Since basbaas is always homemade, you can’t buy packaged versions anywhere in the US, so I feel a responsibility to produce one that’s true to Somali flavors but that will also inspire more Americans to understand Africa’s diverse cuisines. Follow her for beautiful cooking and sauce making content on her twitter or instagram pages. Bariis is a Somali rice pilaf often served with stewed chicken or beef. About Hawa Hassan. Warming cumin, cardamom, turmeric, and ginger make this Somali chicken stew recipe from Hawa Hassan, founder of New York–based hot sauce and chutney company Basbaas, a rich … When Hawa Hassan couldn’t find the sauces from her home country of Somalia in the States, she made them herself. Join to Connect. The coconut chutney we sell through Basbaas is basically her recipe, but with a few modifications of mine for the American market. After a bit of research and social media sleuthing, I discover this raved-about-sauce to be Basbaas Sauce made by Hawa Hassan, and I immediately placed an order for one of each of her 2 Somali sauces. Basbaas is the Somali word for ‘chile,’ so it felt like a fitting name for a company that makes the chutneys and sauces we eat with everything, like ketchup and hot sauce rolled into one. Hawa Hassan on the Matriarchs of East African Cuisine—and the Merits of Banana with Pizza. Later this year, my friend Julia Turshen and I are heading to East Africa to research a book we’re co-authoring, and the best way I can describe it is a book on the kitchens of nations that border the Indian Ocean. In one afternoon, we transformed Hassan’s rental into a multifunctional space primed for cooking and hosting. Hassan was born in Somalia, and during the country’s civil war, she escaped to a refugee camp in Kenya with her mother and four siblings. Written By Hawa Hassan, as told to Caravan. Mushy rice is the worst, so I like to cook bariis in a pot without the lid, adding water and stirring as I go until the rice is cooked through. My mom’s the one who convinced me that ship had sailed. At the age of seven, Hawa Hassan, a former model, fled Somalia and was separated from her family as a result of the Somali Civil War. Xawaash is like the garam masala of the country: it goes into pasta, tomato sauce, meat dishes, all sorts of things. To create Basbaas, Hassan participated in the incubator program at Hot Bread Kitchen, the bakery and social enterprise initiative based in East Harlem. While food is now her love language, that … A few years ago, I took four months off to stay with her in Norway, and of course we cooked together almost every day. You know the drill—enter your email for a chance to win free skincare and makeup. She’s also a refugee and an activist, and she knows that pasta is the easiest way to feed a crowd. The word basbaas comes from the Somali term for chili. 15 years passed before she saw her family again, during which time she became a model and activist in New York. Everyone knows how to do it, so it’s hard to say when I first learned to make bariis. When Hawa turned 7, her mother seized an opportunity to send her to Seattle, Wash, to live with a family friend. June 14, 2019, 9:00 PM . It wasn’t until I was in middle school that I realized no one else in my family was coming to America, and I should go make some friends and play basketball. There’s so much history—Muslim and Christian influences, Indian ingredients, Italian foods like pasta—and it’s rarely talked about over here. So when we cooked together, I used the Vitamix to grind her chutney recipe, and she loved how smooth and creamy it turned out. Born in Mogadishu, Somalia, she was fortunate to escape the civil war tearing the nation apart by going with her mother and four siblings to a U.N. refugee camp in Kenya. In Seattle, Hawa was discovered by a modeling scout and over time built an unlikely career in fashion. Join our newsletter to get first dibs on new products and fresh recipes. "Basbaas are traditional Somali sauces with a sweet and tangy twist, the perfect complement to every dish." Everybody is looking for ‘global flavors’ these days, but if you don’t understand the culture and the people, you won’t really understand how those flavors fit together. At the age of … I try to get to Norway as often as I can, both to catch up with my family and to recharge my Somali batteries. Learn how to make classic Somali beef stew and fragrant spiced rice (Bariis Maraq) from Hawa Hassan, founder of BasBaas, a line of Somali chili sauces. Her jarred sauces — tamarind-date and cilantro-coconut — can be ordered online (basbaassauce.com). We’ll visit Somalia, Eritrea, Kenya, Tanzania, and a few more countries to meet, shop, and cook with bibis (grandmothers) and understand how these foods traveled and evolved from region to region. Her mother, meanwhile, personifies strength of the human spirit: From Kenya she was able to migrate to Norway, where she opened a furniture outlet and a Somali goods store. Even then I was alone a lot as a kid, and while I’d cook to feed myself, cooking wasn’t a major interest until later in life. Her mother, meanwhile, personifies strength of the human spirit: From Kenya she was able to migrate to Norway, where she opened a furniture outlet and a Somali goods store. It’s really the flavor of the Indian Ocean. Basbaas is the only authentic, packaged Somali line of hot sauces and chutneys currently available in the United States. https://www.vogue.com/article/hawa-hassan-somalia-basbaas-hot-sauce With that in mind, we turned to hot sauce entrepreneur Hawa Hassan to get the scoop on how she would prep her New York City kitchen for fall entertaining—then we turned her wishlist into reality with the help of Walmart. Then I toss in some