Born in Mogadishu, Somalia during the country’s civil war, Hassan eventually escaped to a … Photo: Courtesy of Anastasia Mikhanoshina. Unfortunately, as she describes it, New York at that time was a “we already have a black girl who looks like you" market. How Hawa Hassan Built a Cookbook Around East African Grandmothers: Women Who Travel Podcast Somali author and sauce maven Hawa Hassan joins the podcast this week. Everyone makes it a little bit differently.” While the sauces make for a great fish or meat marinade, they are meant for everyday use like sriracha or salsa or any other hot sauce. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (updated as of 1/1/21) and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement (updated as of 1/1/21) and Your California Privacy Rights. She’s focused on fundraising so she can bring her business to the next level. “I kept telling my mom I wanted to start a juice business and she said that ship had already sailed,” says Hassan. Process lime juice, oil, ginger, sugar, chiles, 4 teaspoons of the garlic and 1 teaspoon of the salt in a … Ad Choices. https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/hawa-hassan-hot-sauce-boss-040000176.html “It was jarring. One night we will talk about prison reform or immigration, another night we talk about one small task we can each do for the Dreamers,” says Hassan, who is currently a green card holder. Hawa Hassan: The Hot Sauce Boss that Goes with Her Gut. This week—with the publication of … Find out more about how we use your information in our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy. They're handcrafted in small batches and now bottled in the Hudson Valley. She’s also a refugee and an activist, and she knows that pasta is the easiest way to feed a crowd. Hassan wanted to show Americans that Indian flavors they love (and have been eating for over 30 years) like coriander, cardamom, and turmeric, are also found in African cuisine. “Even when I was a little girl, I was doing the cooking and the shopping while my mom was selling at the store. Right now, it seems that Hassan is running towards her destiny as she sips her Pineapple Peach KeVita Master Brew Kombucha and reflects fondly on a memory from 2014. “It makes me feel like there isn’t much I can’t achieve,” Hassan adds. To enable Verizon Media and our partners to process your personal data select 'I agree', or select 'Manage settings' for more information and to manage your choices. Feeling a little defeated, she headed to Oslo, where her mom had relocated with her new husband and Hassan’s nine other siblings, to regroup after 15 years apart from her family. ; Some of Hawa’s go-to spices to have you your pantry to make Somali food are: cardamon, cumin, cinnamon, cloves, and black pepper. Information about your device and internet connection, including your IP address, Browsing and search activity while using Verizon Media websites and apps. ; Our photo of Hawa comes from photographer Khadija M. Farah. As a Somali girl, you grow up in the kitchen,” says Hawa Hassan, founder and CEO of Basbaas, the only line of Somali hot sauces and chutneys available in the U.S. “Also, raising myself in Seattle, I had to make sure I had enough to eat. Basbaas sauces were being made at Hot Bread Kitchen until Hassan needed a bigger production space. Vogue may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. Hawa also has an incredible line of hot sauces called Basbaass. What could be a better way to do that than through food?”. Hassan also found a mentor in Beth Linskey, creator of the NY-based jam company Beth’s Farm Kitchen, who showed her the ropes as she navigated the challenges of launching a food business all on her own. Last week Hawa Hassan showed us how she prepped before her boyfriend and sister joined her for brunch to celebrate her new book, In Bibi’s Kitchen. 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. To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. She’s also using her platform to help create and inspire change in the world through food, speaking on podcasts like Radio Cherry Bombe and Prince Street about changing the rhetoric around Somali culture, and putting together small dinners to inspire action. (Little did she know that she would later parlay that culinary knowledge and love of good flavors into a food business.) “But I had taken my Vitamix with me because I thought I was going to come up with recipes and write my business plan. Article content. In 2015, she returned to Seattle and got to work on building Basbaas (which means ‘chili’ in Somali) from the ground up, with a little help from some fellow female entrepreneurs, including her mom. “I would go home at night and Google things like ‘how do I find a co-packer’ and a man gave me her name...Beth made a big impression on me and my work,” says Hassan, who is also an alum of the incubator program at Hot Bread Kitchen, Jessamyn Rodriguez’s East Harlem-based non-profit social enterprise and bakery that employs low-income women and their families. About Hawa Hassan is the founder and CEO of Basbaas Sauce, a line of condiments inspired by her country of origin, Somalia. Some nights I had hot wings from 7-Eleven for dinner but I got creative with that.”