Wales Nadiya's British Food Adventure

I'm a busy mum and I cook every day, so I try to keep my food exciting.

Anybody hungry?

I like to experiment with new flavours and ingredients.

Is it yummy?

But I've always wanted to find out more about the food

I feed my family.

So in this series,

I'm travelling the length and breadth of the country

to meet the fishermen...

There's a Dover sole.

You've got a fish!

..the farmers...

Has anyone ever gone in?

Yeah, I have!

..the chefs and the producers who go the extra mile to make British food

some of the best in the world.

-Super!

-Yes! Look!

I'll explore some familiar foods...

That is so pretty.

I feel totally inspired.

And try some that are totally new.

You have to be completely bonkers to cook like this.

And I'll be creating brand-new recipes...

So sweet.

..inspired by their produce...

Hope you're hungry. Smells amazing.

..as I go on my British Food Adventure.

For the final leg of my food adventure, I'll be in Wales,

rustling up one of the country's most iconic ingredients.

Jack, stand! Stand!

Or trying to!

And I'll be discovering a surprise ingredient you'd never dream of.

There's a knack to this rose shimmy, isn't there?

Rose shimmy, absolutely.

It's like filling a doughnut.

But before I head off,

I'm going to show you my own special take on a sweet Welsh staple.

The first time I ever visited Wales,

the one memory that sticks with me is my first taste of Welsh cakes.

Now, these are these sugary, crisp on the outside,

slightly doughy in the middle, delicious...

not quite cakes, not quite scones, I'm not even sure if it's a biscuit.

I'm not really sure what it is, but they're absolutely delicious.

The classic Welsh cake is flavoured with mixed spice and raisins,

but I'm going off piste and flavouring mine with fennel seeds

and blueberries and serving them with a blueberry coulis.

I'm going to start with plain flour.

I'm going to add golden caster sugar,

half a teaspoon of baking powder.

Now for my fruity raisin substitute, dried blueberries.

These are gorgeous, they are lovely, sweet, slightly tangy.

And now for the fennel seeds.

Now this is definitely the non-traditional part

of the recipe and anybody who is Welsh, and is watching,

will probably need some convincing, but I think they work.

The fennel will give the Welsh cakes a warm, aniseed hit.

Now, I want to crush them up enough but not turn it to a fine powder,

otherwise it will overwhelm the whole thing.

What you want to do is bite into one and get a sudden pop of fennel

in your mouth and that's going to take that Welsh cake

to a whole other level.

I've got some butter.

Just using my fingertips and just rubbing that butter in

until the mixture resembles, sort of, breadcrumb.

To bind that all together, I'm adding an egg and some milk.

Now, this is a great recipe.

If you're not a keen baker, you can still do these

and say you made cake, so it's a good place to start.

Just knead that, not for long,

just till you've got what looks like quite a smooth dough.

Roll out to a centimetre thick.

You'll see some of these won't come up.

Just use an offset spatula.

I don't go anywhere without one.

I actually have one of these in my handbag at all times.

Welsh cakes are traditionally cooked on a hot plate.

A nonstick frying pan will do the same job.

Brush the top with a little bit of butter.

Just grab your little Welsh cakes and drop them straight in.

Hear that little sizzle?

Just a little sizzle, a little baby sizzle.

That's all you want.

These need to be cooked really gently

so these would take about three minutes on each side.

There is just time to whip up a quick coulis.

I'm blending blueberries, icing sugar and the juice of half a lemon.

Now, if you want to match your blueberry coulis to your outfit,

that is, again, optional, but that is how I roll.

Pour the coulis through a sieve to ensure it's silky smooth.

Now your Welsh cake should be ready for flipping.

So at this point, I pick my ugliest one.

Yeah, he's my test one, he's the ugliest.

There you go. That is what you want, a gorgeous, even, golden colour.

And now turn each one round.

You can see they are getting darker the longer I leave them.

Oh, it's like a race against time!

You know they're done when you've got them crisp on the bottom,

crisp on the top and when you just push them down,

you've got a slight kind of squishiness in the middle.

Right, this is the best bit.

Grab these, they're really hot, and throw them straight

into your sugar.

I myself cannot resist a good Welsh cake.

Mm. Excuse me while I have another 24.

Mm.

Happy days.

When I think of Wales, apart from Welsh cakes,

I think of the gorgeous sweeping countryside

and one of its most famous ingredients, lamb.

