Sharing Plates Nigel Slater: Eating Together

Walk through any British city

and you won't have far to go before you find some unfamiliar produce.

It's all too easy to walk past shops that are a bit different,

but I just can't resist having a look.

From Iranian to Italian, Malaysian to Moroccan,

food in this country has never been so exciting.

Oh, heavens! It's just so fresh and green.

Now, I want to meet some of the unsung heroes behind it all.

There's no better way to get an insight into people's lives

than through the food they eat.

Hello, how are you? How are you?

So, I'm going to join some of the brilliant home cooks that

have brought their cuisine, and culture, to Britain...

If yours is called the quick korma,

this should be called the slow korma.

..to find out what, why and how they cook.

When we cook, it's joy.

It's like making a little, little world again.

You've just changed my life. You do realise that, don't you?!

You learn now!

In exchange for the generosity of these home cooks, I'm going

to make my own dish, to put with theirs, in a celebration...

of what makes us so different but also what brings us together.

Food is about so much more than taste.

There are some dishes just designed to draw us together,

centre pieces that bring the table, and the people around it, to life.

I want to find out what recipes spark

a sense of occasion for cultures around the world.

North African food is a perfect place to start,

so there's no better place to go than Trowbridge.

This sleepy Wiltshire town is surprisingly home to

Britain's largest Moroccan community outside London.

Look around and there's absolutely no evidence of any north African

culture at all.

There's not even a little Moroccan cafe.

But in people's homes, it's a different matter.

I'm meeting Zoubida and her daughter, Halima, in time for tea.

-Hi.

-Hello, I'm Nigel.

-Nice to meet you, Nigel.

Now, this is not what I expect to find in the middle of Trowbridge.

Everybody drink sugar in it?

I like a little bit of sugar, yes.

There's a lot of sugar I have to put, that's three, four.

-Wow, you do put a lot of sugar in.

-A lot of sugar.

Oh, look at that.

-Mint.

-Oh, I love this stuff, I love it.

-Yeah, from my garden.

Why do you pour it from such a height?

If you put it high, it make bubbles.

When you make bubbles, it's really good tea. Try it.

That good or not?

-You need a bit of sugar?

-No, that's just perfect.

-OK. Thank you.

-Absolutely beautiful.

Thank you.

Zoubida arrived in Trowbridge in 1972, to join her husband.

He was one of many young Moroccans given a so-called alien passport,

permitting them to work in a local factory.

That's my mum when she came to the UK.

-Oh, this is so lovely.

-Thank you.

It must have been quite bleak here to arrive here in the winter,

-I have to say.

-Yeah, we come in winter, snow.

I never see that snow before.

Dad used to work long hours so she...

Cold, he used to work from six to six

and sometime to ten o'clock.

Only me in the house.

If somebody knock on door, I don't know what I said.

This must have been, actually, really a big shock.

It is, it is, when we first come, yes.

Like many families, they settled, and for Zoubida, there's no better

way to pass on her heritage than through food.

The iconic lamb tagine is a dish that beckons the whole

family to the table

and I'm keen to find out the secrets of its charm.

I think of this as almost like the ultimate sharing dish.

-Yeah, it is, yeah.

-It's the one that, kind of, everybody gets into.

Digs their fingers in, yeah.

I'm glad you're cooking in this because I've got one of these.

Mine's not as beautiful as yours,

but I'm terrified I'm going to break it.

Some of them do crack, but that one's actually been treated.

She puts it in a hot oven, leaves it in a hot oven.

-So it sort of seasons it.

-Yeah, yeah.

-Before I start using it.

So we've started with onions, browned the lamb a little bit.

We've put ground ginger, turmeric, saffron. What else have we put in?

-Cinnamon.

-And cinnamon, some sticks, yeah.

So these are quite gentle spices.

Yeah, they are gentle spices, unless you were going to do

something with a vegetable tagine, then maybe you wanted to

spice it up a bit, you'd put paprika and other spices on.

That's parsley and coriander.

-Parsley and coriander?

-A nice bouquet, left it there.

Gives it flavour.

While that cooks, we need to skin some blanched almonds.

-So this looks like a job for all the family.

-Yeah.

-Can I help?

-Yeah, please.

-She's usually doing it.

-I usually get forced to do it.

