MAXINE GORDON catches up with the Incredible Spice Men ahead of their star turn at Malton’s Food Lovers festival.

TOP chefs Tony Singh and Cyrus Todiwala were the surprising tasty treat in the BBC’s menu last autumn.

Billed as the Incredible Spice Men, they toured the UK on a mission to “spice up Britain”.

And so they did: travelling the breadth of the country, they visited the south coast to add cinnamon and chilli powder to vanilla ice-cream as well as Scotland, where they perked up the humble Scotch pie for footie fans at Hibs’ ground in Edinburgh.

In between, they showed us how to jazz up slow-cooked pulled pork with cinnamon and cloves and even tweaked British classics such as bread and butter pudding with notes of orange and cardamom.

And now they are preparing to spice up Yorkshire.

The pair are Malton- bound, preparing to take part in the town’s annual food lovers’ festival, over the spring bank holiday weekend, May 24-25.

Turban-clad Tony, a Sikh from Edinburgh with a strong Scottish accent, says he is hoping to use some of Yorkshire’s finest produce when he dons his apron for cookery demos at the festival.

“We’ll be doing some recipes out of our cookbook but probably do something with rhubarb as we will be in the rhubarb triangle.

“Asparagus will just be in season too, and maybe we will use some local cheese.”

Spice mate Cyrus says he already uses Yorkshire produce at his restaurants in London. “We use Yorkshire lamb and beef and game when it is in season,” he says.

The pair are still on a high following the unexpected success of their TV culinary odyssey.

“Everywhere we go, people are really interested in us – especially elderly ladies,” says Cyrus, who still has a heavy Indian accent despite living in the UK for 20 years. “The biggest thing they tell us is that we have helped them banish their fear of spices.”

Which was the entire raison d’etre of the TV series.

Cyrus continues: “Many people mistake ‘spice’ for ‘hot’; what we wanted to show them was that spice was about flavour.”

Tony, whose family came to Scotland four generations ago, said he wanted to make their recipes accessible too. “We did recipes where people didn’t need to have a centrifuge. It was good fun and we didn’t take ourselves too seriously.”

The show was a surprise ratings hit. Tony continues: “We were two unknowns and started off with 900,000 [viewers], then it went up to 1.2 [million], then 2.5.”

The BBC has yet to commission a second series, but the Incredible Spice Men are raring to offer seconds. “We should start a petition,” suggests Tony.

The Scot is passionate about getting the Brits to turn up the spice dial in their lives.

Spices, he says, are a great way to lift ordinary ingredients into the extraordinary.

“Just take a roast chicken and rub it in turmeric and ginger and there you go,” suggests Tony. “Spices are great for food on a budget – not everyone can afford meat from rare-breed pigs.”

Tony’s top tips are to buy spices in small amounts to keep them fresh – from the supermarket is fine. “If you are not confident, then don’t get anything too hot. Start by using a spice familiar from your childhood such as cinnamon, nutmeg or cloves – but try it in a different way.”

If you are looking for more inspiration, make a date with the nation’s favourite spice boys when they come to Malton.

Fact file:

The Malton Food Lovers Festival will run from Saturday 24-Sunday 25 May.

The Incredible Spice Men will be appearing on both days of the festival, doing live demonstrations and also book signings and interviews. Many of the events require tickets.

Now in its sixth year, the festival features a line-up of more than 160 quality food and drink producers and attracts more than 20,000 food lovers to Malton.

This year's programme boasts celebrity chefs, cooking demonstrations, children's activities and foodie fun, street art, music and entertainment, a beer and champagne festival, book signings, local chef talent, foraging fun, as well as a Gala evening.

Access to the festival is free, however chef demonstrations, cookery lessons in Malton Cookery School and other special events are ticketed.

