Dasara — the festival of nine nights is still two weeks away but the festival was ushered in a little early by the participants of The Hindu MetroPlus cookery contest - ‘Sravanamasam Sambaralu' held on Sunday at Swagath Function Hall in Vasavi Colony, Dilsukhnagar. Vani, a participant's thermocol creation titled ‘Dasara Sambaralu' depicted the festivities in her own way with Bathukamma in the centre and ‘poornam boorelu', ‘sattu laddu' and ‘usirikaya halwa' as the offering to the Goddess.
Creativity was at its best as around 600 women showed how one can cook up a storm with a little garnishing and presentation. The dishes also scored because of their ‘eat healthy mantra'. Veena, a participant amazed with her soya coconut sapphire while Anuradha, a teacher, made a choco tower to coincide with the World Heart Day being observed on Sunday. “Chocolate is good for the heart and this item is especially for working women as it can be made in a jiffy,” she said.
Sarah, a researcher from Germany, was thrilled as she went around the hall talking to the women. “It's exciting to be here. Traditional items and modern delicacies have been showcased with élan,” she said.
As the judges went about the difficult task of choosing the best among the lot, the hall reverberated with cheers and songs sung by a few enthusiastic participants. There was a ‘saas-bahu' combination with - Radhika and her mother-in-law Indira participating in the event. Surekha made a ‘Bird nest' with vermicelli and potato, carrot and green peas filling.
‘Boppaya kaya avakura', ‘Milk eggs', ‘Idli manchuria', ‘Drumstick delight', ‘Angara paneer' ‘Tri-colour kebab', ‘Shahi kheer', ‘Chicken karvepaaku curry' and ‘Carrot bread' were a few items that formed part of the collection.
However, in the end, it was Mini S, K. Manju Sri and Muneera Fatima who bagged the first, second and third prizes respectively for their ‘Oatmeal cake', ‘Veg haleem' and ‘Nargisi kebab'. Five consolation prizes were also given away. The cheers got doubled when D. Nivedita turned out to be the lucky winner of the bumper dip, winning washing machine from TMC.
The event was the last in the series of the cookery contests held at Vijayanagar Colony, Dr. A.S. Rao Nagar and Kukatpally.
The prizes for the contest are sponsored by TMC, Janapriya Engineers Syndicate, Indian Oil Corporation and Chilliez. Winners from all these competitions will participate in a grand finale on October 3 at Ravindra Bharati. Watch this space for more details on the Grand Finale.
