Episode 1 The Chronicles of Nadiya

'I'm Nadiya Hussain.

'Last year, I shocked myself, my family and the nation...'

Oh, my God... I'd sooner have another baby!

'..when my passion for baking took me all the way to the finals

'of The Great British Bake Off.'

The winner is Nadiya.

CHEERING

'The experience was life-changing.'

I'm never going to say, "I don't think I can."

I can and I will.

'Now I'm going back to my roots...'

This is like Bangladesh like I've never seen before.

'..and I'm taking my love of food...'

That is the best chanachur I've ever tasted.

'..and cooking with me.'

I'm on a moving boat cooking biryani.

I didn't think I'd ever say that sentence ever in my life.

'This is a journey that takes me home...'

He's my favourite.

'..to the people and places I've missed so much...'

You're just like, "Oh, catch it!"

Nothing like the wind in your hijab!

'..and on an adventure I could never have imagined...'

Love the lead singer.

The lead singer sounds great.

'..through a country I've never explored.'

I'm feeling a little bit old, as a 30-something-year-old

with three children. I don't feel like I fit in.

I feel like a grandfather here. Yeah!

David Attenborough, eat your heart out,

because this is the thing of dreams.

I was born and grew up in Luton,

where my family were part of a big Bangladeshi Muslim community.

I think, growing up,

my dad always raised us to be really proud of our Bangladeshi heritage.

You know, we had to learn our grandparents' names.

We had to know the full address of our village in Bangladesh,

so if anybody asked, we knew.

As children, my parents took us to Bangladesh almost every year,

but the last time I was there was to marry my husband Abdal

over ten years ago.

Where's Bangladesh? Well, firstly, hold on... It's near India.

Yeah, but where's England? Where's England?

Everyone knows where England is. Do they?

I think I feel very British and sometimes I feel like...

..I don't know the Bangladeshi side of me that much,

or I've kind of almost lost what my dad

so desperately wanted us to hold on to.

So, obviously, I'm not from Bangladesh, I'm from here.

But my parents are from Bangladesh

and your dad's parents are from Bangladesh...

'In a few days' time, I'm going back to Bangladesh

'and I'm leaving Abdal in charge of our kids,

'nine-year-old Musa, eight-year-old Dawud, and Maryam, who is five.'

I don't know if going there and visiting out there is going

to reinforce all the things that my dad taught me as a child.

I'd be interested to see if it does.

What's your favourite part of Bangladesh?

I don't have a favourite part, but I think, by the end of it,

I'll have some really favourite parts, because at the moment

the only part that I know is the part that I've always been to.

Every year that we used to go to Bangladesh,

we'd always go to Sylhet.

To think I've been to Bangladesh, if not every year,

every other year of my life up until the age of 20,

I never, ever saw anything past the boundaries of the village.

It was always...

We landed, we went to the village, we stayed in the village.

So to say that I've seen Bangladesh is just a ridiculous statement.

I don't know Bangladesh and I'm looking forward to finding out

and seeing those parts of Bangladesh that, for me,

are going to be an adventure.

It's kind of dawned on me now, like,

I have to actually go and I have to go without you guys... Dawud!

Could you stay for two days?

You count to 14 and I'll be back in no time, don't you worry about it.

I'm making a chart. You're going to make a chart

and then you're going to tick it off. We'll make a chart.

Found the Bangladesh flag. Just Bangladesh?

Before I leave, my older sister is hosting a get-together

for our siblings and our families to send me off in style.

And when we're together, there is always a meal involved.

I'm bringing along the cod and clementine curry. That's one of our

favourites to eat and it's one of my nan's, like,

most favourite recipes to cook.

It's one of those that, when you eat it, it's comforting.

It's like, "Ah, that's good!"

Being Bangladeshi, one of the best things I got out of being

Bangladeshi was the food because, I tell you something, they can cook!

And they can eat!

Some of the best things I've eaten

are the things that have come out of my mum's kitchen.

First, it's in with the onion and garlic.

I'll just slit the chillies.

So, remember, you can de-seed these if you want to

because that's where most of the heat is.

I tend not to de-seed them because everyone would just laugh

and say you're a wimp and you can't eat spicy food.

So you add water.

What you have to be careful not to do is, if I add too much water,

it'll just boil the onions and it won't cook them down.

You could add oil to stop it sticking,

but oil is quite an expensive ingredient and, you know,

why not just use a little bit of water just to stop it sticking?

I'm adding a tablespoon of tomato puree,

both for colour and a subtle sweetness.

What's quite important is cooking out the tomato puree,

because lots of people I think put tomato puree at the end of

their cooking and don't cook it out, and then you get this kind of

raw concentrated tomato flavour.

Now it's time to add the ground spices - chilli,

turmeric and curry powder.

Add a bit more water to this, and the trick is just to leave this now

and allow the spices just to cook through,

because there's nothing worse than raw spices in a curry,

and you can tell because, if it's still raw,

there'll be a grittiness just under your teeth,

or on your tongue, you can feel it.

So I'll turn that down,

add a little bit of water,

and then start on the best bit...

..the clementines.

This is the best bit to get the kids here because they'll peel them

and then eat the oranges.

The combination of orange and fish is just out of this world.

Whilst the clementine peel cooks down,

I'm cutting the cod fillet into small chunks.

I think when Bengali say that fish and rice are important, like,

are one of the most important things in their diet,

I'd absolutely agree, because that was what we were raised on.

