Cooking up a storm

Past ideological differences between the Nowroz Baug Play Centre (NPC) and Nowrosjee N. Wadia Welfare League (NNWWL) had been ironed out. This sentiment was endorsed by Pervez Dee, former president and Gayomard Katha­walla, vice president of NCP. Jal Ada­jania, a NNWWL committee member commented, "This is a very good step taken... and if unity can preserve a sizeable community then why should we back out?”

NPC and NNWWL celebrated Republic Day, January 26, on a patriotic note by hoisting the national flag at 7 a.m., followed by a cookery competition. After the national anthem was sung the young participants in the contest raced to their stalls, donned colorful aprons and assembled their "kitchens” on tables. Stoves were lit at 8.30 a.m. sharp as they had only two hours in which to showcase their culinary talent, notes a write-up by Swati Kalra forwarded to Parsiana by Yasmin Engineer on behalf of the NCP’s joint organizing committee.

Senior group winners: 1st place (left) and 3rd place (right)

Competition rules mandated that no pre-cooked or marinated foods be used and that cooking equipment be provided by the competitors. Godrej lent support by providing oil, Jumpin tetrapacks, Real Good chicken, aprons, caps and toiletries while rice was sponsored by Shernaz Anklesaria. The judges were Chef Shahzad Variava, seventh winner among 16,000 at the Master Chef show, and chef Prof Vivek Venugopalan of Sophia Polytechnic. In addition to the food, the participants were to be judged on grooming, taste, color and texture of food, presentation and cleanliness, the write-up reveals.

Variava had selected the menus for the two categories of participants, Group 1 comprising those under 15 years and Group 2 those above that age. For the younger ones the main course was chicken Hawaiian salad or chicken and cheese canapés, while the second option was penne with chicken pesto sauce or penne with chicken arabiata, and for dessert either pancake with banana flambé or crêpes suzette. The seniors had to prepare chicken coleslaw salad and mewa pulao with chicken makhani or chicken Waldorf salad and peas and mint rice with chicken koftas in tomato gravy. For dessert their options were coffee soufflé, banana rum soufflé, strawberry mousse or crêpes in orange sauce.

From top : ready dishes on display; (from left): Winning teams — 2nd place seniors, 1st place Juniors and (below) 3rd place Juniors with chefs Shahzad Variava and Vivek Venugopalan;

By the time the judges arrived and were welcomed by Armin Bavan, joint in-charge of cultural activities of NPC, the participants were displaying the fruits of their labors. "I was very keen to be here as a judge as I always wanted to do something for the community,” Variava stated, while Venugopalan confessed that judging children was more difficult than dealing with seniors. For him eye appeal is the first priority, fragrance comes next, followed by taste. The judges moved from one table to another tasting carefully, pointing out mistakes and explaining how to improve by giving the youngsters useful tips.

Three teams each from Groups 1 and 2 received cash prizes, and Variava announced that the first junior winning team would be the first batch for the bakery classes he is planning to start. Urvazin Porbunderwala, Jefrina Konkrawala, Roshni Bavan, Zeenia Irani, Pinky Bharucha and Cyrus Siganporia comprised the winning seniors team. The second prize for seniors went to Mafrin Khara­di, Sherezad Da­m­a­nia, Ash­ish Me­h­ta, Kari­shma Daru­wala and Urvax Pa­tel. Participant Hormuz Engineer, 10, exclaimed: "I love cooking and will take it as a professional career... so that I can prepare good food for my mother and she can rest and enjoy my sizzling yummy dishes,” Mah-zarin Amrolia, 19, said she was thrilled with the experience and looked forward to other such events. Pashmin Dee, captain of a junior team admitted, "I had a gala time... These are good activities to gain experience.” Captain of the winning team Khushnum Wadia confessed, "I got nervous when the judges asked me to taste my own dishes and decide which one is the best...”