A brilliant amalgamation of tastes, flavours, textures and aromas stimulated senses and literally captured the taste buds of the visitors at The Hindu Metro Plus Cookery Contest 2013 on Sunday.
At the auditorium of the Manor Food Plaza it was a gastronome’s delight.
The women participating in the event occupied their seats in long rows placing their cooked dishes in front of them and waited eagerly for the judges to come and judge their aptitude in culinary skills.
The participants were divided into vegetarian, non-vegetarian and desserts/sweets categories. Besides rewarding the overall three best dishes, three best participants in each of the categories were also given prizes.
Sk. Razia, a medico, was crowned as the Cookery Queen of Vijayawada by former Mayor M.V. Ratna Bindu in a valedictory session of the event. Poonam B. Raj was the first runner-up while L. Satyavani was the second runner-up.
Razia dished out a lip-smacking Nawabi Kheema Mirch, Poonam, a housewife, impressed the panel of judges with her delectable ‘Chin-Chenai idly Manchuria’ while L. Satyavani, also a housewife, made milky balls.
Exhibiting a strong sense of pride and accomplishment that apparently came by whipping up a special fare, they explained to the visitors about how many ingredients had to be combined to create an eye-catching and mouth-watering dish to please the judges.
The smorgasbord comprised everything – from mundane to the exotic. There were juices, broths and sauces, meat and seafood, herbs and spices and pasta and grains.
Ingredients, as varied as chalk and cheese, were mixed, crushed, twisted, curled, mashed, grounded and kneaded to get exotic flavours.
In the vegetarian category, V. Yasoda, Rekha Sawlani and Poonam B. Raj came first, second and third respectively. In the non-vegetarian category, Sk. Razia was adjudged the best, P. Jyothi the second best and Rekha Prabhu the third best.
In the dessert/sweet category, Mohsina Salam dished out a delicious tender coconut pudding and bagged the first prize, S. Srilatha’s apricot dessert got her the second prize and milky balls rolled up by L. Satyavani secured the third position for her.
Brijesh Thakur and Somnath Day, Executive Chefs of Hotel D.V. Manor and The Gateway Hotel respectively and Jeevan Prakash and Babu Rao, HoD, Food Production Department and senior faculty in Westin College of Hotel Management respectively were on the panel of judges.
The event was organised in association with Freedom Refined Sunflower Oil, Red FM 93.5 was the radio partner, Hotel D.V. Manor the hospitality partner and Samana Institute of Fashion Technology, MBS Jewellers, Fab India multi-brand fabric, Tantrah spa, Teja Housing Estates and Goli Silks were other regional sponsors.
