Craveable taps into recipes to satisfy your cravings

Many chefs will tell you when they get home that their inspiration and motivation to cook goes out the window, but even chefs occassionally find themselves craving something specific at the end of the day.

 

In comes Craveable, a cookbook split into chapters based on what you might be in the mood for. There’s the ‘fresh’ section, filled with zingy flavours for when you want something a little lighter, and at the other end comes ‘comforting’, with recipes to warm you up from the inside. The book finishes with a chapter declaring ‘all I want is something NOW!’, where you can rustle something up in minutes if you simply can’t be arsed to spend hours slaving over a stove.

 

It’s a organisational tactic you don’t often see in cookbooks, with most writers preferring to collect recipes by ingredient or meal, but it’s a method that works shockingly well – probably due to the fact author Seema Pankhania (in her own words) spends “every waking moment” consumed with thoughts of what she’s going to eat next.

 

Pankhania is known by her Instagram and TikTok username SeemaGetsBaked and made her start in the digital world with recipe portal Mob Kitchen. Her recipes online struck a chord with her audience (now 1.3 million-strong on TikTok), with nifty hacks such as her ‘emergency dumpling soup’ or recipes taught to by her Indian mother such as butter chicken (both of which are featured in this book). The latter video has 15.5 million views – one of Pankhania’s most popular videos to date.

 

Mob gained its popularity in a similar way when it was getting started: showcasing food in a way that’s manageable for home cooks while also feeling aspirational with its flavours and ingredients. Pankhania takes that one step further by putting ingredients together that will make you do a double take, such as her roast chicken, which unashamedly uses three different kinds of citrus, or her dumplings that use cabbage leaves instead of traditional pastry wrappers.

 

Then there’s two cherries on top of the cake that make this a truly great debut cookbook – the bright, zippy colour palette stands out among its peers and makes for an excellent addition to your shelf, and the personal touches about the people in Pankhania’s life give it soul. This chef, and this book, are going places.

 

Craveable by Seema Pankhania (Penguin Michael Joseph, £22). Try the cabbage dumpling recipe from the book here

 

Photography: Haarala Hamilton