It's not the best of jobs.

But you like cooking though, don't you?

Yeah, I love cooking and I love learning from mum, because we're

lucky, everyone can cook but you can tell...

You know your mum's cooking and, yeah, she's fantastic, so...

Best person to learn from.

You should be careful because sometimes they pop.

They do, they ping all over the place. I know.

-Whoops!

-Just like that. Just like that.

The almonds will be fried and with prunes, softened in cinnamon

and sugar, with a bit of juice from the pot,

will go into the tagine to make the centrepiece of Zoubida's meal.

So what's this for?

It's for couscous. So did you like a couscous?

I love couscous.

Mum's going to show you how to make the actual grains.

You mean from scratch?

Yeah, from scratch, yeah.

-I've always bought it.

-Have you?

I have. I've always bought my couscous ready rolled.

So coarse semolina, with a bit of fine. Cold water.

-Is that ready now?

-It's nearly ready, that one.

Because I'd love to have a go.

How wrong can this go?

If you put too much water in, it could go...

If I put too much water in? OK.

-That's all right.

-Now you've got to use your hands.

-That's it that's plenty of water, I think.

-Is that plenty?

-Yeah.

Fast movements.

And just literally like this.

I like the way it comes together into lumps

and I love the smell, as well.

But to do this every day for a family?

-It's hard work.

-It's quite hard work, isn't it?

We used to, we used to when we came in to England

because we don't find any couscous here.

-So the semolina was here...

-Yeah, we find semolina.

..and that was easy to find because we had semolina pudding.

-Yeah, we're used to doing it.

-Zoubida, I've got lumps.

Yeah that's all right. That's fine. That's what those are for!

-Oh, we haven't finished then?

-Haven't done it yet.

All the big grains collect on that side,

so what she does is put some flour on and rubs it.

-Amazing.

-So it's near enough all the same size.

-Yes, all the same.

-Feel it, what they look like.

I love the fact that it's so even.

You've got rid of all my lumps.

Zoubida keeps her couscous fluffy, by steaming three times,

something she does to the packaged stuff too.

Couscous, you are supposed to steam it three times.

So, should I have been doing that with the couscous that I...?

You've just changed my life. You do realise that, don't you?

-You learn now.

-Before this wonderful meal can be shared,

the tagine needs a few of the now-plump prunes...

Oooh, look at that.

..and a scattering of almonds.

That's so pretty, Zoubida.

What I'm loving is the smell of the nuts as much as anything.

In the background, there's those lovely sweet spices

and the cinnamon.

It's the combination of spectacular tagine and the array of other

dishes like newly baked flatbread, the freshest couscous I've ever

seen, spicy carrot and a crisp salad that draws everyone to the table.

Look at this sauce.

That is gorgeous!

Zoubida's food is about more than just eating.

It's about being together.

It's food that you dip into, the table comes alive

and it's this moment and it's this food and it's fabulous.

A Moroccan tagine isn't the only dish to spark a sense of occasion.

For me, the meal that everything stops for as you get round

the table with the people you love is the good old Sunday roast.

Like Zoubida's dish, what makes this special, is the glorious

centre piece surrounded by trimmings everyone loves diving into.

I've got a piece of pork here.

It's the roast meat I love above all others.

I'm going to rub some salt into the skin.

I want a crackling top to my pork roast

and the only real way to get that, is buy a good piece of pork

and to make sure that the skin's dry before it goes in the oven.

Wet pork won't crisp.

Now, a roast isn't a roast without a really meaty gravy.

What I've got here are some pork ribs.

They're not expensive and there is so much flavour there.

Brown the ribs on all sides.

Then in go some roughly chopped carrots and onions.

Caramelise the edges and then you need liquid, I like chicken stock.

And those bones, with all their meat and all their flavour,

will enrich that chicken stock

and you'll end up with the most fabulous liquor, you could imagine.

Add a few bay leaves and some whole black peppercorns,

then let it simmer.

And, yes, Sunday lunch is about that big joint of meat,

sharing it with all friends and family.

For me, it's about the bits on the side.

And the one I always reach for is bread sauce.

It's traditionally made with milk warmed with an onion studded

with cloves and bay leaves.

But this is bread sauce with a difference.

A couple more cloves. This time into an apple.