For tickets and more information, visit maltonyorkshire.co.uk


Recipes

Cyrus’s PULLED PORK WITH CINNAMON & CLOVE

Serves 6–8

2kg (4lb 8oz) rolled pork loin or shoulder or collar

50ml (2fl oz) vegetable or rapeseed oil

baby gem lettuce leaves, cleaned and well drained, to serve

3 tbsp fresh coriander, to garnish

For the masala marinade

1 tbsp broken pieces cassia bark or cinnamon

15 cloves

2 large dried red chillies

5cm (2in) piece fresh root ginger, roughly chopped

4 garlic cloves

2 small red onions, coarsely cut

1 longish fresh green chilli

½ heaped tsp turmeric

2½ tbsp tamarind paste

100ml (3½fl oz) palm vinegar (if not available use cider vinegar)

½ tbsp brown sugar

25ml (1fl oz) sunflower or rapeseed oil

½ tbsp salt

1 First make the masala marinade. With a pestle and mortar, coarsely crush together the cassia bark or cinnamon and cloves. Gently toast this mixture in a dry frying pan over a low heat until a spicy fragrance emanates from the pan. Tear the red chillies into pieces and add to the pan. Continue to dry-fry the mixture for a short while but do not burn. Set aside to cool.

2 Put the cooled spice mix in a blender. Add all of the remaining masala ingredients and blend the mixture to a relatively fine paste. Taste and adjust seasoning if you like.

3 Rub the masala all over the pork, and place the meat in a dish in which it fits snugly. Set aside any remaining masala. Cover the meat and set aside in the refrigerator, if possible for a few hours.

4 Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Pour the oil into a roasting tin and heat on the hob over a medium heat. Scrape any excess masala from the marinated pork, place the pork in the roasting tin and brown well on all sides. Transfer to the oven and cook for 30minutes.

5 Reduce the oven heat to minimum. (You can now pour a few tablespoons of marinade over the pork for extra flavour. Any leftover marinade can be set aside to use for another dish.) Cover the pork tightly with aluminium foil, well tucked in so that the pork steams in the tin and the meat literally falls off when cooked. Cook for a further 3–3½ hours if using a rolled joint; if using smaller pieces or individual chops, adjust your cooking time accordingly.

6 Remove the pork from the oven and shred using two forks.

7 To serve, put some pork on top of a lettuce leaf. Top with some home-made coleslaw or some coriander.
 

Tony’s APPLE CRUMBLE WITH STAR ANISE

Serves 6

For the crumble topping

300g (10½oz) plain flour

200g (7oz) brown sugar

200g (7oz) unsalted butter, cubed and softened to room temperature, plus extra for greasing

pinch of salt

For the filling

75g (3oz) unsalted butter

1 kg (2lb 4oz) eating apples (such as russet or cox), peeled, cored and chopped into large chunks

150g (5oz) caster sugar

5 star anise

1 cinnamon stick

To serve (optional): crème fraîche, pomegranate seeds, pomegranate syrup

1 Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6. To make the crumble topping, put the flour and brown sugar in a large bowl and mix well. Taking a few cubes of butter at a time, rub them into the flour mixture until it resembles breadcrumbs.

2 Sprinkle the mixture on to a baking sheet in a thin layer, using two sheets if necessary. Bake in the preheated oven for five minutes or until lightly golden brown. Remove from the oven and break with a fork, then return to the oven and repeat the process a couple of times, until you have a lovely crunchy biscuit topping. Set aside; if continuing to cook the apple crumble immediately, do not turn the oven off.

3 To make the filling, heat a wide, shallow, heavy-bottomed pan and melt the butter until it foams. Add the apples, sugar, star anise and cinnamon, and cook, stirring frequently, until the sugar has dissolved and the apple is soft at the edges. Remove the cinnamon and the star anise, and add a little bit more sugar if you like.

4 To assemble, butter a medium-sized ovenproof dish. Spoon the fruit mixture into the bottom, then sprinkle the crumble mixture on top. Ensure the oven is preheated to 200°C/400°F/gas 6, and bake for 20 minutes until the crumble is browned and the fruit mixture bubbling. Leave to cool slightly.

5 To serve, put some crème fraîche into a small bowl and mix in some pomegranate seeds. Drizzle with a little pomegranate syrup and serve alongside the crumble.