At the age of … In Seattle, Hawa was discovered by a modeling scout and over time built an unlikely career in fashion. Always rinse and soak your rice before making bariis, or really any rice dish. When Hawa Hassan couldn’t find the sauces from her home country of Somalia in the States, she made them herself. To create Basbaas, Hassan participated in the incubator program at Hot Bread Kitchen, the bakery and social enterprise initiative based in East Harlem. Basbaas is the only authentic, packaged Somali line of hot sauces and chutneys currently available in the United States. ‎Hawa Hassan is the Founder and CEO of Basbaas Condiments. Hassan, a Somali native, founded her condiment line, Basbaas, in 2014 on the basis of such memories, drawing inspiration from her mother’s recipes. Join our newsletter to get first dibs on new products and fresh recipes. 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. Hawa Hassan photographed by Alexandra Genova on March 11, 2019. 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. 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). Report this profile; About. 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. https://www.vogue.com/article/hawa-hassan-somalia-basbaas-hot-sauce 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 Founder/CEO at Basbaas, LLC Greater New York City Area 131 connections. And of course, it’s an homage to her mother. Join Bon Appétit guest Hawa Hassan in the Test Kitchen as she makes digaag qumbe. When Hawa turned 7, her mother seized an opportunity to send her to Seattle, Wash, to live with a family friend. Xawaash is like the garam masala of the country: it goes into pasta, tomato sauce, meat dishes, all sorts of things. Her jarred sauces — tamarind-date and cilantro-coconut — can be ordered online (basbaassauce.com). 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. 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 … Enter here to win! ‎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… 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. In Bibi’s Kitchen was a natural next step for Hassan, … Hawa and her brand have been featured in Forbes, the New York Times, the Observer, Grub Street, Vogue, The Cut, Eater, and more. 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. Company Website. 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. © 2018 Basbaas Foods. The word basbaas comes from the Somali term for chili. 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. Site by UPWARD. Using her mother's recipes as a jumping off point, Hassan founded Basbaas in 2015. Everyone knows how to do it, so it’s hard to say when I first learned to make bariis. She’s a true entrepreneur; she learned how to run a business from my dad, but she’s so much better at it. She quickly learned that in her family, food was a powerful tool to pull her people together. Hawa Hassan … She runs a Somali goods store, a furniture store, and now owns a restaurant. While food is now her love language, that … So when we cooked together, I used the Vitamix to grind her chutney recipe, and she loved how smooth and creamy it turned out. June 14, 2019, 9:00 PM . The Somalia native behind the condiment line Basbaas talks about her … Hawa Hassan grew up in the kitchen, at the feet of her mother and aunties, as they prepared dishes like canjeero and suugo suqaar. This week—with the publication of In Bibi’s Kitchen, a new cookbook written with Julia Turshen—Hassan broadens the … We caught up with Hassan in her kitchen to talk about entrepreneurship, her new cookbook, and what makes a good pot of rice. All Rights Reserved. But reuniting with her mother, who’d since immigrated to Norway and become a small business owner, ignited Hassan’s passion for Somali cuisine and a desire to share it with a new audience of American cooks. Building a food brand in America is incredibly difficult, but when I look at my mom and the problems she’s solved and the ways she’s reinvented herself, that puts it all into perspective. 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. 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. 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. 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 is the founder of Basbaas, the only line of Somali hot sauces and chutneys available in the U.S. Hawa Hassan is the founder and CEO of Basbaas Sauce, a line of condiments inspired by her country of origin, Somalia. Bariis is a Somali rice pilaf often served with stewed chicken or beef. 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. 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. "Basbaas are traditional Somali sauces with a sweet and tangy twist, the perfect complement to every dish." Basbaas … 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. Basbaas reflects Hawa’s personal passion for her culture and an entrepreneurial streak. Hawa Hassan's Basbaas condiment line takes its name 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. 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. 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. Hawa Hassan is the CEO of Basbaas Somali Foods, a line of hot sauces and chutneys. Hawa Hassan on the Matriarchs of East African Cuisine—and the Merits of Banana with Pizza. About Hawa Hassan. Hawa Hassan is the founder and CEO of Basbaas Foods and author of the new cookbook, In Bibi’s Kitchen (Ten Speed Press, October 2020). It would be 15 years before they saw each other again. 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. The founder of Basbaas Sauce wants to change the way Americans talk about African food. copyright © 2020 Snuk Foods All Rights Reserved. Once the tomatoes and xawaash have combined with the onions into a jammy paste, I add rice and stir the grains until they’re coated with seasoned oil. “Food has always been the center of community and gathering,” she tells me. 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. 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: The Hot Sauce Boss that Goes with Her Gut. But when I’m stuck in New York, alone and working late, a pot of bariis helps bring me home. Her products are inspired by the Somali staples that she would cook with her family. When they eventually reunited, the two rediscovered their shared love of cooking. When they eventually reunited, the two rediscovered their shared love of cooking. The products are all-natural, locally sourced, gluten-free and vegan. I was born in Somalia and raised in Kenya. After a year in the camp, her mother was eventually able to get an apartment and launch a small business. 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 … 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. Written By Hawa Hassan, as told to Caravan. Learn mo… 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. I try to get to Norway as often as I can, both to catch up with my family and to recharge my Somali batteries. Basbaas. She’s also a refugee and an activist, and she knows that pasta is the easiest way to feed a crowd. 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. Basbaas reflects Hawa’s personal passion for her culture and an entrepreneurial streak. In one afternoon, we transformed Hassan’s rental into a multifunctional space primed for cooking and hosting. The products are all natural, gluten free, and vegan. It’s a groundbreaking collection of work in a publishing industry that has been slow to embrace the cuisines of Africa. Hawa Hassan personally embodies the cultural diaspora of her hot sauces. My mom’s the one who convinced me that ship had sailed. I can’t help but feel inspired. Follow her for beautiful cooking and sauce making content on her twitter or instagram pages. There’s so much history—Muslim and Christian influences, Indian ingredients, Italian foods like pasta—and it’s rarely talked about over here. 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