I'm trying to keep them in one piece, so I'll just cook it

on a low heat and then hopefully the fish will firm up.

I'll give it one more stir. And the trick is, you don't...

Like, my dad hates it when I do this -

you're not supposed to have a spoon in a pan with fish.

My dad hates this. You're supposed to do this with it.

That's the trick and, you know, for me it's like,

"Oh, for goodness' sake, just use a spoon, Dad."

My parents are both great cooks, and my sisters and I have all

been encouraged to share their passion.

My dad started us off really, really early.

He was just adamant that we learn how to cook.

I don't know if it was because it was a skill or if he thought

that we would benefit from it, but he always said,

"When you get married, I want your husband to know that we taught you

"how to cook and we taught you well."

So I think it was that pride thing that, "That's my daughter and

"she really knows how to cook and she cooks as well as her mum does."

Abdal's not disappointed, so that's good.

I'm just going to add the coriander, turn it off.

And that is that...

done.

Careful.

'I'm one of six, and we all live close by.'

Knock again. A bit louder. I'd like to say hi.

'So, although tonight's meal is on my behalf,

'family gatherings like this are a regular thing.'

That is a mutton and potato curry that my big sister made.

'Over the years, we've cooked and shared countless meals,

'but the menu is always changing.'

Taste it, it's really nice.

It's actually not as bitter as you'd think. Oh! What do you think?

Makhana seeds are really nice!

I forgot to do the chips.

'Family favourites are a must,

'but it's also a great place to try out our new ideas.'

I'm making parathas, so these are, like, Asian flatbreads

but they're a flaky, buttery version.

But I don't do any of the hard work.

I just buy a packet of frozen puff pastry and then just pull

chunks of it out and then just roll it up

and just cook it on a non-stick pan and you get flaky parathas

without any of the hard work or the mess.

That is genius. Honestly, that is.

'In our culture, cooking for a crowd is the norm, and a table laden

'with dishes like this is what we're all brought up to expect.'

This is definitely such a tribute to the way we eat.

So, like, my sister has done shami kebabs, and the bitter gourd

with the stuffed mincemeat.

Jasmine's just made some meat and potato curry and some pilau,

traditionally very Bangladeshi.

That's my cod and clementine, and that's my sister-in-law's

cauliflower cheese that we're going to have with chips.

Hey, what did you make?

I made you very happy, happy older sisters.

That's all I can say! Guys, come and get your food. Not the men.

Just the kids.

Before Bake Off, I'd never even travelled on a train

without any of the kids and, you know, Abdal would get me

on the train with the children right up to that point

and there be somebody who'd meet me, my brother would meet me at the end,

so I was never, ever alone.

When you come from sort of the culture that I've come from

and the way that we've been raised,

it's totally unusual for a woman to just get up

and just travel on her own.

I'm doing something that not everybody does.

Deep down, I'm secretly kind of...

quite anxious about the whole thing, but...

I don't want them to be anxious for me, so...

they're getting the strong, hard face.

So I've got these, like, lists of, like,

"I need this and I need that, edibles, medicine, clothes, shoes."

Is there any advice that you guys can give me?

Baby wipes. Baby wipes.

Watch out for what you eat, and water is important.

Filter the filtered water. That's what I did.

Go out there, do what you're going for and enjoy your time

and come back safe.

I trust in you, that's why I'm happy to look after the kids

and just let you go.

Your passport, don't forget your passport! Don't forget my passport.

It was only last year that I won Bake Off and I couldn't have

predicted the impact it would have on my life.

That point, everything changed for me, because I felt like I'd

kind of left the old me behind and somebody new had just been born.

This is the next step. It's a big step.

I'm travelling almost 5,000 miles to Bangladesh,

a small South Asian country bordered by India and Myanmar.

My destination is the north-eastern region of Sylhet.

This is where 95% of British Bangladeshis,

including my own parents, originate from.

Almost 24 hours after leaving home,

I'm pleased that Dad is here to meet me off the plane.

How are you? Hi!

'I'm staying with my parents for the first part of my trip.

'Luton is their permanent home,

'but they've always spent as much time as possible returning to

'our family village, where they've kept a house.'

How many Bengalis does it take to get a suitcase in a car?

Oh, go on!

'It's about 40 miles from Sylhet City to my parents' house.

'Time for some typically British small talk.'

What's with the weather? You done it. I did it?

Did I bring it with me? Yes.

Of all the days, I come on the day when it's the rainiest.

I can't believe this, you know that? It's actually really cold. It is.

Let's hope it gets better while you're here. It's still beautiful.

The air's just different. It still takes my breath away.

We shouldn't be too far away from where you got married.

Oh, the mina centre? Yeah.

Isn't it on the right, on the way...?

I know my stuff.

After an hour on the road,

we've arrived home to quite a welcoming party.

It looks like my mum has gathered every relative to greet me.

I feel like a returning hero.

I'm not getting married!

Mum aside, I haven't seen any of these relatives for over ten years.

Hello! Oh, my God, he looks like Dawud!

He came! You came.

Hello!

Nadiya!

You've got a lot of other guests here.

I did not think I was going to cry.

They're all whispering, "We're really proud of you,

"we're proud of you," so... It's a big deal for them.

I thought I didn't miss them. It turns out I do.

He's my favourite!

'There's one really important person I haven't hugged yet -

'my maternal grandma.

'She lives a minute away and I'm desperate to see her.'

The first thing I do is take these sandals off

because there's nothing nicer.

