Big Night In: A charity cook-in that means the world to asylum seekers

Mahin Ahwazi learned her lamb stew recipe from her mother, and the saffron-flavoured dish always reminds her of happy times with family.

“I put my pride and soul in what I am cooking, so it has lots of meaning,” said Mrs Ahwazi (not her real surname), who claimed asylum in the UK four years ago after fleeing southern Iran. “Cooking opens new doors. We can exchange experiences. We can be together and we can exchange our skills with the other societies.”

Mrs Ahwazi, 50, will be sharing the secrets of her mofatah stew with hundreds of strangers on 2 May. The dish is one of seven recipes provided by seven refugees from around the world that will be cooked in households across Britain as part of the Big Night In, a charity initiative created by Refugee Action.

As well as the mofatah, the Big Night In menu includes a fattoush – a Syrian bread salad – and baklava for dessert. Side dishes include Cameroonian spinach, a chilli sauce from the Gambia, a pumpkin curry from Sri Lanka and Iraqi pickles.

The dishes may sound exotic, but even the least experienced cook can be confident the results will be delicious. Those who take part receive recipe cards and sachets of 11 spices, including saffron, rose petals, toasted Sri Lankan curry powder and sumac. The spices are provided by Bristol-based company The Spicery. Its founder, James Ransome, points out that the diversity of the food enjoyed in the UK can be directly linked to the arrival of refugees.

“Not every country is as open and tolerant [as the UK], particularly in the food that they eat,” he said. “The fact that we’ve all grown up eating food from around the world is a real direct link to the presence of refugees in this country.”

Many of the dishes on the Big Night In menu come from countries that most people will never get to visit. Mr Ransome said: “The food that we got to try when the refugees came and cooked with us was home-cooking from Iran and Sudan, countries where you’d never get to try the food. For people to get the chance to do that at home is amazing.”

Stephen Hale, chief executive of Refugee Action, said that the Big Night In was an “opportunity to share in a positive way the contribution refugees are making and have made to British society. Our society is absolutely shaped by immigration over centuries and it’s an enormous part of what Britain is today”.

Mrs Ahwazi said she was scared when she fled Iran in a lorry and arrived in Britain. She was unsure if she would be accepted in her new home and was aware that refugees were not always welcome in the West. She has since been joined by her husband and built a new life. But she admits the media coverage of refugees attempting to cross the Mediterranean has brought back disturbing memories.

“I ask myself why we cannot help each other to rebuild our lives and give people the opportunity to continue their lives,” she said.

For more information about the Big Night In go to: refugee-action.org.uk