Bringing out the chef in them

Capsicums were diced, tomatoes chopped, cucumbers sliced, meat minced and all culinary exercises brought into play when 65 shortlisted students from 5000 entries across North and central India competed to win a ticket to London!

The scenario at the Mathura Road campus of International Institute of Hotel Management (IIHM) was nothing short of a battlefield when the students waged a war against each other to make it to the top six contenders in the regional round of ‘Young Chef 2013’.

The third edition of the culinary competition witnessed a lot of excitement among Std XII students from different Indian cities. They had to not just cook a tasty main course Indian dish from unprocessed materials but also be creative in their approach, in order to make a mark. Divided into three batches, the competitors were given only an hour and limited options in ‘Basket Cookery’ to choose from. Their final dish was then judged on the basis of taste, knowledge, spice, innovation, creativity and presentation.

It became a tough decision for the judges - Chef Kak (Group corporate Chef - Indismart Group), Chef Saby (Executive Chef - Oliver Bar and Kitchen), Chef Darren Conole (Executive Chef - Shangri La Hotels and Resorts) and Michel Koopman (General Manager, The Leela) to shortlist ‘Super Six’ out of 65.

The six young culinary experts who managed to reach the top slot round were – Ashutosh Verma (K R Mangalam World School, GK-II), Vaibhav Bhutani (Delhi Public School R. K. Puram), Aditya Saraf (D.L.DAV Model School), Sneha (Army School, Shankar Vihar), Sonia Mehta (K R Mangalam World School, GK-II) and Anirudh Mathur (Somerville School, Vasundhara).

While Ashutosh Verma’s fish starter won him the ticket to London, the first runner-up Vaibhav gave him a tough competition. However, Vaibhav along with the rest four could bag only the cash prize.

An elated Ashutosh later shared with Metrolife, “In the first round I thought of cooking the traditional Rajasthani Laal Maas but due to unavailability of all the spices and few utensils, I decided to make Jungli Maas and serve it with Lachcha Parantha. It made me reach the super six. Just when I thought it was over, I realised we had another round. Short of ideas I decided to cook paneer bhurji and egg parantha for the mains and prepared spinach fish as starter. Though these were common dishes, I was applauded for the taste.”

As Ashutosh is all set to fly down to London to compete with five other competitors, he will be judged by Eric Pickles, Secretary of State and Senior Cabinet Minister as the Chef Guest at the Finals in London.  Wishing him all the luck for the title of ‘Young Chef India 2013’!