Oh, my God, this is so good!

Nothing's changed.

Everything's changed, actually.

There's so many more buildings, but...

it still feels exactly the same.

My grandma lived with us in Luton for all of my childhood,

but she always missed Bangladesh.

She's almost 90 now and a few years ago, she moved back to live out

the rest of her life in her own home.

She's our glue...

CRYING: She's our glue.

'So many of my favourite dishes were cooked by my grandma

'and, true to form, she's organised a big celebration meal

'to welcome me back.

'She doesn't cook so much herself any more,

'but my mum and aunts have been busy cooking for hours.'

We always say that cooking is a skill.

And actually, your skills are really tested when you're put in

this situation. To cook in here, you need to be quite tough.

It's not your namby-pamby kind of cooking in England, you know,

where you've got your dishwasher here and your microwave there.

It's kind of... You've got to be, you know,

a full-on kind of Hell's Kitchen kind of cook.

You know when you come here, what you prefer?

NADIYA LAUGHS

She likes the mod cons!

That is a feast, if ever I saw one!

I love her so much!

Word has spread that I'm staying in the village for a few days

and so I've received a last-minute invitation to one of my

distant cousin's wedding.

I need a traditional outfit for the celebrations and

so my first cousin Eva is taking me on a shopping trip to Sylhet City.

It's weird, because you get to see Bangladesh very differently

in the middle of all the traffic.

You don't get to see that in England, do you? No.

Sylhet is a bustling town that sits on the banks of the Surma River.

It's not the biggest city in Bangladesh,

but it IS one of the richest, due to money that's being ploughed

back into the city by expats now living in the UK.

How long have we got before we get there?

I don't want this to end.

Not long, sorry. Aw! Yeah!

HORN TOOTS

'Eva is a bit of a fashionista.

'If anyone knows where to get the best clothes, it's her.'

Nothing like the wind in your hijab! LAUGHTER

Love it! I know!

CAR HORN BLARES

And we're here. Yup.

'There are two parts to a Bangladeshi wedding -

'the gaye holud, a celebration for the bride

'that takes place a couple of days before,

'and then the wedding itself.

'I need an outfit for both occasions.'

Ooh, that's fancy! Ooh, that is colourful.

Would you? No! See, I'd be brave enough to wear that here.

I don't like that. What is that?

I'd give that to the kids to play with. Yeah!

You feel braver here, don't you? You feel like, "Yeah, I can do this,

"I can't wear print! Two types in one go!"

'I'm going to look for something for this evening's gaye holud first.'

It's like a... like a really sensible hen do.

Like a very sensible hen do. It's always a red or a yellow.

But you don't want to go too over the top, because you usually wear

something quite fancy for the wedding,

so you kind of tone it down... Yeah, yeah. ..for...

you tone it down for the gaye holud, or the mehndi.

Oh, no, it's a bit stripy.

Obviously, everything is like a gown on me, because it's...

This is the problem I have.

That is meant for a five foot nine beautifully slender human being,

and then I'm, like, standing at a despicable five foot.

That's red and yellow. Yeah. Needs to be fancier?

Not fancier. Nicer. OK.

'As well as needing to find something either red or yellow,

'my religious beliefs also have an impact on what I wear.'

We have to make sure that the sleeves are long.

Yeah. Make sure that it's not too fitted. The scarf is nice.

And then, do we have a scarf to go with it? Go with it.

It's always the scarf to go with it. Yeah! You end up with

a monstrous collection of scarves! Yeah! I remember your collection!

So, for me, I've been wearing my hijab for...since I was 14.

14, yeah. So it's like, that's a long...

17 years! I've been wearing it for a very long time.

It's not specifically because I came from a religious family.

In fact, I think I came from quite the opposite.

It was something that I found myself

and, the first part of me finding religion,

that was the first act that I actually did, it was to cover

my hair, and I realised the importance, or the significance.

It's a sign of being a Muslim... Yeah.

..and it's a sign of practising Islam.

It's a sign of modesty. Yeah.

And it's just one of those things that you do do and I think...

Everybody finds it at different stages of their lives. Yeah.

I can't imagine myself just taking my hair out

and go out without my headscarf. No. I can't do it.

I'm sure your hair's desperate for air and sunshine. Yeah!

Mine is. Mine desperately needs some sunshine.

I feel uncomfortable without it now. It's your modesty.

It's covering your modesty, and hair is seen as something beautiful...

Beautiful. ..and you preserve that for only specific people.

It helps you not to attract... Attract people.

The only people who can see your hair are the people you can't marry,

so... Marry. Apart from the person you do marry.

So your husband, your dad, your dad's brothers and, um...

Nieces and nephews. Your own nieces and nephews. ..your mum's brothers

and, erm, nieces and nephews... Yeah. ..and your own brothers. Yeah.

So these are the people you can't marry. Grandad! And Grandad. Yeah.

They keep us, like, as a jewel, don't they?

In Islam, that's what they call us. Yeah.

Like you don't let your queen out, like, on the street.

When something has been sort of polarised by the media,

or an event, there is fear of,

"Oh, my God, I'm wearing something that everyone's going to look at

and say, 'Well, we blame you,' " and that fear of being chastised

or being, you know, just being criticised...

Criticised, yeah. ..or, you know, being blamed for something

we're not responsible for. We haven't done anything wrong.

No. So why should we change ourselves? Yeah.

I think it strengthens my belief in who I am... Yeah.

