WRITTEN BY LOUISE SANSOM
Photo credit: Nassima Rothacker
Cookbook author, food writer and Great British Bake Off finalist Chetna Makan’s dishes are vibrant and colourful, perfectly infusing Western favourites with the fragrant spices of India. With no fewer than 7 cookbooks, AND a popular YouTube channel, it’s clear that there’s a hunger for her unique way with flavour.
In this edition of ‘30 Seconds With…’, Chetna shares her ideas process, while we look through the pages of her brand new book, Chetna’s Indian Feasts: Everyday meals and easy entertaining.
30 seconds, start the clock.
Where did your passion for food come from?
It started when I was a teenager and one of the first things I made was a simple vanilla cake. I got really passionate about making birthday cakes for all the family members, even though they were simple stuff, with no fancy icing or decorations. Then, once I moved to college and started living on my own, I started cooking whenever I could and really enjoyed it. So simply put I have always loved a bit of cooking and baking.
How do you come up with the ideas for your books?
It’s a tricky one! The first book was easy as I wanted to share my Bake Off ideas in a book. When I got the green light for the second book the decision was easy; after moving here, I realised that people were not aware of the real Indian street food and that’s what I wanted to show. And from there, I picked topics that I thought had not been done before, like the Healthy Indian cookbook or a 30-Minute Indian cookbook.
What are you working on at the moment?
At the moment I am focusing on my YouTube channel ‘Food with Chetna’. Also excited for my new book ‘Chetna’s Indian Feasts’.
What to watch out for:
‘Food with Chetna‘ YouTube channel