With their chef hats on and utensils at the ready, eight home cooks geared up to cook their strongest dishes to win the Master Chef Saturday Club, partnered by t2. Just like in the hit TV series MasterChef, this cooking competition, presented by The Saturday Club on January 21, had some tough challenges too. Glimpses...

Get set, go... 

From good guesswork to plating a healthy dish to putting a creative touch to their cooking — the contestants lived up to every challenge and how! While the Guess What round saw the participants guessing and jotting down the different spices, herbs and pasta given to them without touching, tasting and even smelling, in Round Two (Fat to Fit) the home cooks had to rustle up a healthy soup or salad in 30 minutes. The Mystery Tray, Round Three, saw the chefs using items like grapes, cauliflower, ginger, lemon, chickpea, beetroot, bitter gourd, paneer and chicken to whip up their dishes. They could use a minimum of one ingredient and a maximum of three, where one of the ingredients would have to be the hero of the dish. The last round was the Invention Test where the chefs had an open pantry to choose from for a dish of their choice, to be plated in 30 minutes.  

The kitchen queen and kings

Ishita Todi aced the contest. “A super fun afternoon! It was definitely challenging as we had only 30 minutes to prepare dishes, but it was not stressful. I cook at home every day so that was a definite plus point,” she said. Her Lebanese Wrap served with hummus was one of the win factors.   

“Cooking is my hobby, it’s like a painting! It can’t be recreated in the same exact manner. Which is why I don’t name my dishes, it’s like branding it. If you’re doing something you love, it’s hardly a competition,” laughed Sanjay Sood, who placed second. The prawn-and-mushroom dish was one of the highlights from Sanjay’s corner. 

Anil Gupta, who placed third, “never expected” to win. “I don’t know whether it was my food or enthusiasm... I just participated to enjoy myself,” said Anil, after making a mean Shahi Tukda. 

Tastemasters

“The idea was really nice and next time hopefully there will be more participants. It adds colour to the club. The participants fared really well in the competition. There was a tie for the runners-up and it was a tough decision,” said Subhasis Ganguli, regional director (east), INOX.

“It was fun to see all the participants so enthusiastic about cooking. Competitions like this encourage people to cook and have a better control over their health. It is de-stressing too,” said Hena Nafis, nutritionist. 

“It was really fun. I was surprised to see that some participants who were cooking for the first time had come up with such innovative techniques. They had my brownie points,” said Subhrajit Bardhan, Swissotel general manager.

CLUB SPEAK

“I think for the first time an event like this has taken place in the club. The participants were so enthusiastic and had so much fun. I could see the satisfaction on their faces even after cooking for so long. We hope to make this an annual affair,” said Smita Ganeriwala, library and catering convener, The Saturday Club.

Text: Urvashi Bhattacharya
Pictures: Pabitra Das