IAM students Supriya Bhattacharyya of Calcutta and Cassian Pinto of Goa pose with their trophies

A starter, an intermediate course (soup/fish), main course with accompaniments and a dessert. Eight budding chefs from three centres of IAM Institute of Hotel Management across the country had to cook all that within three hours. At stake was the IAM Star Chef champion’s crown.

About a month ago, the preliminary round took place at the Sector V campus of the hotel school as well as at its branches in Goa and Guwahati, throwing up three finalists each. With one student from Goa failing to make it to Calcutta for the finals, the cook-off was to happen among eight contestants. Judging their work on taste, creativity and presentation, were Pranay Singh from Swissotel, Clement D’Cruz of Hyatt Regency, Ritu Jolly of Taj Bengal as well as in-house members Sanjay Kak and Shaun Kenworthy.

“Your time ends at 1.45pm,” Kenworthy reminded the students as the clock ticked silently on, amid the bustle of the kitchen. “Such a competition gives them the freedom to think creatively while giving them hands-on training in time management. This experience will prepare them for the trade tests we take for recruitment,” said executive chef Singh.

The pressure got to some. Manipur girl Priyadarshini Raj Kumari missed out making a starter. Guwahati boy Mukut Sarma dug into regional recipes to rustle up Machher Bora, Patta Bhat Soup, Sagoli Mangshor Jhol and Kamola Payesh. “The mutton curry is a famous Bodo dish,” he smiled. But once the judges came over, it was found that two of his dishes had no salt and the third too much. “Your payesh is also a bit burnt,” Kak remarked.

Tamluk boy Supriya Bhattach-aryya came into the finals as the Calcutta topper. Having laid out a Continental spread of Grilled Fish with pickled melon, Sweet Corn Chicken Soup with sweet bread, Beef Steak with Bordelaise Sauce with mashed potato and turned vegetables and Apple Tart in the finals, he could see competition from just one corner in the kitchen. “The Goan girl has done well. I liked her food and she liked mine too,” he said as they awaited the results.

Though he scored highly from executive sous chef D’Cruz for creativity and from executive chef Singh for presentation, his apprehension proved correct. First year student Cassian Pinto took the crown home with her Goan dishes. “I learnt them at home from mom,” she smiled, trophy in hand. Supriya had to settle for the runner-up award.

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BK Block boy Shubhankar Paul had come second to qualify for the finals of the IAM Star Chef Championship. The third year student of hotel management shares the recipes of two of the dishes that won him a place in the finals.

 

Pan Grilled Chicken

Ingredients

• Chicken breast (boneless) - 4 pieces of around 250g each
• Rosemary - 5g
• Oregano - 5g
• Salt to taste
• Garlic cloves (unpeeled with the eye removed)- 5 pieces
• White pepper (powder) - to taste
• Olive oil - 1 tablespoon
• Butter - 1 tablespoon
• Pimento - ½

Serves 4

Method

Marinate the boneless chicken breast with salt, white pepper, rosemary and oregano. Take a non-stick pan and add the olive oil and butter. Allow the pan to heat on low to medium flame and place the marinated chicken breast (the chicken breast should be uniform in size and a bit flattened for even cooking). Add the garlic cloves. The chicken should be grilled on the pan for about 10-12 minutes.

For garnish slice the red pimentos in long thin pieces and saute the pimentos in the same pan as the chicken but be careful as to not cook it. The pimentos should have a nice glaze on them. Serve hot with the pimentos on the top.

(Left to right) Pan Grilled Chicken and Spaghetti with Pesto Sauce

 

Spaghetti with Pesto Sauce

Ingredients

• Spaghetti - 500 g
• Green beans (fresh) - 200g
• Olive oil - 4 tablespoons
• Salt - 1 tablespoon

For Pesto Sauce

• Spinach - 300g
• Basil (fresh) - 70g
• Parmesan cheese - 20g
• Olive oil - 5 tablespoon
• Almonds (peeled) - 40g
• Salt - as per taste

Serves 4

Method

Bring water to boil in a big round bottom pan and add the olive oil and salt. Once the water starts boiling add the green beans. After it boils for two minutes add the spaghetti. Boil the spaghetti till it is firm but not hard to chew.

Strain the spaghetti but store some of the starchy water in which the spaghetti was boiled. Add a little more olive oil to the cooked spaghetti so it does not stick and keep aside.

For Pesto sauce

Cut the stems and the root of spinach just leaving the leaves. Now take the spinach leaves and basil leaves and rinse them thoroughly. Now fill a big pan with water and add the spinach and basil. Warm the water slightly and strain the spinach and basil immediately.
Put the strained spinach and basil in a mixer along with the peeled almonds and cheese. Mix them together and add the olive oil and salt. Finally mix the prepared pesto sauce and spaghetti together. While mixing add some of the starchy water that was kept aside for ease in mixing. This keeps the spaghetti from drying out when re-heating.