..and the choices that I make.

That's quite nice. I don't like that. I like that. No, I like that.

Get lost! I don't like that.

That's orange. Yeah, that's orange.

'After some deliberation,

'I've chosen a red outfit for the gaye holud

'and something pink and elaborate for the wedding.'

We don't wear red for the wedding, cos the bride will most likely...

Yeah. ..be wearing red, and nobody wants to upstage the bride.

Yeah! It's like wearing white to a wedding.

'I need to take a gift for this evening's gaye holud

'and I'm thinking of baking a cake.

'If we can make it across this treacherous road,

'we're heading to the sweet shop for some inspiration.'

Wait! Wait! Ooh!

THEY LAUGH

'Bengalis are famous for their sweet tooth,

'and there are hundreds of varieties of these traditional Indian sweets.

'I can't resist trying a few myself now I'm here.'

Put a few on both plates, right?

'They're mainly made from milk and sugar and then flavoured with

'anything from spices and fruit to nuts and coconut.

'There's a much bigger selection here

'than I'm used to finding back in Luton.'

They're already tempting as it is, when they're not adorned,

and then they stuff them, fill them and cover them

and they just suddenly become even more tempting!

Which one are you going to try?

You know what that tastes like? Cookie dough.

Yeah! It tastes like cookie dough, doesn't it? Yeah, it does.

That's a shock! That's different.

Mmm! Isn't that like a Milkybar?

It's like marzipan.

But just harder.

What does the other end taste like? That's... Is it just sweet?

That tastes like fudge.

I'm the worst person in the world to take anywhere new,

because the first thing I do is I dissect everything.

I sit there like a rabbit and go...

I totally want to put that one in an ice cream.

I want to know how to make that,

cos I have never thought of putting lemon in an Indian sweet.

I would totally do that!

'The traditional gaye holud gift is a selection box of these sweets.

'But in my opinion, a celebration should include a big impressive cake

'and I regret not having one at my own wedding.'

I want to make use of some of the ingredients that I can find here,

rather than trying to make something that nobody knows about. Yeah.

Like use stuff that we've got here, so I was thinking of doing, like...

So... Um, red spin... Pumpkin? Red pumpkin.

I'll get a red pumpkin and I'll... You know like carrot cake? Yeah.

But instead of carrot cake, I'll use a red pumpkin. Wow.

And then frost it and then do tiers.

Oh! I'll hopefully find some nice flowers

and really decorate it, make it look really natural and nice.

We never tried that one. Let's try that. Yeah.

'Despite their love of sweets,

'it's still very rare to find a Bangladeshi who bakes at home,

'so finding a domestic oven is virtually impossible.

'I've asked around, and no-one in my family has or knows anyone

'who has an oven I can use.

'So, after a bit of lateral thinking, and a few calls,

'it turns out that my reputation as a champion baker can open doors.

'I've persuaded a local bakery business to make some space

'in their industrial ovens.'

Salaam-Alaikum. Nadiya? Yes. How are you?

'Shahriar is the manager of the factory

'and he's organised a workspace for me in the main bakery.'

'The bakery is open 24 hours a day and has an all-male staff of 180.

'This shift is responsible for bread, toast and biscuits

'and the factory produces over 250 different products every week.

'I have a feeling my baking skills are going to be put to the test.'

Is this the oven? This is a traditional oven. Traditional?

They are all traditional. You could do pizza in there.

Or pizza. Yeah! Yeah, yeah. THEY LAUGH

I'm worried, because I have to bake a cake today, so you have got modern,

new ovens? Modern. Shall we look? OK. Yeah.

Wow!

I didn't need a walk-in oven!

Ooh! I wouldn't need central heating any more!

Yes this is a hanger...a handle. Oh, so... And you...

That is the equivalent of an oven glove. An oven glove, yeah, yeah.

I'm pretty lucky, right, I'm baking a cake in a bakery in Bangladesh

that people actually bake in!

I'm slightly daunted, I will not lie.

I'm slightly daunted by the amounts of people and how hot it is.

Suddenly, I feel a bit competitive,

cos these guys know how to bake, clearly.

'With all this skilled labour on hand,

'it feels silly not to make use of it,

'so I've given Mohammed here the pumpkin to prepare.'

So I am making a classic carrot cake recipe,

but I figured, seeing as we're in Bangladesh,

let's use some of their local produce and I want to use pumpkin,

cos it's really juicy, really sweet

and it's got that vibrant colour, like carrot.

'In this cake, I'm using vegetable oil.'

I chose to do it with oil here,

because I figured butter would start melting

if I did it in this environment, because it's so warm.

I'm going to go get some sugar from my massive vat!

'I'm adding caster sugar to the bowl

'and then it's straight in with the eggs.'

Nine whole eggs.

'I just need to beat the oil, sugar and eggs together.'

I'm just mixing it up,

just to get the mixture all mixed up together, before I add the

rest of the ingredients, cos the oil has separated from the egg slightly.

'This is going to be a gorgeously moist three-tiered cake.'

I wouldn't normally make three cakes at once.

Seeing as I do have a mammoth oven,

it makes sense that I put all three at once!

'Pumpkin has a delicious earthy flavour and a natural sweetness

'that tastes even better when paired with orange.'

The last wedding cake I did was four foot tall, so...

this should be easy, in theory.

It should be easy, but I've got lots of things against me,

like an enormous oven that probably gets as hot as hell!

I've got an audience.

