Keralites love their food. In the past few years, the zest for experimenting with new dishes and cuisines has seen food connoisseurs embark on a gastronomical journey. Sampling new flavours may be in vogue, but cooking too inspires great passion.
On Sunday, the best of culinary talents from Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, and Pathanamthitta came together in the city to showcase their skills and win the title Master Chef of Kerala.
A preliminary round of the Premier Cookware and Appliances-The Hindu Group ‘Our State Our Taste’ cooking contest was conducted at SP Grand Days hotel here.
44 participants
The 44 participants, both men and women, presented what they felt was a dish that best represented the flavours of Kerala.
May it be a starter, main course, snack, or dessert, the fare on display was mind-boggling.
From a heart-shaped choco-vanilla pudding, jackfruit palada with jackfruit gulab jamuns, good old puliyodarai to tender coconut paneer korma, bun pulao, chicken biryani wrapped in leaf, mixed dessert platter to decongested payasam, and vanpayar kanji, the diversity of the dishes reflected the thought and effort that had gone into each of them.
But it is not all about variety and presentation. Taste is the one factor that trumps all, and the judges led by Lekshmi Nair and assisted by Rajesh Subramanian, executive chef of SP Grand Days, found that most of the dishes were of excellent quality, though some were a tad simple. A handful of the dishes were extremely innovative, they said, stressing the need for the winners to focus on dishes representative of Kerala when they took part in the finals here.
13 winners
The judges declared 13 winners in the preliminary contest – Priya Sasi, Sharmila, Swapna Rakesh, Sheeba, Pragati Garimella, Nasia Aysha, Nisha Shafeek, Anupam, Mumthas, Poornima Ramachandran, Rani Ashok, Veena Akhil, and Valsala K. They will compete in the finals on December 16.
All participants received free Xtrapower Petrol Cards from Indian Oil Corporation for ₹500 and a ₹100-coupon from Daily Fish, while the winners walked away with a gift hamper from Double Horse.
The preliminary round in Kochi will be held on November 25 and participants from Kottayam, Alappuzha and Idukki districts could register for the contest there. The other two venues for the preliminary round are Thrissur and Kozhikode.
The finals here in the State capital will see 50 winners of the four preliminary rounds cook live. The winner, apart from being gifted a cash prize of ₹25,000, a petrol card for ₹10,000 from Indian Oil Corporation, and a gift voucher for ₹2,500 from Daily Fish, will win the title Master Chef of Kerala.
The first runner-up will receive a cash prize of ₹15,000 and a ₹2,500 gift voucher from Daily Fish and the second runner up a cash prize of ₹10,000 and a gift voucher of ₹1,000 from Daily Fish.
The event is presented by Premier Cookware and Appliances. The event is powered by Double Horse as partner and Daily Fish as co-partner.
The event, an initiative by THEME, is supported by Kerala Tourism. Indane from Indian Oil Corporation is the energy partner. RKG is the Ghee partner.
This is the first time that the contest is coming to Kerala, after Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu earlier.