I'm heading to the Brecon Beacons National Park,

which does its bit to confirm the fact that in Wales,

there are three sheep for every person.

I'm here on a beautiful Welsh hillside

to see if I've got what it takes to be a sheep farmer.

I've had experience of working on my grandfather's farm in Bangladesh,

looking after buffalo, but sheep are a whole new ball game.

I'm meeting up with Richard Roderick,

a third-generation sheep farmer who tends 1,000 ewes and their lambs.

-Hi, Richard.

-Hello, Nadiya.

-Pleased to meet you.

-And you.

-Who is this?

-This young man is Jack.

Hello, Jack.

He's only just two years old.

-Only two?

-Yeah.

Is this your partner in crime?

Yes, Jack is a huntaway cross collie dog.

He's just learning the ropes.

-Is it tricky learning how to move sheep?

-No.

-No?

No, they're great. The grass is always greener in a sheep's mind.

Does he get treats for doing it right?

Well, we can arrange something later.

Can we? Cos I take well to treats well.

-Jelly sweets, mainly.

-Well, I'll check my pockets.

Could you, please?

Richard's ewes produce around 1,800 lambs a year,

which go to market anywhere from three months to a year old.

We are standing on the lushest of grass that I've ever seen.

Does this make a difference to the actual lamb?

This has a huge influence on the lamb.

We've got the natural rainfall, we get plenty of it,

and you've got a mix of herbs, grasses and clovers

and that puts a unique flavour into the lamb.

The lambs spend every waking hour grazing

and need to be regularly moved around the 260 acres.

Open the gate.

Jack's already halfway through his training,

but it's my first day at sheepdog school.

So what we'll do, we'll give him a "come by" command,

which will send him around to the left and when we go to the right,

-we're going to say "away."

-Come by.

That's right, come by. Left.

-And away.

-To the right.

-Right.

-And then if we want him to stop, we try "stand."

So is there a particular tone of voice that I have to use?

Extremely stern when you're trying to stop him.

-Stand.

-That's good.

Yeah? Stand!

That's even better. You're frightening me now!

It's just three simple commands.

This should be a piece of cake.

Jack, come by, come by, Jack.

-Try the come by.

-Come by!

Come by! Come by!

Slow him down a bit with a stand.

Stand!

-And again.

-Stand!

-Oh, he wants to go.

-Try again.

Jack, stand! Stand!

I think I need to call in reinforcements.

Stand, Jack!

Stand! Good boy! That'll do!

How are you and Jack best friends? That was quite furious, that was!

He'll still be my friend.

The lambs and the ewes are where they need to be,

but I don't think I can take much credit.

Jack is very good. Seriously enthusiastic.

They're very content.

They have moved to their fresh pasture and they will be very happy

here, probably, for the best part of a week.

I'm standing here and I have a recipe for every single lamb

that I could do right now. Do you like a lamb bhuna, though?

-I love a lamb bhuna.

-Well, you know what?

-I think I'm going to make you a lamb bhuna.

-Sounds great.

This farming lark certainly gives you a hearty appetite,

and when I'm hungry, I crave curry.

I'm going to make Richard and his family my quick lamb bhuna,

and although it's speedy to rustle up,

it doesn't skimp on rich, classic curry spices.

I grew up on curry and when I was learning how to cook a curry,

it was a little bit intimidating because it's a long, slow,

drawn-out process, but now that I've got three kids,

I also like to make it really, really quickly.

And the secret to my speedy curry is a rich paste,

whizzed up in a food blender.

I've got a fair few cloves of garlic here.

That's ten cloves going in.

I always make enough paste for two meals,

which makes your next curry even faster to prepare.

The amount of ginger going in here, definitely not going to get a cold.

In goes 50 grams of ginger.

What's a curry without a little bit of chilli?

I quite like using these chilies because they're not that spicy,

but they're that lovely, fiery red

and that's going to add to the colour.

This is the point where you get to choose how much you want to put in.

I'm adding four quite small onions, so if you like a much sweeter curry,

just add more onions.

For flavour, I'm using two large peppers.

Quarter it and then leave all the seeds in.

They don't have a spice, but they have a lovely fragrance.

I can already smell a curry happening.

In Wales. On the hillside.

With the sheep bleating.

Season with two teaspoons of salt...

..one teaspoon of ground cinnamon.