SHOUTING

I think they've just all been chased off by the boss!

Like, "Get on with your work!"

'Mohammad has grated half a small pumpkin

'and that goes straight into the mix.'

He's doing the washing up later as well.

So we add the pumpkin in. It makes for a lovely yellow cake.

Perfect for a gaye holud.

That was completely unintentional, but it will work.

'Butternut squash would also work really well in this recipe

'and, for some added sweetness and texture,

'I'm throwing in some raisins.'

You can add raisins, you can add sultanas, you can add...

If you don't like dried fruit, you can add nuts.

'Next, in goes the self-raising flour.'

It's a quick all-in-one recipe, so you can just put it all in,

mix it all up, stick it in the oven, if you're short for time,

and it keeps really well.

'Pumpkin and spices are a match made in heaven

'and this combination works particularly well.'

I've got nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamom and star anise.

Add those.

'Finally, three teaspoons of baking powder.

'That's the cake mix done

'and it's important to get them into the oven as quickly as possible.'

I figured, because it's a celebration cake,

let's go the whole hog and let's do three tiers.

Nobody likes anything more than something that's really tall.

Once you've had a taste of Paul and Mary,

you have to strive for perfection.

So, yes, I have issues and I like everything to be precise and exact.

'And just to add to my issues, I'm feeling anxious about trusting

'the success of these cakes to an unfamiliar oven.'

So, I'm putting these in the centre of the tray,

in the hope that they'll bake evenly.

I know I've got a massive oven, really high temperature,

so I'm just covering all bases I need to get the perfect cake.

It has to go right! I don't have a second chance! It has to go...

Thank God Paul and Mary aren't here!

I just feel like I've just doomed my cake to the incinerator,

like in a furnace, and they're just going to come out like charcoal!

'Thankfully, there's a man whose only job is

'to make sure things don't burn.

'45 minutes and several thousand slices of toast later,

'it's time to check on the cakes.'

Oh, let me have a look. Ooh. Thank you.

They look perfect. Oh, my goodness, they actually look OK!

I did not expect them to actually come out.

I'll get them on a cooling rack, get them cool, ready for icing now.

'Always make sure you've cooled the cakes before you decorate them

'or the icing will just melt.'

So I've made a simple vanilla buttercream,

and we're going to ice all three cakes with this,

but we are against the clock slightly,

because it is really warm here!

'To speed things up, Mohammed has offered to help me out again.'

It turns out he's really good at icing,

so I'm feeling very competitive at the moment. It's on!

See, he makes it look so easy.

Can we just get him off camera, please?

OK! I went up to 1,000 and he said, "Loads." Loads! Loads!

Oh, my God!

'All I can say is, thank God this isn't a real baking competition.'

'To make things worse, I haven't made enough buttercream.

'Mohammed to the rescue again,

'with the bakery's own-brand vanilla frosting.'

I think that'll go really well, and I'm going to get him to ice it,

because, you know what, he does a better job.

He's a professional and he's really fast.

I love watching him do it. I mean, look at his hands. He is so fast!

I mean, I can do it, but, like, at a third of the speed.

'After a whole afternoon of hard graft,

'all that's left to do is to make it

'look fit for a marriage celebration.'

So, that...is done.

I'm really, really pleased with that. I have a cake!

And I think it looks great for the occasion.

You'd traditionally adorn the bride and the groom with the marigolds,

and it just seemed a perfect fit

and I just think it works and I really hope they like it.

With the cake finished,

I've just enough time to head back to the village to join the party.

26-year-old Jasmine is my distant cousin,

but we've never met each other.

She's getting married in a couple of days

and tonight's gaye holud is the traditional way

to say goodbye to her female relatives before she leaves home.

With the lights, cameras and audience,

it feels a little like walking on to a film set.

'My marriage was arranged, and so is Jasmine's.

'One of the unspoken rules in our culture is that,

'as a bride-to-be, you must behave submissively and look downcast.'

I had something really similar to this, where I sort of sat here

and everybody came in, and I was an emotional wreck,

so I cried through the whole thing and I didn't smile very much.

'It's time to cut my cake.

'We give sweet treats to the bride at this occasion,

'because it's meant to add sweetness to her married life.'

She likes it!

I'm sure she would've howled about it if she wasn't getting married!

'I know it looks a bit odd, but this is all part of the ritual.

'And I figure, if I feed enough of them,

'surely someone will like my cake.'

It's a feeding-fest in general - you feed the bride,

the bride feeds you, the guests feed you, you feed the guests

and it just kind of goes on till about four o'clock in the morning.

Bangladesh is part of the world's largest delta

and one of the most fertile and waterlogged countries in the world.

This land, and the animals that thrive here, have been a rich source

of food and income for our village and way of life.

Unfortunately, this also means some rather exotic creepy-crawlies.

Look at that!

'My daughter would be screaming at this point.'

She said, "Can you just make sure you get rid of all the spiders

"and all the lizards, so I can come to Bangladesh?"

This is not going to help her.

It's odd, because, when I come here, I call back home "home"

and, when I'm back home, I call Bangladesh "back home",

so it's odd, cos I feel...I feel like a confused person myself,

because I don't know where home is, cos home's here and home's there,

and I'm always constantly fighting for home to be Britain,

and there's times when I'm back in England where, um...

I've had abuse just stood on a platform on the train station

and then, suddenly, I kind of question whether it is home.

And then I come here and I feel so out of my depth and I think,

"Well, how can this be home, then?"

