And we sell an awful lot of salmon heads and salmon bones and salmon bellies,
34:06which the Philippine and Thai customers, they like, because they make a soup and...
34:11You can just keep going with a salmon head, can't you? Well, the thing is, you know,
34:14the cheeks are the best part of the fish, you know, and it's...
34:17We pay over the odds, don't we, in a restaurant for the cod cheeks or whatever.
34:19Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that monkfish there, the cheeks will be huge in there.
34:23As a chef, the choice in Simon's fishmongers is so overwhelming,
34:28so I need a little more time to decide what fish I need for my next recipe.
34:39Shopping locally is a powerful way to contribute to the wellbeing and longevity of a community.
34:44I have such a passion for fish and seafood, fresh, fresh, fresh and local,
34:48and the person that does that best is Simon from Wardfish. So I have been using him for years.
34:54I used him when I started my first restaurant and I will always remain loyal to him because he's
34:58so conscientious and he gets the best produce, the most delicious fish.
35:04But Simon is one of the last remaining fishmongers on the Wirral.
35:08What's going on, Simon? What's that about? Is that people don't really know how to cook fish?
35:13People are frightened of the whole fish, so we're happy to prepare the fish for them.
35:17Yeah.
35:18A lot of people are used to just buying a ready portion piece of fish in the supermarket,
35:22but it doesn't taste the same as having a fish prepared off the bone.
35:25Look at these beautiful things and the heads and the tails and the bones and all of that and the skin.
35:30Some of the uglier ones are the tastiest.
35:33Tasty is just what I'm after because I'm here to find ingredients for a special recipe.
35:38Can I tell you what I want to do, fishmonger? Mine.
35:41I want to do some tandoori fish.
35:46Okay.
35:46So I might do it on a barbecue, might do it in an oven.
35:49So what's my best bet then in terms of it holding together, firmness, ability to take the spice?
35:54Do you think monkfish?
35:55Monfish, which is this little beauty.
36:01Like that.
36:02That's incredible.
36:02Landed yesterday, here today.
36:05Gosh, Simon, that's amazing.
36:07It landed yesterday and it's here today.
36:09I would love the tail.
36:10So tell me, where does the tail end?
36:13The tail, monkfish is one of those fish, it's just the head and the tail.
36:16Right.
36:16So the tail starts there, it's just down, and all this is, that's the cheek there,
36:21you see the cheek? There's two cheeks and the tail there.
36:25And that's just one bone?
36:26That's just one piece of cartilage to the middle.
36:28So there's no small bones, so there's no chance of any small bones in your dish.
36:33That's a tail of one, which is all skinned and prepped.
36:37Yeah.
36:37Like that.
36:38Beautiful.
36:39What do you do with the head then?
36:40To the head.
36:41So we would take the cheeks out of the head and we'd sell the cheeks
36:44and make a stock with the heads.
36:46Amazing.
36:47I'm going to get a nice big monkfish tail then, I think, please.
36:51Sometimes known as the poor man's lobster,
36:53monkfish might not be the best looking fish,
36:55but it's meaty and succulent texture is just what I'm after.
37:00Lovely.
37:01Amazing.
37:01Enjoy.
37:02I will see you soon.
37:03Take care.
37:03Thanks a lot.
37:03Nice to see you soon.
37:07I love it when people are as passionate about food as I am.
37:12And I think the most delicious recipe to honour Simon's monkfish
37:14involves lots of spices and a big grill.
37:18Smoky, tangy and slightly sweet,
37:21my tandoori monkfish is a real showstopper.
37:25You need a good tandoori recipe up your sleeve.
37:27Tandoori is fantastic because it goes in the oven,
37:30it goes under the grill,
37:31but it's at its best on a barbecue.
37:35Tandoori usually refers to a marinated meat
37:37cooked on a high heat in a tandoor oven.
37:40But if, like me, you don't have one of those in your back garden,
37:43a barbecue is a great alternative for cooking this monkfish.
37:48I mean, it's gorgeous.
37:50Look at that.
37:51It's got one central bone,
37:53so you're not dicing with bones as you eat it.
37:56It's really meaty and it takes spice particularly well.
38:00And it...
38:01Oh, hello.
38:04OK, while that's happening,
38:07I'm going to peel some garlic and ginger.
38:09My husband's timey isn't always great.
38:11Hello, sir.
38:12Hello.
38:13I think you...
38:14Are you deciding to mow the lawn while I'm cooking?
38:16Is that what's happening here?
38:17I'm cooking a quick-fire tandoori monkfish on the barbecue.
38:21On the barbecue?
38:22On the barbecue.
38:23What are you going to do, mow the lawn?
38:25Uh, probably, uh, yes, but in the back where you can't hear me.
38:28Yeah, that might be good, yeah.
38:31OK, J-Hall, nice to see you.
38:33OK, I'm both done.
38:34I'll see you later.
38:35OK, let me see if it works.
38:37This is my mum's old lawnmower.
38:43This is her heirloom.
38:45Can we do this again at the start?
38:46Why?
38:49Do you know why it's not working?
38:51Because he gets the lawnmower and he drives it around like a teenage boy up and down the hills at 90 miles an hour.
38:59Thankfully, my husband is finally out of earshot so I can start on my tandoori marinade.
39:12Garlic and ginger, as much as you can be bothered to peel and grate.
39:15Honestly, it is delicious.
39:19So, do you know why I love monkfish so much?
39:21Because it was always a bit of a, crazily enough, a poor relative in the fish world.
39:28And do you know why?
39:29Because of its face.
39:30Because it was so ugly.
