Archita and Amrita Ghosh with MasterChef India Season 3 finalist Doyel Sarangi and (above) Zedaan Ali with mother Ishrat. Pictures by Bhubaneswarananda Halder

Harshika Doshi is all concentration as she plates up like a pro. The nine-year-old’s face lights up when she carefully lifts a mould to reveal a perfect platter of Pesto Rice, served with a bowl of masala dahi for a desi touch.

The Class IV student at Modern High School for Girls was one of the nearly 400 children, aged eight to 12, who turned up at Swabhumi on Wednesday to audition for Junior MasterChef.

Harshika, whose favourite food are pizzas and pancakes, loves helping her parents in the kitchen. “We try out different kinds of recipes. Even I like cooking. We are scared for her when she is near the gas stove, so we never leave her alone in the kitchen,” said Harshika’s father, Tejash Doshi.

Zedaan Ali, a Class IV student at St. James’ School, came with mother Ishrat, one of the top 12 contestants in MasterChef India Season 3. “My son was very upset when I was eliminated. I told him about Junior MasterChef and he was eager to participate,” said Ishrat, who had dedicated her last dish on the show to her son and named it Zed platter. “I trained him for a month. He is a quick learner.” Zedan served chicken kebab and doughnuts.

MasterChef India Season 3 finalist Doyel Sarangi, who was present to motivate the young chefs, was impressed. “When I was their age, I could only make tea, aloo bhaja and dim bhaja. I was pleasantly surprised to see the kind of dishes these kids have made,” said the homemaker from Baghajatin.

Twins Archita and Amrita Ghosh don’t only share their birthdays but their passion for cooking as well. “I started cooking because of my love for food. I love Mughlai dishes, especially biryani, and chingdi malai curry too,” said Archita as Amrita chipped in: “You don’t just love it, you jump over to have it.”

The Class VII students at Pratt Memorial started cooking around two years ago, sneaking into the kitchen whenever their mother was away. The sisters served kosha mangsho, potoler dorma and prawn in coconut and mustard on Wednesday.

Twelve-year-old Bijoyini Sarkar was elated to have qualified for the next round — live cooking — to be held on Thursday. The Class VII student at Bridge International School had prepared daab chingdi and malpua.

“She has been cooking since she was four. She is very comfortable while cooking. I have never discouraged her. I am not a paranoid mother, I believe that if you are careful you will not get cuts or burn yourself,” said mother Bibi Sarkar, director, Bibi of Taaja’s.

Not just traditional delicacies, the contestants experimented with fusion food too. “I have prepared Cinnamon Lasagne. I tried to give it an Indian flavour. I love Italian dishes and different kinds of desserts,” said Shrivatsa Todi, 12, a Class VII student at Don Bosco, Park Circus.

Main course to desserts, appetisers to snacks, the kids tried their hand at everything. Roshan Kumar Saw, 12, from Dhanbad rustled up his favourite papdi chaat and Parul Singh from Gopalganj served dhokla and dahi vada.

The organisers were happy with the response, which was encouraging though not as huge as in Delhi. “For Junior MasterChef, we are not looking at numbers but what kind of kids are cooking. We are surprised that a lot of kids have started cooking for Junior MasterChef,” said Rajiv Lakshman, the creative head of Colosseum Media, the production house handling MasterChef India. “At the end of the day, kids will be kids. They are extremely energetic and they take time to open up but once they do they are like a hurricane.”

So, will any of the city kids cook up a storm on national television? Cheers to that!