You know, I do sometimes wonder

whether I'll ever discover where home really is, um...

But I don't know, I just quite enjoy the pull of the two,

I quite like being a part of two things.

'My dad's father once owned all this land

'and now it's shared by our extended family.'

All that, that entire edge of this land, the whole border,

that's the family graveyard.

That's the village mosque.

My grandad built the bottom half and, over the years,

that's been built up and it's gone up to two floors.

They started off with a very small mosque

and now it's a lot bigger now.

My grandad had 12 children

and his home was begin enough to house everyone.

This is where I used to stay when we visited as children.

This is the original house. That's the corner of it.

It was like an L-shape. Everything was exactly the same.

And it was all the way right down to the end,

and this end went all the way right down to the end.

It was quite a grand place to live.

After he died, they divvied it all up and gave each brother some land,

and so they've all built their own separate houses.

I have to say, I'm slightly disappointed at the fact that

it's not exactly as I left it, but of course, things change.

The uncle that lives here, he lives in America now,

so he just comes, stays here, shuts up and then leaves.

They get to use his washing line.

Maybe even a tractor!

DISTANT VOICES

That's the call to prayer.

That's one of those sounds I missed quite a lot when I was...

You know, cos we don't hear it when we're back home in England.

That's quite a nice sound to wake up to, if you're praying, of course!

If you're not, in that case, it's just annoying!

Um...

But they start off... In succession, you'll hear one,

then you're hear another one go off, then another one go off.

That one's just finished.

It's getting louder!

It's like when you were at school and you used to sing and it's like,

"You first, then you, then you," and you always think it's going to

sound great and, really, it just sounds a bit of a mess.

CALL TO PRAYER ENDS

Local fishermen have come to fish in my grandma's pond today.

Most rural homes in Bangladesh have access to a pond,

providing fish and a water source throughout the year.

This is my nan's pond.

We used to spend hours in here playing or swimming.

All the day's work used to get done

and we'd see it right in front of us.

Yeah.

Fish is so important to the diet here that, a few times a year,

fishermen are hired to do a stock take.

It's always a bit of an event

and, today, I've also been promised the best of the catch for a recipe.

I'm hoping one big one, at least. I hope.

NADIYA LAUGHS

He's telling them how to do their job.

And they're telling him he's wrong.

Normally, when we'd fish like this, at this point,

you'd have fish flying around,

because they know they're getting caught,

but there's none of that this time.

'Everyone's getting worried that

'there won't be fish for lunch today.'

We just saw one fly over the net.

That's one that got away. That could've been the only one!

'It's a slow process and the aim is

'to trap the fish inside the net by drawing the edges tightly together.'

Oh! Oh, they're flying out!

LAUGHTER

'The net is getting tighter

'and, finally, it looks like we might be in luck.'

We're waiting with bated breath now, just to see.

MAN SHOUTS What's come up?

SHE SPEAKS BENGALI Ooh, look at that!

Oh, they're quite big ones!

EXCITED SHOUTING

They're trying with all their might to save the fish that are escaping.

You're just like, "Oh! Catch it! Oh!"

I was expecting nothing. You know, you almost always expect...

You lower expectations, and think, "We're not going to get anything!"

I'm pleasantly surprised. There's quite a lot in there!

'This catch is big enough to feed the whole village.

'I just need a few.

'And some of the small ones are destined for the pot too.'

MEN CHATTER

'The rest of the fish can go back in the pond for another day.'

We've got four pretty good fish.

We've got loads more!

That's... I'm quite impressed with that, actually.

I can do a lot with this.

'Whilst the fishermen pack up for the day,

'I've got a meal to cook.

'I'm using my cousin Shumi's outside kitchen,

'and it's more basic than I'm used to.

'So, thankfully, she's also offered to lend me a hand.'

'When I've got fish this fresh, I cook it very simply.

'I'm going to stuff it with fresh herbs, bake it in a banana leaf

'and I'll serve it with a fresh green mango chutney.'

SOFT BLOWING

I'm going to get Shumi to do all the stuffing for me,

while I soften the banana leaves.

'I'm using classic Bangladeshi flavours,

'but it will be very different to the fish curries

'my family are used to.

'When I cook this at home, I wrap the fish in tinfoil.

'But here, I'm using banana leaves.'

When you burn it on the fire first, it releases some of the oil,

so there's almost a kind of green flavour on the fish

when you cook it.

Um, I can taste it, I think, because it's not...

It's not been crowded with lots of spices.

When you're doing something like this that's really simple

and then you use something like a banana leaf,

you can taste that one flavour, and that's quite nice.

And I'm so used to having fish with lots of spices,

this is quiet different, it's quite tasty.

So I've just smothered my fish in mustard oil.

That's the kind of oil of choice in Bangladesh.

Everybody uses mustard oil. It's quite potent.

I'm stuffing the fish with coriander stems,

slices of lime and red onion that Shumi's chopped for me.

I mean, if you were going to cook this at home,

I'd definitely use something like sea bass.

Trout's quite nice, actually, on this.

I've done trout before, so, yeah, just...

You don't want a big fish,

something small and preferably with a bone

that goes straight down the middle

so you can eat off the top and then eat off the bottom.

'They need about 10 to 15 minutes on each side.

'And while they're cooking,

'I'm going to help Shumi with the green mango chutney.'

It's not mango season right now,

so the only thing you're going to get is really green,

really firm mangoes, but not to say that it can't be eaten,

because we've got so many recipes that we use green mangoes for.