So I would always use the cinnamon in a meat or chicken curry,

but never in a fish curry, just unheard of.

I've got some turmeric.

Of course, turmeric and curry, best friends.

A teaspoon.

And then curry powder.

I'm adding four teaspoons and to combine all those gorgeous flavours

into a paste, I'm using olive oil.

About 200 ml.

It seems like a lot of oil, but it is a curry paste,

so I'm not going to add any oil when I'm cooking.

And then I'm going to add some water to it.

100 ml will do it.

Top on.

And keep blitzing that until you've got a smooth paste.

It looks like a curry.

Let's have a look.

Definitely smells like one.

So I'm going to add half the paste to the pan

so the paste needs about ten minutes to cook.

As it cooks, the paste will get richer,

darker and much thicker.

Times when I trust my husband to cook for the kids,

it's so easy to just make up a paste like this

and then just leave him to it, cos even he can't mess this up!

I'm all for making life easy and I always have several curry pastes

standing by in the fridge or freezer.

There's a really important trick when you're cooking a curry.

You've got those bubbly oily bits around the edge,

and that means the spices have cooked out,

so there's no risk of eating raw spice.

That paste is done. Time for the star of the show,

Richard's new season lamb.

This is leg of lamb. Mix that lamb in.

This initial ten minute cook will infuse the flavours.

My mum's curries take hours to cook.

But this is a delicious dish with a fraction of the effort.

Add some water.

Pop a lid on, and that just takes 30 minutes.

Mum, did you hear me?

Just 30 minutes.

That's perfect.

It has become deep and rich and thickened

and that's what a bhuna should look like.

Chopped coriander, pop that in.

There's no need to go to a takeaway,

not if you can do it in about 40 minutes.

That is my speedy lamb bhuna served with buttered naan bread

and natural yoghurt.

-Hi, guys.

-Hello.

I just hope Richard and his family love it as much as I do.

Welsh lamb bhuna anybody?

-Sounds lovely.

-Smells delicious.

-Right.

-Thank you.

I've been looking forward to this all day.

-Lovely.

-Gorgeous.

-That's really nice.

-I'm glad you're enjoying it but I definitely don't

have a shepherd's voice just yet, do I?

I have to say, I'm a little bit in love with Jack.

Well, thumbs up from Jack!

Yum. Well, he deserved that.

-Oh, he's back for more.

-Good job.

Lamb is a Welsh classic but I've also discovered

that Wales is home to an ingredient

you're more likely to see in the Middle East.

I'm heading to a rainy Monmouthshire

where the quintessential British rose is being turned

into a fragrant rose water.

Rose water is one of my most favourite ingredients.

It can add a subtle flavour to sweet and savoury dishes

but when I think rose water, I think exotic, not Welsh hillside.

They promised me sunshine and we've got rain!

Desdemona and Denise are the only producers of edible rose water

in Britain. With a limited six-week harvest,

they've become accustomed to picking, whatever the weather.

Come on up, sorry it's a bit wet.

Is it always this wet?

Well, it can be, I have to admit.

You guys are tough rose pickers.

I'm going to put my umbrella away, seeing as you don't have one.

So, is there a particular way of picking?

Yes, the best thing to do is get your hand right behind the head

like that and you flick it off with your nail, like that.

Yes?

Ah.

So, are you picking every single day?

You've got to pick every single day because actually,

you should be picking the rose the day it bursts

because that's when it contains the most amount of rose oil.

So, this one is a really good example.

That's lovely and fresh.

It's really lush and pink.

So, wow, that's quite strong.

These beauties are damask roses and they are some of the most fragrant.

-Shall we go for it?

-I might go in there.

-Dive in.

The petals contain essential oils,

perfect for Desdemona and Denise's rose water.

Do you have different varieties of rose?

-Yes, that's the Alba Maxima.

-I'll never remember any of these names!

Don't worry, it's a white rose

but it's a particularly fragrant white rose

and you find it is a much fresher flavour,

-slightly more lemony, if you like.

-There we go.

Until the 17th century,

rose water was a popular flavouring in Britain

but the introduction of vanilla pushed roses' noses out of joint.

However, recently, rose water has been seeing a revival.

-How did it all start?

-It all started about seven years ago.

As I was coming down the drive,

I looked around at our clay soil and I thought,

I think roses would grow really well here.

I had no idea what I was doing, really.

I got chatting to my colleague, Denise, and Denise and I...

