A large number of women and men showcased their culinary skills and dished out over 200 lip-smacking delicacies at the ‘Our State Our Taste’ contest organised by The Hindu Group at the Anandha Inn Convention Centre here on Sunday.
The initiative, first of its kind in the city, is to zero in on the next Master Chef of Tamil Nadu.
Participants in various age groups converged at the venue from 9.30 a.m. and presented their best dishes in three categories of vegetarian, non-vegetarian and desserts.
K. Lakshminarayanan, Parliamentary Secretary to Chief Minister, who inaugurated the cookery contest appreciated The Hindu for its initiative to organise such an event.
Participants displaying their dishes at the 'Our State - Our Taste', Culinary Contest organised by The Hindu Group, held in Puducherry on Sunday. | Photo Credit: S_S_KUMAR
He said that people’s food habits had changed in the last few decades and they had shifted from traditional foods to modern cuisines resulting in diabetes and other ailments.
The cookery contest is a chance for the participants to showcase traditional food, he said.
The team of judges was led by culinary expert Chef Damu, Knowledge partner of the contest.
The team included Executive Chef Pannerselvam and Shankar from Anandha Inn, Yuva Durga Prasath from Grand Serenaa and Andrew K. Nagarajan from Hotel Shenbaga. The participants were judged on the basis of taste, flavour, texture and presentation of their food.
“The judging was difficult as the participants were very competitive and most of the dishes were innovative. Participants from Puducherry had done an excellent job and the quality of food was fabulous when compared to Thanjavur. I was completely flabbergasted on seeing participants above 55 to 104 years. I could see that they were very sincere and had put in a lot of effort in preparing the dishes,” Mr. Damu said.
D. Palanisamy, a hotel management graduate from Kariamanickam near Puducherry, bagged the first prize for preparing three desserts – Beetroot halwa, Carrot halwa and Bread Rasmalai.
Kindling taste buds: From top, Senior Superintendent of Police (Law and Order) Apoorva Gupta and Chef Damu with the winners of ‘Our State Our Taste,’ culinary contest organised by The Hindu Group, held in Puducherry on Sunday; participants displaying their dishes at the contest. | Photo Credit: S_S_KUMAR
“I never expected that I would be selected as the winner. I had planned to present a seven-course menu starting with a welcome drink followed by vegetarian dishes and a dessert. But due to shortage of time I switched over to presenting three desserts,” Palanisamy said.
Palanisamy said that his father, a cook, had a distinctive style of cooking and he learned the culinary skills from him.
The family has been operating a mess in Kariamanickam for the last nine years, he added.
Mr. Palanisamy is the second male participant to be selected as the winner in the contest being held across nine cities in Tamil Nadu. The other male participant was from Salem.
The runners up in the three categories were N. Latha for fish curry, D. Girija for kambu adai, G. Chitra for pepper boli and Shalini Srinivasan for stuffed kanava thokku.
Earlier, Mr. Damu announced that 104-year-old Kanagam had been selected as the direct finalist through wild card.
Ms. Kanagam who had come along with her granddaughter to the function venue had presented lady’s finger fry. Ms. Kanagam loves cooking both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes without any assistance from the younger members of her family.
She said that she loves cooking traditional foods and was gearing up for the finals to be held in Chennai.
Grand finale
The winners will participate in the grand finale in Chennai on June 30 for the title “Master Chef of Tamil Nadu”.
Senior Superintendent of Police (Law and Order) Apoorva Gupta presented the trophies to the winners.
Winners also got prizes from the sponsors, Pratap Rao of Premier Cookware and Appliances, Suhail, Marketing Manager, Naga Food Products, Kamesh, Director, Arusuvai Arasu Masala and Karthik, Area Sales Executive, Fortune Sunflower Oil. This was an initiative by THEME – The Hindu Group Events, Meets and Experiences.
Vanaja Vaithianathan, founder and Medical Director, Jothi Eye Care Centre, was present.