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Delhi got its best home chef as the third and final day of Slurrp’s Great Indian Cookout powdered by Weikfield and Glen wrapped up with a special session with India’s most iconic Padma Shri Sanjeev Kapoor. The third day was more than a blockbuster hit as Chef Anahita Dhondy Bhandari and Chef Sabyasachi Gorai took some cooking masterclass lessons and Chef Sanjeev Kapoor announced the final winner of the cookout – Muskan Sharma.
The final day started with a cooking workshop by Chef Anahita, who made delicious meaty mushroom tacos. She used ragi rotis to make the taco shells and kimchi dip to go with the dish. The audience was very excited to try out this unique but super easy dish. Talking about more vegetarian alternatives, the Chef suggested jackfruit or kathal for a similar meaty texture.
A successful chef and author, Chef Anahita shared some tips for budding chefs. “Learning and practicing is the key. Experiment with food but stick to recipes that have been cooked in your household for years. Your authentic homemade recipes will never go out of fashion!”. Talking about her leisure day cooking, the Parsi chef said she goes back to the comfort of eggs and likes to have dishes like akuri.
Next, the three semi- finalists Muskan Sharma, Vidhi Gupta and Simmi Babbar started making chaat and custard, that they had to plate beautifully for Chef Sabyasachi Gorai to see and judge and then choose the finalists. All three made aesthetically pleasing presentations and Chef finally chose Simmi Babbar and Muskan Sharma as the finalists.
For his cooking masterclass, Chef Sabyasachi began by wowing the audience and telling them he will make fully vegetarian eggless pasta from scratch. He made perfect veg pasta with a cream cheese filling. The Chef also got chickpea and chocolate cupcakes for everyone! Speaking with us, he said how our country has a long history of vegetarian cooking. “The world actually looks at us and sees how varied and delicious our vegetarian food is. A lot of our food is naturally dairy-free. We need to bring back vegetables to our home.”
He also praised the home chefs by saying that they have all the skills that they learnt in the kitchen. “We come from culinary programs, but these home chefs have been cooking for decades. All I want to say is that trends come and go, but your talent remains. Stick to your legacy, keep cooking authentic recipes. Don’t just go after Instagrammable trends because at the end of the day, your traditional recipes are evergreen”, said Chef Sabyasachi.
The final round of Great Indian Cookout saw Muskaan Sharma and Simmi Babbar getting a mystery box each, with had pasta ingredients. Both used the same ingredients to make pasta – something that everyone loves. An easy dish is perhaps the biggest challenge. As they finished their cooking, Padma Shri Chef Sanjeev Kapoor graced the event with his presence and tasted both of their dishes. He declared the youngest contestant of the cookout, 23-year-old Muskan Sharma as the winner!
Chef Sanjeev Kapoor had a fun interaction with Editor of Slurrp, Ayandrali Dutta as well as the audience where he answered quite a few questions. When asked which three people he would love to cook for, he said Mahatma Gandhi, Charlie Chaplin and his father. For all the home chefs wanting to start a career in cooking, he suggested the renowned Sanjeev Kapoor Academy for them to go and learn and be successful in the field. He also cut a cake with Team Slurrp to celebrate its milestone for becoming the no.1 food and recipe website in India.
The iconic Chef, who is loved by people across generations, said, “I always feel age is not a factor in any skill, be it singing, dancing or cooking. Anybody, at any age, can be a good cook”. He also feels YouTube and Instagram have brought a certain democracy and anyone with cooking talent can showcase it. “It's a great thing that the field has become more open. Anybody and everybody can become big”, the Chef concluded.
