All I want to eat; fresh; salty & savoury; spicy; green; comforting; special; sweet; now!
By Seema Pankhania
Published by Michael Joseph on 21st November, £22 hbk
“I’m obsessed with food – with cooking it, eating it and talking about it. I’ve had some of the best experiences of my life because of food, so I hate the thought of anyone being put off by unnecessary rules in the kitchen. That’s where the idea for my book came from; I wanted to encourage people to have a go – to experiment with flavour and have fun.” Seema Pankhania
In Craveable, Seema’s first book, she shares joyful, flavour-led dishes that are sure to satisfy every mood and appetite. Inspired by her travels and the food cravings we all share, Seema will take you on a journey of fresh, comforting, salty, sweet, and celebratory meals, as well as a whole chapter of emergency dishes when you need something delicious and nourishing, but don’t have the time or energy for shopping or cooking.
Dishes include Bombay Fish Finger Sandwiches, Pickled Jalapeno Mac n Cheese, Indian Fried Chicken, Caramelised Honey and Zaatar Cheese Toastie, and even a 30-minute Emergency Birthday Cake!
Seema created this book to be a collection of simple trusted recipes that you can turn to when you need something savoury, sweet or fresh or just need to make a quick meal that’s still delicious on a Tuesday night. If you don’t have an ingredient, she provides a list of simple substitutes and empowers you to break the rules in the kitchen and make the recipes your own. The NOW! chapter includes Seema’s immediate pick-me-up recipes to avoid an expensive takeaway. The something special chapter is for entertaining friends and family or when you want a project to create something your friends will love. Seema’s criteria for desserts is that they must be show stopping and deliciously moreish to turn occasions into something a bit more special. This chapter includes desserts to raise a smile like Caramelized Banana Split or the Tangfastic Doughnut.
With Seema’s infectious sense of fun jumping out from every page, and every recipe infused with her voracious appetite for travel and big flavour, this is a celebration of food in its purest form and a collection of truly delicious, accessible recipes that anyone can make.
About Seema Pankhania:
Food has always been integral to Seema’s life and her early inspiration was her hard working single mum who would make a fresh Indian meal from scratch every day. This informed Seema’s style of cooking by making the most of the ingredients that you have to hand but still creating delicious food from simple ingredients. So many of her mum’s dishes are Seema’s go-to when she wants something comforting.
When Seema was 13, she took a year off school when diagnosed with cancer. During this time, she loved watching the cooking channels and it made her curious to find out more about the food and flavours of different cultures, a passion which still drives her today. Seema’s mum fuelled this new found love of cooking by buying her second-hand cooking equipment from car boot sales or eBay. By the time she went back to school she was baking all her friend’s birthday cakes and selling them on Facebook. She also sold 2000 cupcakes door to door (every weekend for a year) to raise money so she could go travelling.
After securing her degree in neuroscience from Manchester University she realised she wanted to follow her true passion which was food and learning dishes from around the world. Seema began her career as a chef for the likes of Gordon Ramsay’s Lucky Cat and York and Albany. After nearly two years of exhausting work as a professional chef, commuting on her moped from Slough to London one rainy morning she was hit by a car and sent to hospital. It was during her recuperation that she turned another difficult situation into something positive and had the time to apply for MOB. She went on to be a food creator for Mob Kitchen with her own incredibly successful food platforms centred on flavour. Seema focused on the national dish series which taught her about people, food and culture from all over the world then using that to make recipes that people can use day to day. She now has over 1.3 million followers and 24.3 million likes on Tik Tok and over 444k followers on Instagram.
https://www.instagram.com/seemagetsbaked/