-She roped you in?

-Yeah, I got enthusiastic.

As we researched, we realised it was worth a try.

I can't wait to see how the rose water is produced.

We'll need to get changed.

You've got your shoes on already.

Hair nets next.

I don't need a hair net! I come ready prepared.

Excellent. Coat then.

-I'll put this on.

-It's a good look.

-Oh, thank you.

-You're very welcome.

Before being turned into rose water,

the flowers are placed in the deep freeze for at least a week.

That is a phenomenal smell.

This breaks down the petal structure and will help release

the fragrant oil during the distilling process.

This is a good season, right?

Oh, yes.

OK, let's take them through.

It all happens in this sterile back room...

There we go on there.

..where modern and ancient worlds collide in this copper still.

It looks a bit medieval.

Well, it is based on the traditional style.

-Wait till we've set it all up.

-Oh, let's go. What next?

Rose petals in here?

Yes, shimmy the roses in.

Each kilo of petals will create one litre of rose water.

-There you go.

-There's a knack to this rose shimmy, isn't there?

The rose shimmy, absolutely.

It's like filling a doughnut.

-Is it?

-It's like you have to feel to see whether it's full or not.

-OK.

You want enough water for the roses to be able to circulate

because if you don't do that, then you risk your still exploding.

-Ah.

-We don't want that.

No, we don't want that. Has it ever happened?

Once. Yes, it's not a pretty sight!

So, you can use the spoon.

Oh! Can I just appreciate that spoon for a second please?

Yes, it's gorgeous, isn't it?

It is as tall as me.

It is nearly, isn't it?

Look. Just a little bit more and that's me.

That's shameful.

That's it, a bit of a prod.

Not too much to upset the roses but you'll get an idea

of how much water you've got in there.

The principles of rose water distillation have remained the same

for centuries.

Pop that on the top.

When the water is heated, the steam passes through the petals,

bursting their cells, enriching the steam with plant compounds.

We're ready to go.

Including microscopic particles of rose oil.

When it heats up, the steam rises,

the steam passes through the swan neck and down to this point

and that cold water makes the steam condense

-into what is going to be the rose water.

-OK.

And yeah, we sit and wait and you'll eventually see it come trickling out

into the bottle.

-Shall we play I Spy?

-Go on, then.

I spy with my little eye something beginning with R.

It's really obvious.

-Roses?

-Yeah.

-You can't see any now!

-We know they're in there.

-That's cheating.

Believe me, you can play a lot of I Spy in an hour.

Oh, here we go.

It's starting. You can smell the difference, can't you?

-Yeah.

-It's all going to happen any minute now.

It's so strong.

It is, isn't it?

It's really intense.

There it goes. So it just trickles out.

It's exciting.

It is, it is.

I can't wait to use some of Desdemona's rose water

but this batch is out of bounds for the recipe I have in mind.

Like a fine wine, rose water needs to mature for at least six weeks,

so, I'm raiding the stores.

Oh, wow!

I love using intense flavourings and I have the perfect recipe

to showcase Desdemona and Denise's rose water.

That is very cool.

Good.

I just hope they approve.

I'm going to use this beautiful Welsh rose water

to flavour one of my family's favourite puddings, raspberry fool.

This simple dessert has a hint of the exotic.

Delicious stewed raspberries rippled through a sweet rose flavoured cream

and topped with toasted coconut and beautiful crystallised rose petals.

So, I'm going to start with the raspberries first.

I'm stewing the raspberries on a medium heat.

A squeeze of lemon juice and that just helps preserve

that lovely pink colour.

To make the raspberries extra sweet, I'm adding caster sugar.

Just squash up some of the fruit.

I want some big bits and some little bits.

As that sugar melts, it will get syrupy and thick.

That needs boiling down for 15 minutes.

Time for me to create some simple but effective decorations using

Desdemona's edible rose petals.

These are so simple to make.

Egg white and then just dipped in sugar and left to dry.

To be honest, if I'm making these,

I can't stop my children from just eating them as they are.

They've even got a heart-shaped one.

I prefer my petals properly crystallised

so I'll be using ones that I made 24 hours ago.

I'm going to get started with the cream and this is the simplest bit

by far.

I'm whipping up double cream to soft peaks,

then adding sugar and unsweetened Greek yoghurt.

That just makes the whole thing a little bit lighter.