. © 2021 Condé Nast. But in that process, I started blending these sauces that my family was eating every night during Ramadan and then I realized that I wanted to start a different kind of conversation—a positive one—about being Somali. Part of Somalia, for example, was an Italian colony, and Hassan has included a recipe for spaghetti sauce that’s infused with coriander, cardamom, … Season the sauce to taste with salt. If I can get to their table, then they'll be interested in the larger picture. Our cookbook of the week is In Bibi’s Kitchen by Hawa Hassan with Julia Turshen. Hawa Hassan was 7 years old when she arrived in America in 1993 as a refugee. All rights reserved. We eat it every single day, with every single meal,” says Hassan. In one afternoon, we transformed Hassan’s rental into a multifunctional space primed for cooking and hosting. As for what’s next for Hassan? Now, she’s the creator and CEO of Basbaas Sauce… She stayed with a family friend while she waited for the rest of her family to join her in the States, but after a few years in, she realized no one was coming. The mix of savory and sweet, more specifically the combination of cooked onions, warm spices, and sweet raisins, is very typical of Somali food. “Basbaas is like what ketchup or hot sauce is to Americans. “It’s a family heirloom, but also a Somali thing. The two sauces in the line—a smokey, tamarind date sauce and a coconut cilantro chutney—are all the buzzwords you want to hear today: all-natural, locally sourced, gluten-free, and vegan. We and our partners will store and/or access information on your device through the use of cookies and similar technologies, to display personalised ads and content, for ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. Hawa Hassan shares her Somalian roots with her Somali chili sauces and recipes like this delicious, crowd-pleasing beef stew. “I host dinners with about 20 to 25 friends from all over the world to have the conversations that are really hard. “It’s the warmest and most flavorful sea.” https://www.vogue.com/article/hawa-hassan-somalia-basbaas-hot-sauce “I think that when you bring people together with good food—and wine!—on the table, almost any conversation can be had from a place of love.”. Hawa Hassan’s Bariis in partnership with LG Dishwashers with TrueSteam® Bariis is a rice pilaf that Somalis often serve with cooked meat like Somali Beef Stew or stewed chicken. Instructions Place the steak and ½ cup of the Piri Piri Sauce in a large resealable plastic bag. Yahoo is part of Verizon Media. Hawa Hassan: I was very strategic in terms of producing condiments first off. 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. “When I realized what a good moneymaker it could be, I decided to try it.”. 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). Put the tangy green sauce on your morning egg and grain bowl or use it as a dip for chips (Hassan also has recipes integrating the sauces on her website). This hot sauce boss has an extraordinary culinary journey that begins in a war-torn nation. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Your Privacy Controls. For Hassan, who was born in Mogadishu, Somalia, learning to cook was a necessity growing up. The best new culture, style, and beauty stories from Vogue, delivered to you daily. I really wanted to have a healthy conversation about my origins, and I wanted to introduce people to the cuisine of the continent of Africa. It was during those four months in Norway that Basbaas came to fruition. Increase the heat to high and bring the sauce to a boil, then decrease the heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally as the sauce cooks, for 30 minutes. The latest fashion news, beauty coverage, celebrity style, fashion week updates, culture reviews, and videos on Vogue.com. “I have a love affair with the Indian Ocean,” adds Hassan. She lived in a U.N. refugee camp in Kenya with her mother and four other siblings before moving all by herself, at just seven years old, to Seattle in 1993. In addition to being a cookbook author, Hawa is the founder and CEO of Basbaas Sauce, a line of small-batch, hand-crafted organic condiments inspired by the flavors of her native Somalia. 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