Champion chef

Raise a toast to Khushnoor Panthaky who earned the first prize at the inter-college annual Next Gen Chef 2014 (NGC) competition held at the Sheila Raheja Institute of Hotel Management, Bandra, between October 10 and 17, 2014. For the third and final round, the 20-year-old college going chef blended flavors of the east and west — rogani mutton with kiwi, mint paratha and chocolate gajar halwa meringue, reveals an email received from the contestant.
Panthaky’s interest in cooking was ignited while helping her mother who used to supply daily meals and is currently a confectionary supervisor at the Sir Ratan Tata Institute, she mentions in response to Parsiana’s request for further information. She wants to pursue the culinary profession after completing the third year BSc in Hospitality Management. She also acknowledges inspiration from her professor chef Ajinkya Nikam of Sahyog College of Management Studies, Thane.
The NGC is hosted by the Sheila Raheja Institute and organized by Greed Goddess, an Internet food portal founded and run by Ruchi Srivastava. The latter stated how pleased she was to have so many "renowned chefs in the city come together and be part of a culinary revolution.” The competition is open to students from hotel management and other courses as well. The participants are judged on food, flavor, taste, presentation. Each of the 150 students from 15 hotel management colleges who took part had to submit one innovative recipe, Panthaky mentions.

Khushnoor Panthaky (below and above fourth from left) with judges, organizers and contestants

Judges were reputed entrepreneur chefs and those attached to hotels — Ranveer Brar, Satish Arora, Ajay Chopra, Michael Swamy, Sandeep Pande, Jaydeep Mukherjee. Mukherjee articulated his disappointment saying "Colleges probably need to raise their standard of education; kids are presenting more gimmicky dishes than soulful dishes.” Commented some of the other chefs: "Fantastic way to tap young culinary talent across colleges;” "I was totally enthralled to be judging the competition;” "...Flavor is the king, few spectacular dishes;” and "The fact is that food has become big. The biggest take away for me is food getting its due place in (the) current scenario,” notes the email.
Panthaky also informed Parsiana that she was the only female participant in the Amateur Bartending competition of the D. Y. Patil College on October 13, 2014 where she won the second prize. There were 10 contestants and the cocktails were judged on the basis of their aroma, appearance, recipe, taste, presentation and showmanship, mentions a Daily News and Analysis report dated October 18, 2014. Her family comprises her mother, sister, brother and grandparents with whom she lives, all of whom are proud of her achievements, Panthaky concludes.