Add a cinnamon stick and when it's nice and hot,

in go plenty of breadcrumbs.

The longer these flavours are together,

the tastier the sauce will be.

Now, the meat that's on those ribs, I'm going to put that to good use.

So I'm just going to slice the meat off these bones,

and finely chopped, return it to the gravy.

To finish off the bread sauce, grate in some fresh apple,

then add a knob of butter.

That smells like a cross between mulled cider

and the best bread sauce in the world.

Just look at this.

All that crackling, all that luscious meat underneath.

That little bit of wobbly fat.

This is the meal we share with our friends, with our family,

this is the one that gets everyone round the table.

It's what we're known for, it's what we do so well.

The great British roast.

From Sunday roast to lamb tagine, these dishes aren't

just about the atmospheres they create, they're about heritage.

They've made their mark on us, and the same is true the world over.

Lovely.

I love all your things, everything smells so good.

I've invited Bobby to show me an Indonesian speciality

and the secret, it seems, is all about the pairing of ingredients.

Jahe, serai. One pair.

One pair. Ah, proper big spring onions.

Spring onions, that's always paired with parsley.

Spring onion and parsley, OK. A bit like salt and pepper.

Yeah, that's one pairing.

This is really interesting because I had no idea about this at all.

It makes total sense, the pairing of ingredients,

but I never realised the extent to which that is in Indonesian food.

In Indonesia, food is symbolic of the good health

and prosperity you wish for your guests.

This whole fish is prepared with a delicate

balance of 18 different spices.

So we're talking about the right amount of spice for the right fish,

but, I mean, how much is the right amount?

Right, that's what I learned from my mum.

We never used teaspoon, we never used tablespoon,

we just used pinch, just use your heart.

Pinch this, pinch that.

It depends on you, depends on me when I'm cooking.

And who you're cooking for, who you're sharing your meal with.

-Of course.

-I love spice pastes. So are you going to start with that?

Yep, I will start.

We're toasting all sorts, from white pepper and nutmeg,

to cumin and coriander seeds, ground to a paste with shallots,

fresh turmeric and tamarind.

So this is your big sharing dish that we're making?

Yes, usually we have a big fish, like a really big tuna or something.

So you can share for three, four, five or sometimes seven.

When I came to UK, for the first time ten years ago,

I thought, oh, it might be quite difficult to get friends come round

or something like that, but, no.

Not with that spice paste. It smells so good.

-Absolutely beautiful.

-I think that's done for the paste.

Bobby grew up on the island of Java where his family still live,

but a decade ago, after 11 years with his partner,

he moved permanently to Leicester.

Exquisite dishes like this have become firm favourites

with his new friends.

The fish is lavished with lime juice and the spicy paste and then

stuffed with the time honoured pairing of spring onion and parsley.

-This is a very fragrant cuisine, isn't it?

-I know.

Incredible. I'm getting all these sort of...

It's like therapy, all this waft of wonderful, wonderful

scents and smells and spices.

Let's wrap it up.

A banana leaf locks in delicate flavours,

while the fish steams in its own juices, and, like my Sunday roast,

this beautiful centre piece wants something special on the side.

So, did you first start cooking, in Indonesia or only here?

In Indonesia, of course.

Mum cooks but when I moved to UK, that's all I really, really,

desperate, if you can't cook, you end up, like, starving.

I mean, did you cook to remind you?

Yeah. That's what I'm always thinking about.

Mmm, it's like what we remember when we live in Indonesia.

-I forget that Indonesia is made up of so many islands.

-Yes.

-I mean I know obviously know Java, Sumatra, Bali...

-Borneo.

..and Borneo.

And the biggest Borneo part is in Indonesia. And Commodore Islands.

-Yeah, Timor.

-Timor.

-Papua.

-But each island will have influences from other countries.

-Yes.

-It's a very exciting cuisine.

-Yes.

We're making a vibrant vegetable dish, for which we'll need

another fragrant paste.

-A pinch of salt.

-Because the salt actually stops these

-things shooting about, doesn't it?

-Yeah.

-We knew I'd do that.

-Let me finish it off.

-Thank you. He was a bit slippery.

-I know.

Oh, well!

Shallots and turmeric join ginger and lemon grass, before we add

rice wine vinegar, coconut milk and a pinch of sugar.

