“Careful. Careful. Careful!” Little Yashwant Kumar flips a slice of alluringly fragrant fish in a pan of sizzling oil. However, his eyes are not on the fish, or the oil, despite the fact that at least two passing chefs are eyeing it nervously. He’s watching his partner and brother, Hariharan, tensely. Despite Yashwanth’s steady stream of instructions, Hariharan’s unmoved. He’s engrossed with a carrot which he’s carefully carving into a flower, delicately flicking each orange petal with a tiny, but alarmingly sharp knife.
There are chatty compères, experienced chefs, tough judges and breathless parents, all watching a group of 24 children aged between 8 and 14, cook at SuperChef Chennai 2015 at The Park Hotel. High pressure? Well, the children are unperturbed. Shortlisted from a group of about 170 contestants, the 12 chosen two-member teams have been given an hour and a half to make a meal from scratch. There’s one room packed with ingredients — meats, vegetables, spices, herbs — and each team is give a choice of two cuisines. And although there are a few chefs on hand to help out with the heavy lifting, frying and knife skills, the children are otherwise on their own to decide the menu, cook and plate up the food.
Half an hour into the competition, it’s clear that they’ve got things under control, despite a few inevitable nicks, spills and falls. The toughest part of the challenge? A pint-sized girl stops hacking an onion to think for a minute. Then with a toothy grin she states, “Chopping vegetables. She cut her fingers twice.” Her partner ruefully holds up her right hand, covered in sticky plasters, and waves.
Beside them, a mini Marwadi team is quickly putting together their dessert. “We are cousins-cum-friends,” giggles Ishika Sanwal, “And we’ve decided to showcase Marwadi food.” Their menu is ambitious. “Kichidi, missi roti, gatte ki sabzi,” she recites, “and also, we’re inventing a new dessert: bottle gourd halwa served on shahi tukda with strawberry sauce.” As her partner, Kriti Suda, begins to roll us impressively round missi rotis, simultaneously flipping them on a smoking hot pan, Ishika runs to get strawberries, tripping on the carpet and falling flat on the way. Everyone gasps in unison, as her mother, watching on the sidelines, goes pale. But both girls simply squeal with laughter as Ishika jumps up and continues to run.
Running seems to be the theme as the competition draws to a close. As one child finishes cooking the food, the second tears up and down busily, picking up last minute ingredients for the plating. Pressure builds as the celebrity judges, Chef Vicky Ratnani and Chef Sanjay Thumma, along with Chef Rajesh Radhakrishnan of The Park, begin inspecting the food. For the watching parents, that is; the children are still breezy.
As the judging begins, each team comes forward to talk about their dish. The variety is intriguing, and the menus ambitious. Energetically stuffed peppers, meticulously seared paneer and even baked cannelloni. There are also biryanis, pulaos and at least two Chinese dishes, redolent with soya and squiggly with noodles.
The winners? The chirpy Marwadi cooks, Ishika and Kriti, come first, thanks to the cleverly textured dessert and tasty missi rotis. The solemn brothers Hariharan and Yashwant, who serve a chicken biryani with their fried fish, come second. This is despite facing a last minute glitch. “What happened to that beautiful carrot I saw you carving?” says Chef Ratnani. “It fell down,” answers Hariharan impassively. “What?” the judges look startled. “But you took so long to do it. Where is it now?” perseveres Chef Ratnani. Both boys shrug, “In the dustbin.” And there’s the biggest learning from the children’s round of Super Chef: grace under pressure. After all, there’s just no point crying over spilt milk. Or errant carrot flowers.
The competition, organised by the Madras Cosmopolitan Ladies Circle 38 and Madras Cosmopolitan Round Table 94, raises funds for the Sanjeevi Primary Health Care Centre.
