The mood inside Airport Marriage Hall, Meenambakkam, is intense. Catering students from various colleges have assembled to participate in the thematic cooking event ‘No Oil, No Boil’, hosted by Geo India Foundation, in association with Airports Authority of India (AAI). They’re here to pull off a rare feat — to prepare 300 raw dishes from organic ingredients in a span of five minutes. The attempt, if anything, is arduous to say the least. But, the up-and-coming chefs seem confident about making it into the Record books. They, however, face a particular challenge — the recipes have to be free from oil and boil. The participants trained under food consultant Padayal Shivakumar and his sister Bagavathi Rani, for two days prior to the event. The students are also aided by volunteers from Geo India Foundation and AAI staff.
“Students, do not worry about the availability of certain ingredients,” announces Bagavathi, as they take their respective positions. In stark contrast to their practice session, some items have been kept ready well in advance to make the proceedings easier. For instance, the idli batter is prepared by blending powered aval flakes with coconut milk. The resultant mixture is left to set for a couple of minutes in circular containers and the idlis are ready without having to actually steam them.
Aval idli is just a fraction of the diverse menu that ranges from pumpkin kozhukattai, tender coconut jam, and pearl millet laddoo to java plum kesari. The menu for the day is categorised into snacks, desserts, cakes, milkshakes and juices — all organic and raw. On Shivakumar’s command, the group begins to mix all the ingredients in bowls. Participants quickly and effortlessly shape food items such as the bonda and kozhukattai. “The varieties you see are made of day-to-day ingredients available in almost every household. The purpose of this attempt is to promote organic food and a healthy diet,” says Shivakumar.
Hailing from Coimbatore, Shivakumar runs the Padayal Natural Food Training Institute, which has been conducting workshops throughout South India on raw food. For this event, Shivakumar has curated a special list of healthy dishes that can also be cooked quickly. “Fast food is not a bad word after all,” he remarks. Shivakumar says that he wanted to do away with the false notion that raw food isn’t tasty, “Our menu offers a variety of healthy dishes that are scrumptious at the same time,” he says, adding, “Since the participants are catering students, they could easily understand what’s expected of them.”
“The record has been achieved in three minutes and 50 seconds,” announces Babu Balakrishnan, Adjudicator of Universal Achievers Book of Records, to a loud cheer from the gathering. They make it to the Universal Book of Records and Future Kalam’s Book of Records for making the most number of Natural foods within five minutes. “We evaluate based on three parameters; the total number of participants, total number of dishes and time taken to make them,” says Babu, adding that the Guinness Record certification is a long process that usually takes several months.