-So about that much?

-More I think, Nigel. Don't be so stingy.

Finally, the veg need just a few minutes to soften.

What utterly dazzling food! How beautiful is that!

And that last little seasoning of rice wine vinegar there.

Hello sweetheart! You look fantastic. I love you.

Bobbie's sea bass is stunning, and I can see it means a lot to him

to share it.

When I serve fish like this to all my friends with it all still

steaming, with all the spice, it's fantastic.

I'm so happy with that.

This delicious recipe has travelled 6,000 miles

to Bobbie's new home in Leicester.

Thankfully, for my next feast I don't have to travel very far.

This is Ridley Road market in East London,

where you can find produce from all corners of the Earth

and I've come to meet Zoe, who's been shopping here for ten years.

-Cheers.

-Hello.

-Hi there!

-Nice stuff!

I know. It's got all the stuff here.

So you are going to show me what delights are on my doorstep,

-aren't you?

-Yes, I am.

-Do you know, I'm seven minutes away.

-Honestly, it took me seven minutes to get here.

-Really?

Talk about my doorstep. I genuinely... It's crazy!

-Have you not been to Ridley Road before?

-Not shopping.

OK, well, let's go. Let's check it out.

Zoe was born and raised in South East London,

but her father is from Ghana.

She uses this market to get hold of some of the ingredients

he cooked when she was small.

When I was younger, my dad used to come home

with these interesting ingredients.

So he did some of the cooking?

He did some cooking and yeah, I had this real interest in the food.

It was so strange and unusual.

As I've got older, I've realised that the food which I've

carried on cooking has been a very strong connection to

a culture that I wasn't very much exposed to growing up.

Zoe's curiosity about her roots has turned into a passion.

She loves hosting get togethers over dishes that have

made their mark in Ghana.

I mean, the main thing I get here is particular spices and peppers.

They have lots of different bits and bobs here.

So this is Waakye leaves, this is ground fish powder,

this is gari, which is a type of ground cassava.

These little things are called guinea peppers.

-Is that a hot pepper?

-It's got a little bit of heat.

-It's got kind of a nutmeg-y vibe.

-Ooh!

I do want to get some whole crayfish as well.

Zoe's showing me her version of one of West Africa's national

dishes - Jolof with spicy plantain, or Kelewele,

and a hot shito sauce, which starts with those little guinea peppers.

So, the thing to do, is hold it with some weight.

Have you ever used one of those before, that, kind of...?

-I'm sure

-you have? Do you know? I haven't. So like that?

Yeah, and then gently work it round and around.

That's it, just open them up.

These are tough little chappies.

I know. Sorry, I did give you a hard job.

-Oh, an amazing smell, though.

-It's great, isn't it?

It is wonderful.

Like Bobby's food, this is all about unique blends of spices.

Starting with guinea pepper, ginger, thyme and a dollop of tomato puree.

Add a teaspoon of salt. And we've got...

-I'm sorry!

-120g of chilli powder.

-120?

-I mean, we're not messing around.

-This is going to be a hot...

-120g of chilli powder!

Oh, beautiful, look at that.

The colour's great.

So we've got some ground crayfish, a whole pack, please

and then some ground prawns.

So these are the little whole little chaps? Oh, look at them.

They're just so cute!

Yeah, well, they're tasty as hell I know that much.

This shito takes around 40 minutes

and will make a great accompaniment for the Jolof,

which kicks off by simmering chicken drumsticks in a spicy broth.

It's thyme, ginger, garlic, onion, guinea peppers,

scotch bonnets, some salt. I'm just going to add a little

bit of crayfish now and that's part of the flavour people expect.

The chicken will go into the oven to crisp and the remaining broth

and its characteristic flavours, will go into a sauce for the rice

to cook in. Brilliant.

And then we can make our tomato sauce.

This is what transforms plain white rice to the bright red spicy Jolof,

popular throughout West Africa and for Zoe,

it's a reminder of where her love of Ghanaian food began.

I think I was about ten or 11 and I was like,

"Dad, how do you know when that's cooked?"

And then he looked at me, he looked at the pot and then

he looked at the splash back and he said,

"When it's splashing up there, it's done."

So it was like, OK, and to be honest, for a long time,

it's how I knew the sauce was ready,

was when it was sploshing up on the wall.

