Santosh Shah prepares 18 vegan dishes to win MasterChef: The Professionals Rematch (Source: MasterChef UK/Twitter) Nepal-born chef Santosh Shah has won BBC One’s MasterChef: The Professionals Rematch beating three other MasterChef finalists — Armitage-Mattin and Bart van der Lee from 2020, and Jamie Park from 2017.
The judges — Marcus Wareing, Monica Galetti, and Gregg Wallace — were wowed by his 18-dish vegan feast inspired by Nepal’s Dashain festival in the final round of the culinary show.
Notably, Dashain is celebrated as Vijaya Dashami or Dussehra in parts of India.
The vegan platter comprised jackfruit steak, onion salad, rice crackers, green banana curry, sesame and chilli pickle, red yam, tempered grapefruit, spiced potato and pointed gourd, pilau rice with nuts and a rice puree or bread with hemp and smoked tomato chutneys, sun-dried chickpea leaf, mushroom dried curry and Nepalese black lentil daal.
“You truly went back home to bring me the flavour. I feel like I went with you on the journey,” said judge Monica.
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On winning the coveted title, Shah said, “I am feeling great. I cooked vegan because people think vegan food is not tasty, or is boring. Look at these comments. Oh my goodness.”
As per his website chefsantoshshah.com, the London-based chef’s first culinary job was as a kitchen and commis chef in an Indian hotel when he was just 14. After he moved to the UK in 2010, he worked at some of the most renowned Indian kitchens, holding positions at Michelin-starred Benares, and Dishoom, before becoming a Sous Chef at The Cinnamon Club and eventually Head Chef at its sister restaurant, Cinnamon Kitchen.
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After being a finalist on Season 10 of MasterChef: The Professionals last year, in an interview with lovefood.com, he said, “I didn’t want to win a title, I wanted to put Nepalese food on the culinary world map and I think I achieved that. After Covid, I will open a Nepalese fine dining restaurant in central London.”
Have you pre-ordered your SIGNED copy of ‘Ayla: A Feast of Nepali Dishes from Terai, Hills and the Himalayas’ by Santosh Shah (@chefsantoshshah)?
Celebrate the flavours of Nepal with easy-to-follow recipes and Santosh’s culinary wisdom.
— WHSmith (@WHSmith) December 22, 2021
The 36-year-old chef is also out with a cookbook Ayla: A Feast of Nepali Dishes from Terai, Hills and the Himalayas.
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