39:31They went through a period where people would not buy and eat monkfish because of its grimace,
39:37which is awful, really.
39:39So, what they did, fishmongers, to get rid of it is they used to take the meat off the bone and use it as scampi.
39:47And now it's one of the finest fish that you can buy and one of the most sought after.
39:54So, I really love that story about monkfish.
39:57But I have to say, for me, it's a bit of a luxury.
40:00Because the amount of meat that you get off, it's a great, great fish if you've got many mouths to feed.
40:06The base for many tandoori dishes is yoghurt, but I'm sticking to olive oil,
40:10which I'm adding to the bowl with my garlic and ginger.
40:13I like olive oil for this because this is one of the places where you can actually taste the oil.
40:18And I quite like that delicate flavour of olive oil.
40:21The oil will help stop my monkfish from sticking to the grill.
40:25It needs a good pinch of salt before going in with my spices.
40:28I'm going to mainly use sweet paprika powder.
40:31Now, that is going to give me that lovely colour.
40:35So, a good couple of teaspoons of sweet paprika powder.
40:38This is cumin powder.
40:39Cumin powder is going to give it that gruff, citrusy, woody, wake-me-up flavour.
40:47Then I want that lovely herby flavour.
40:49And that comes from coriander powder.
40:51So, coriander powder is just ground coriander seeds.
40:55So, we go in with a bit of that.
40:58Now, we go in with a little bit of turmeric.
41:02I'm also bringing warmth with some chilli powder.
41:05Do not be afraid. Just a little bit.
41:09Dharam masala.
41:11That's definitely going to give it that final belt.
41:13And lemon for acidity.
41:14A bit of lemon wakes everything up.
41:17Let's give that a little mix.
41:22I have to get my nose in there, sorry.
41:26That's already a cracking tandoori marinade.
41:29Which means it's ready for the star of the show.
41:32Here's my beautiful piece of monkfish.
41:34Now, can you see it's extremely fleshy here?
41:39What I find helps with marinades and monkfish
41:43is if you slash the flesh like this.
41:48I'm not going to go all the way to the bottom because it's got to go on the barbecue.
41:51These slashes will help the marinade fully penetrate the fish.
41:55But it's time to get my hands dirty.
41:59We take a bit of the marinade, chase it up the spine, and we rub it into those crevices like that.
42:08Any marinade with lemon in.
42:10The longer you can leave it, the better.
42:13But the truth is, these are such powerful aromatic spices that already this fish will be delicious.
42:22But I just want to give them a last squeeze of lemon because that just helps drive the spice in.
42:28One, and then I'm going to wash my hands.
42:31The monkfish needs to be fully coated with that delicious tandoori marinade.
42:35Then it's ready for the grill.
42:38What I'm going to do is I'm going to put the fish directly on the heat onto the direct fire like this.
42:44And it's going to have four minutes either side.
42:48Already smells amazing.
42:50And that's going to seal it.
42:52It's going to char it.
42:53It's going to begin the cook towards the middle.
42:57And then when it's had its four minutes either side, I'm going to take it off and I'm going to put it on a foil kind of boat.
43:03And put it on the indirect heat, just so that it can finish the cook.
43:18And another four minutes.
43:19Here we go.
43:24The monkfish should be starting to pick up a nice char.
43:27Can you see it's coming away from the bone, which means it's getting done.
43:31Right now it's going to go for safe keeping into its foil boat.
43:40So flip it over.
43:43There we go.
43:46Okay.
43:47So what I want to do, I'm just protecting it a little bit.
43:52I'm allowing it to still sit in those delicious juices that are going to come out.
43:57So those juices will help in the cooking process.
44:00But I want it open because I do want it to be barbecued.
44:04It's going to go back in on the indirect heat there.
44:07And we shut that in eight to ten minutes and it's done.
44:18And when the monkfish is cooked.
44:21Nice.
44:21We've got a nice bit of colour on this.
44:23It just needs to rest for a few minutes to prevent the fish from drying out.
44:27While that's resting, can I show you a really clever trick that just gives fish the most incredible instant flavour.
44:33In a pan, a little bit of olive oil.
44:37Into that oil, we go with our sweet paprika powder.
44:41The paprika complements the sweet flavour of the monkfish.
44:44And we really want that to bubble.
44:46It begins to darken.
44:48Continue to give that a minute.
44:49In the meantime, let's get the fish onto the plate.
44:55And for a little extra drama.
44:56Right, nice and blackened, we go over.
45:06That smells amazing.
45:07I'm finishing my monkfish with a squeeze of lemon and a little salt.
45:14And finally, just for that little flick of green and that little pep of zest, a bit of lime.
45:24And now, the taster.
45:32That is so good.
45:35So meaty.
45:36And you've got the crunch of the salt.
45:37You've got the smoke of the paprika.
45:39You've got the spices coming in and chasing those flavours through.
45:43It's absolutely, absolutely delicious.
45:49My tandoori monkfish would be a tasty addition to any barbecue.
45:52It's also the perfect way to celebrate the hard work of my fishmonger Simon.
45:58And life on the Wirral.
46:00But if my husband fancies this for dinner, he needs to finish that mowing.
46:03Have a great day.
46:05Again, have a great day.
46:20Our three for dinner.
46:21Be grateful for this year.
46:24Himself, My medicine had really spent the last year's misery.
46:25Have a great day.
46:27We love the breakfast tonic all day.
46:29Have a great day.
46:30Have a great day.
46:30Have a great day.
46:31Have a great day.
46:31Have a great day.
46:32Have a great day.
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