raisins—you see this a lot in Somali food, blending sweet and savory with spice—salt, and a bit of water so the rice starts simmering. It’s a groundbreaking collection of work in a publishing industry that has been slow to embrace the cuisines of Africa. Hawa Hassan: The Hot Sauce Boss that Goes with Her Gut. Basbaas … She runs a Somali goods store, a furniture store, and now owns a restaurant. Hassan only spent a few years living in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia—her mother and siblings fled the country when she was four when civil war broke … She’s a true entrepreneur; she learned how to run a business from my dad, but she’s so much better at it. But when I’m stuck in New York, alone and working late, a pot of bariis helps bring me home. Born in Mogadishu during the country’s civil war, her family fled to a UN refugee camp in Kenya before a sponsorship allowed Hassan to immigrate to Seattle at the age of seven. The Somalia native behind the condiment line Basbaas talks about her … copyright © 2020 Snuk Foods All Rights Reserved. “Food has always been the center of community and gathering,” she tells me. Hawa and her brand have been featured in Forbes, the New York Times, the Observer, Grub Street, Vogue, The Cut, Eater, and more. But making rice is like boiling water in Somalia. Basbaas reflects Hawa’s personal passion for her culture and an entrepreneurial streak. Before I left on that four-month trip to Oslo, I was thinking about starting a juice business, and I brought my Vitamix blender with me with the intention of testing recipes. Hawa Hassan is the founder and CEO of Basbaas, the only line of Somali hot sauce sold in America (her flavors include tamarind-date and coconut-cilantro chutney). All Rights Reserved. And of course, it’s an homage to her mother. Hawa Hassan Founder/CEO at Basbaas, LLC Greater New York City Area 131 connections. Hawa Hassan's Basbaas condiment line takes its name from the Somali term for chili. Hawa Hassan … This week—with the publication of In Bibi’s Kitchen, a new cookbook written with Julia Turshen—Hassan broadens the … Learn mo… LA: In this week's episode, we're catching up with Hawa Hassan, founder of Somali condiments brand Basbaas and author of the upcoming cookbook In … I can’t help but feel inspired. The products are all-natural, locally sourced, gluten-free and vegan. When they eventually reunited, the two rediscovered their shared love of cooking. Site by UPWARD. Enter here to win! The founder of Basbaas Sauce wants to change the way Americans talk about African food. ‎Hawa Hassan is the Founder and CEO of Basbaas Condiments. In Bibi’s Kitchen was a natural next step for Hassan, … The products are all natural, gluten free, and vegan. Hawa Hassan personally embodies the cultural diaspora of her hot sauces. © 2018 Basbaas Foods. I was born in Somalia and raised in Kenya. We caught up with Hassan in her kitchen to talk about entrepreneurship, her new cookbook, and what makes a good pot of rice. Always rinse and soak your rice before making bariis, or really any rice dish. Editor’s note: Hawa Hassan is the founder of Basbaas Sauce, a deliriously good line of organic chutneys inspired by the flavors of her native Somalia. Hawa Hassan is the CEO of Basbaas Somali Foods, a line of hot sauces and chutneys. KeVita. She quickly learned that in her family, food was a powerful tool to pull her people together. Designed to perfectly complement Middle Eastern-inspired spicy chutneys and other ethnic sauces, Basbaas is hand-crafted in small batches, and bottled and sourced in Stuyvesant Falls, Hudson Valley. I start by cooking red onions in oil with cinnamon sticks and cloves, then add tomatoes and a spice blend called xawaash, which everyone grinds themselves, but it usually has cardamom, cinnamon, and turmeric. Using her mother's recipes as a jumping off point, Hassan founded Basbaas in 2015. Read full article. You want to get rid of that dusty coat of surface starch so your rice cooks into fluffy grains; as little as ten minutes of soaking makes a world of difference. Company Website. ‎Hawa Hassan, CEO of Basbaas Somali Foods, talks about her work to promote African cuisines here in the U.S. and her new cookbook, “In Bibi’s Kitchen.” She also has a frank discussion of her work with Bon Appetit’s Test Kitchen, which she says used her image to uphold the illusion of diversity while… Hassan, a Somali native, founded her condiment line, Basbaas, in 2014 on the basis of such memories, drawing inspiration from her mother’s recipes. Her products are inspired by the Somali staples that she would cook with her family. Hawa Hassan was four years old when she fled with her family to a refugee camp in Kenya to escape the civil war raging in their native Mogadishu. Basbaas. Editor’s note: Hawa Hassan is the founder of Basbaas Sauce, a deliriously good line of organic chutneys inspired by the flavors of her native Somalia.Born in Mogadishu during the country’s civil war, her family fled to a UN refugee camp in Kenya before a sponsorship allowed Hassan to immigrate to Seattle at the age of seven. Hawa Hassan grew up in the kitchen, at the feet of her mother and aunties, as they prepared dishes like canjeero and suugo suqaar. Inspired by the women of Africa, the book is a collection of recipes & stories from the kitchens of bibis—Swahili for grandmothers—from eight African nations that touch the Indian Ocean. When they eventually reunited, the two rediscovered their shared love of cooking. Hawa Hassan is the founder of Basbaas, the only line of Somali hot sauces and chutneys available in the U.S. Hawa Hassan photographed by Alexandra Genova on March 11, 2019. 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