You can use them in a curry with fish, you can dry them.

'Chutney is a big thing in Bangladesh.

'I love it served with fish, but that's quite unusual here.

'It's usually eaten as a snack, and always freshly prepared

'using whatever fruit is available.'

'Garlic is an essential ingredient in chutney and I like to char

'the outside to give the cloves a delicious smoky flavour.'

This is going to be a lot quicker than when I do it at home

with a blowtorch.

I'm just going to have to put it in and see what happens.

Nothing like a bit of smoke in your eyes.

If you just press on it,

you can tell that the garlic's gone quite soft.

'I'm adding a couple of cloves to the rest of the chutney ingredients

'Shumi has already chopped.'

I've got some red onion, we've got some burnt garlic,

some coriander and some cucumber.

And then I'm going to add a little bit of sugar to all of that.

'A good chutney needs just the right balance of sweet and sour,

'and all the flavours need to be really well blended.'

That's the chutney part of making a chutney.

You cannot just toss it with a spoon.

It's getting your hands in a really...

You're almost cooking it in its own juices

but, by squeezing it, you're cooking it, so we're going to do that.

I have to taste some.

Mm.

She thinks it needs salt. I don't think it needs salt.

I mean, you could also use a really tart cooking apple

and then balance it out with the sugar and it just works really well.

To be honest, I've often used a ripe mango and then just put

a squeeze of lemon in and then you get the kind of sweetness and

the tartness, you get a bit of both.

'My fish is ready

'and by the sounds of it, in the nick of time.'

I think I saw some lightning.

THUNDER RUMBLES

That always scares me. Ohh...

People are running. Oh, yeah. There's a load going over there.

The skin comes away really easily,

especially when the flesh is just cooked.

Tasty?

This is big going for her.

When we cook fish, we cook it to death, so this is like JUST cooked,

so I can see this is like trying to give somebody oysters.

Yeah! She said she'd try it again.

I don't know if she's just being nice to me,

but she said she would try it again.

'Let's hope the rest of the family think it's been worth the wait too.'

It's the day of Jasmine's wedding. My parents are invited too.

The celebrations are all happening at our local community centre.

This is the same venue where Abdal and I were married

over ten years ago.

A Bangladeshi wedding is an all-day event

to which hundreds of people are invited.

Not only is it a marriage ceremony,

it's also a gesture of generosity by the bride's family to

the whole community, and everyone will be fed a good meal.

Before the bride and groom arrive, I'm going to head into the kitchen

to find out what goes into feeding this many people.

He's feeding 700 people today.

There's chicken curry, there's potatoes and there's lentils.

There's none of this spoons, it's like full-on bowls,

there's no time to mess around.

Goodness, they work so hard.

'Jasmine's groom is 29-year-old Suhail.

'And this ambush as he arrives is all very traditional.

'It's the job of the bride's younger brothers and cousins

'to try and embarrass the groom.

'I have no idea why.

'In sharp contrast,

'Jasmine's arrival is more low key and far more serious.'

It's a segregated wedding,

so men are on one section and women are on the other.

I almost guarantee they're going to start mixing in about three hours.

'In a Bangladeshi Muslim wedding,

'the bride and groom sit separately for the whole day.

'The most important moment is the signing of

'the Islamic marriage contract,

'which acts as a pre-nuptial agreement between the two families.'

Oh, she's done it, then. She's signed.

'On my wedding day, I was 21 and Abdal was 24.

'We had known each other for six months and had chatted on the phone,

'but we had only met in person once, when our fathers introduced us.'

I have to say, my wedding day, when I was sat there like that,

was one of the worst days of my life. I would never repeat it.

You are literally on show,

and it's something that I was always really uncomfortable with.

The bride will often keep her head down, kind of not look up,

not smile very much.

I've never fully understood it. It just seems bizarre that

a bride is unhappy on her wedding day

when, really, she should be happy.

But, like I say, it's one of those unspoken rules that you don't really

say much about, you just carry on.

I still did it because nobody else has really broken that rule yet.

If I was the person I am now, at 31,

I certainly would not have gone into a contract.

I wouldn't sign a mortgage contract without knowing how much money

I'm putting in and what my mortgage is,

so why would I sign a marriage contract where I don't know

what I'm getting myself into?

'Now witnessing this ceremony as a mother,

'I know I want something different for my own children.'

I wouldn't dream of arranging their marriages because

I feel like if I raise my children well enough,

I believe that they will make the right decisions in their life,

and I have to trust that and I have to trust my children.

That's such a big decision and I don't think that, as a parent,

I should be making that decision for them.

I stand here and I watch this, it actually almost brings me to tears.

I couldn't do this to my daughter.

Like, I just couldn't do it.

'Nobody should be on show because it's the done thing.

'They should be on show because they want to be.'

I love the sari.

'I have no idea how Jasmine is feeling,

'but I really hope her married life turns out to be as happy as my own.'

It's my last day in the village.

Tomorrow, I'm heading off on a journey to explore Bangladesh.

I want to visit and learn about places I've only ever seen on a map.

But before I leave,

I'm going to cook a very special dish to say thank you to my family.

Tusha shinni is one of those that you hand out

when you're celebrating something

or if there's something sad, like a death in the family,

and it's like an exchange for prayers -

it's like notification and for prayers.

Tusha shinni is unlike anything else.

It's a rich, sticky almost fudgy snack,

with a nutty, spiced-caramel flavour.