Onion, chilli, tomato and tomato puree are whizzed up

and added to a pan of more onion, with chilli and curry powder.

Then, some of that distinctive chicken broth and after

20 minutes of simmering, add plain, uncooked white rice.

-So you stir that in?

-Yes, really thoroughly stir that in

and make sure it's coated as much as you can.

-What an awesomely flavoursome way of cooking rice!

-Yeah.

Look at that colour. Fantastic.

For many years, Zoe was happy cooking from her father's recipes

but in 2013, she travelled to Ghana to find out more about

her extended family.

The big thing for me is I really wanted to find out

from my grandmother, her recipes.

What I realised from that experience, was that it was a really

great way for us to connect,

because coming from such vastly different cultures, we didn't

have, actually, very much in common apart from we both liked cooking.

So, that was just amazing.

The idea of, actually, for the first time, meeting quite close members

of your family through cooking for them, is actually quite lovely.

Cooking with them.

Yeah, they put me under quite a bit of pressure, actually, to

make them the regional dish and like the household favourite

and everyone was like, um, is she going to do it?

Is she going to pull it off?

Quite funnily, my grandma would often say,

"It's not as good as mine."

Whether it's in West Africa or Zoe's kitchen, Jolof is a dish

that's made its mark.

It's an important part of Zoe's Ghanaian identity

and it's introduced me to something new and rather wonderful.

Come on in!

I don't know what I've been doing for all these years

and have never eaten Ghanaian cooking.

It's so exciting, it's just absolutely brilliant.

So from these delicious dishes of West Africa, Bobby's

beautiful Indonesian fish and Zoubida's Moroccan lamb tagine.

It just begs to be offered round a table with everybody

getting their hands in and eating it all together.

And the extraordinary feasts I've had this week have given me an idea.

My centrepiece is spiced duck paired with sweet shallots and prunes.

One of the reasons I'm using duck, is because I'm using those

sweet fruits and the flesh of the duck is very rich

and will work with prunes and plums very well.

I'm going to start with some shallots.

And then into the oven, about half an hour at 200.

Now, the recurring theme in all my cooks' kitchens this week,

was that of spices.

And I want to make a spicy relish to accompany that roast duck.

So, into a pan of gently heated onions,

I'm grating some peeled ginger, dropping in just a few cloves.

And then a star anise.

One of the best bits for me this week, was when Zoubida used

prunes in her tagine.

They just add a lovely sweet, fruity warmth.

Finally a large spoonful of redcurrant jelly

and I'll leave that to gently simmer.

Now in the spirit of dishes to remember,

I want something to encourage everyone to get their hands in

and dip in to whatever they like.

I think I'm going to make some bread. Very simple bread.

Start with about 250g plain flour. I'm using instant dried yeast.

Some salt. Now, to that, I'm going to add some tepid water.

It wants to be a firm dough but soft enough to roll.

A little bit of a pummelling and then I'm going to put

it in a bowl, cover it with a cloth, leave it for about 15-20 minutes.

So, the duck's had a good half hour.

Time to pop the plums in.

Duck and plum sauce is a classic combination,

but I'm using whole plums.

I can take out the stones once the fruit's gone soft,

so, back in the oven.

I want to give my flatbread a kick.

What I'm actually doing is making a spiced butter

and I'm going to put that between the layers of dough.

So I've got some good hot chillies, a clove of garlic to crush, some

flat leaf parsley and that goes in to some butter with a pinch of salt.

And I'm going to spread that on to the flatbread before I bake it.

By carefully pairing flavours as Bobby does, like chilli

and garlic in the bread and sweet plums with the duck,

I'm ensuring everything works together.

Lightly fry for a few minutes on either side and they're ready.

Just look at that. Crisp skin duck.

This duck meat is really juicy.

It's very rich, I'm going to tear it into shreds.

My fruity shredded duck

and spicy flatbreads has been influenced by cooks from

across the country, who draw their inspiration from around the world.

This is so, so luscious.

I just can't wait for them to taste that.

Tasting my idea, inspired by theirs.

This dish belongs at the centre of a table laden with goodies,

as a thank you for the ideas, stories and food,

my friends have shared with me.

Thank you all very, very much for coming

and allowing me into your kitchens. Thank you very, very much indeed.