And now for the moment I've been waiting for,

adding my stunning Welsh rose water.

That is potent, that is strong,

so it's all about making sure that you haven't added too much

because I've met loads of people who don't like rose water.

They say, I don't like rose water,

because they've tasted something in the past that is full

and it's just taken over the flavour of the whole of the dessert

so I think it's just about tasting a little bit at a time.

Have a taste.

I reckon no more than one teaspoon of rose water per 100ml of cream.

I think that's rosy enough.

The raspberries are now cool.

I don't want to mix it all in.

You want ripples of that creamy rose and then you want that tangy,

sweet raspberry.

It definitely does look like I've gone to a lot of effort

but you and I both know it's simple.

It's cream and a bit of fruit.

I'm topping it with fresh raspberries,

toasted coconut shavings...

This just adds another layer.

..and my crystallised rose petals.

That's going to add texture, flavour, but look at the colour.

I can't wait to see what Desdemona,

her daughter, and Denise think of my rose flavoured raspberry fool.

Here you go.

Dig in.

Absolutely delicious.

-It really is.

-Are you enjoying it?

That is really nice.

Do you think it does your rose water justice?

Definitely. Definitely.

The whole flavour comes together, it's lovely.

Wales is so exotic!

You definitely brought the exotic to Wales.

Thank you.

Wales is home to an exciting mix of surprising ingredients

and quintessentially British ones.

For my final recipe, I'm celebrating another fine Welsh offering,

something that may not immediately spring to mind.

Mussels.

I absolutely love mussels and Wales has a reputation

for producing some of the best.

My mussel recipe is perfect for a sharing platter.

I call them popcorn mussels because just like popcorn,

they are incredible moreish.

They're crisp on the outside, succulent in the middle,

and oh, so addictive.

I've cleaned a kilo of mussels.

I can see why people are slightly nervous of mussels.

It does sound like I'm just going to cook some rocks.

Straight in with some water.

Once the liquid at the bottom of the pan has come to the boil,

just turn it down and leave it for about three minutes.

Mussels really don't take very long.

When the mussel shells have opened up and the meat is still plump and

juicy, drain them off.

If any shells haven't opened, throw them away.

The first time I ever tried mussels,

my dad overcooked the mussels in a curry.

And it was the most foul thing I'd ever tasted.

It took me about 15 years before I could ever go back to mussels.

I want somebody to make me a mussel curry that actually tastes good.

I haven't tried one yet.

Toss your mussels in flour.

It's just going to give the batter something to cling onto.

And now for that batter.

In a bowl, mix flour, garlic and onion seasoning and baking powder.

And enough water to bring it together.

The kind of texture you're looking for is like a thick pancake batter.

Right, I'm kind of thinking about my mussel frying choreography here.

I'm frying with really hot oil,

I think it's really important to do everything in a line

so you're kind of going in, in, in, out, done.

So I think I'm going to move this over here

so I've got everything in a line.

I am good to go. I'll take my mussel, dip it in the batter,

put it in the oil and there you go, we've got a lovely little line.

Once you've got some in, just keep them moving around.

If you leave them in one spot, they will just brown on one side.

These look perfect.

Golden all over.

Drain them on my kitchen paper.

While they're still warm,

season them and this will help them to stay a lot crisper

for a lot longer.

Batch frying is a part of being Bangladeshi.

I've spent my whole life, for as long as I can remember,

watching my mum batch fry samosas, pakoras, fritters.

If every single batch is the exact same colour,

then you're a good friar.

That's my mum's rule.

These bite-size beauties go perfectly with a simple mayo dip,

spiced with paprika.

This is all dependent on how hot you want to make the dip.

A smidge of salt and a good handful of finely chopped chives.

Give it a mix. Easy as that.

Perfect.

My popcorn mussels with a spicy paprika chive mayo.

Once you start eating these, you really can't stop.

I'm sharing these moreish little morsels

with my sister and her children.

Do you want to try first?

-Yeah.

-Is that yummy?

Is that a thumbs up? Do you want some more?

Oh, you want some more?

My food adventure has taken me the length and breadth of Britain.

I've experienced some local specialities...

That is delicious.

Met some ingenious people...

-Smoky.

-Smoky.

And created some mouthwatering dishes.

Mm-mm.

My adventure has filled me with inspiration

which will stay with me and my food for ever.

Whoever is making those yummy sounds, thank you very much.

Mm, that's the sound!