It's totally delicious and a real treat.

My mum has offered to give me a hand.

You have to say "Bismillah", which means in the name of God,

before you make it

because it's a blessing, it's kind of asking for prayers.

Everything. So we kind of say it with everything,

but this is kind of extra special.

'The first job is to make a spiced sugar syrup

'with equal amounts of sugar and water,

'a few cardamom pods and a couple of cinnamon sticks.'

If you add granulated sugar into the flour, it doesn't melt,

so you dissolve the sugar first in the water,

so it's all kind of mixed in and you don't get bits.

Shall we start browning the flour off, Mum?

'Now we need to brown off the plain flour

'by cooking it in a hot, dry pan.'

This is the most laborious task.

Browning that off just gives the flour like a toasted flavour,

but it also gives it a lovely brown colour.

'A kitchen assistant is useful for this job.'

No, Mum. That needs to be browner. More? Yeah.

I'd go browner, Mum. More browner? Yeah, more brown.

Like, really brown. That's not...

No? No.

She'd never be able to bake. She's way too impatient.

Like, "What?! No, no, just stick it in."

Recently, you've been experimenting more with recipes.

She got a Bengali cookbook. Didn't you, Mum? Hm.

She made something out of it, but she always adds something else or...

That's what I do, though, I don't follow recipes.

But she's definitely an instinctive cook. She knows... She's so...

Yeah.

Turn that down, Mum, slightly.

Oh, God! I just turned it up! Mum! Help!

Automatic cooker. What?

I don't know of any other recipes where you have to brown the flour.

But I always have a way of anglicising everything,

so I've browned flour before, cooled it down,

sieved it and put it into a cake, just a normal Victoria sponge.

And I'm telling you, it imparts the most beautiful flavour into a cake.

Nadiya? It's quite nutty.

'Now the flour is brown enough,

'we need to add an equal amount of melted ghee.

'You could also use melted butter.'

Do you want me to stir? Is your hand hurting?

'When the flour and ghee are mixed together,

'in go some plump raisins.

'And finally, the sugar syrup needs to be added very quickly

'so the mixture doesn't split.'

Quick. I'll hold it. You mix it.

'This is definitely a two-man job.

'We need to keep stirring until the mix has thickened up.'

If you don't stir it really quickly, you get clumps of flour that

don't get enough water, and then you just get lots of bits of flour.

Get a facial at the same time. Yep.

I do tend to just deploy the electric whisk at this point.

That's your workout done.

SHE GASPS

Now just rest.

Looks nice.

Hm.

We never do a recipe together, so it's really cool.

She never lets me in the kitchen, so this is nice, actually.

You don't let me in the kitchen?

Cos you so busy.

Aw, that's kind of cute.

No! You never let me in the kitchen before anyway.

You say that we don't cook that well.

Now you can. Now I can.

I got a trophy to prove it.

Shumi and I are dividing up the tusha shinni

so that we can deliver it around the village.

My family all prayed for my success in Bake Off,

and this is my way of thanking them for their love and support.

We've recruited a few kids to help us out, but I think...

I think it's going to chuck it down,

so we're going to have to go quickly.

Salaam-Alaikum. Salaam-Alaikum.

Thank you very much. Thank you.

Would you like any drink or anything? No, we're OK.

We have to go see lots of other people. Oh, right.

What I feared would happen, we've got lots to give out,

but he's like, "Come in, have a drink."

And I'm going to have to tell everybody,

"No, I've got to go. I've got to keep going."

And it's starting to pour.

Salaam-Alaikum.

THUNDER RUMBLES

My grandma is high up on the list of people I need to thank.

So when I'm giving it to them, I'm just saying,

"Please make dua for me," which means just please pray for me.

It's banana leaves wrapped with something inside of it,

and that's it, and it just makes everyone smile.

It's quite nice.

Salaam-Alaikum.

'It's wonderful thanking everyone in person,

'but I can't help remembering those who have passed away

'since my last visit...

'and thinking about our family's shared history.'

He's just saying that the camera doesn't see

what I see 25 years ago...

..when my grandma used to...

pick us up and hold us,

and the way he used to give us piggyback rides.

It really got quite teary, which I didn't expect.

And it's odd because I think...

..sometimes, when you live away from all of this,

you feel like you're the one who made you.

You forget that these are the people who quietly sit and pray for you

and think about you.

I think I'm taken aback a little bit by everybody's reaction.

When I was first coming back to the village, I was quite nervous about

how I'd feel, and a little bit anxious, actually.

And now that I'm here, I'm actually quite nervous about leaving

and getting back into the swing of things, it's like,

"Oh, I quite like this. It's starting to feel like home."

And now I have to go.

But I'm actually really excited about kind of leaving the village

because the one thing we never did when we came here

was ever leave the village.

And it's the first time I get to venture out of the village

by myself and experience Bangladesh as a whole.

I know you guys are really, really nervous about me going,

and I'm a little bit nervous as well.

I know you can look after yourself. And I hope you enjoy it, though.

I'll go there, I'll check the place out

and then we'll go together one day. Next time you come here. Inshallah.

Next time, I explore this amazing country for the very first time.

Where are you from? London! London! Ah!

I think I'm getting chatted up.

Every now and again, they get close and have a little kiss

and they go away, don't they? It's so sweet.

We're going for four chillies.

I did ask for hot.

If there is nothing new,

then the Court of Appeal aren't going to change their decision.