BBC’S The Incredible Spice Men to appear at Malton Food Festival

Now in its sixth year, the festival attracts more than 20,000 food lovers to the town, to see more than 160 quality food and drink producers, the best of Yorkshire’s chefs and well-known patrons.

Two culinary celebs trading the TV studio for Yorkshire and who are hoping to whet the appetites of thousands of festival-goers with recipes using the very best Yorkshire produce, are The Incredible Spice Men.

They will be cooking in the chef demonstration theatre and giving cookery lessons in Malton Cookery School.

Award-winning TV chefs Tony Singh and Cyrus Todiwala are famed for presenting BBC 2’s The Incredible Spicemen, a series transforming the way people cook British dishes at home.

They share a passion for British produce and have an unrivalled commitment to spicing up that traditional British fare.

Originally from Bombay, Cyrus Todiwala came to the UK 20 years ago and is the multi-award winning chef patron of acclaimed London restaurants Café Spice Namasté and Mr Todiwala’s Kitchen, both defined by a passion for combining the best of British produce with Cyrus’ rich, spice-infused Parsee culinary heritage.

Tony Singh is one of Scotland’s leading chefs. As a fourth-generation Scot, who grew up in a traditional Sikh family, he has become renowned for combining traditional Scottish produce and techniques with exotic flavours.

Tony will be signing copies of his new book “Tasty”, which is published on May 22, while Cyrus will be signing copies of his popular book, Mr Todiwals’s Bombay.

Access to the festival is free, however chef demonstrations, cookery lessons in Malton Cookery School and other special events are ticketed. Visit maltonyorkshire.co.uk for more information.

Tony’s apple crumble

Ingredients for the crumble topping
(serves 6)

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

Method

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

Sprinkle the mixture onto 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 crunchy biscuit topping. Set aside. If cooking the apple crumble immediately, do not turn the oven off.

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 stick, 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.

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/gas mark 6, and bake for 20 minutes until the crumble is browned and the fruit mixture bubbling. Leave to cool slightly.

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.

Cyrus’s pulled pork with cinnamon and clove

Ingredients
(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 stick

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

Method

1 First make the masala marinade. With a pestle and mortar, coarsely crush together the cassia bark or cinnamon stick 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 30 minutes.

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.Meanwhile, you can make the coleslaw (see page 191) if using.

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 coleslaw (if using) or some coriander.