People Cooking For People - Hyatt Culinary Challenge 2015, Bangalore

I was invited along with my family for the 2nd season of Culinary Challenge #CookWithHyatt at Hyatt Hotels, Bangalore. This event was being conducted as select Hyatt Hotels across India at Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune on the same day i.e. 31st Oct 2015. Hyatt had partnered with NGO SMILE Foundation.

Leek Tart cooked by a French trained participant

A child from the foundation was partnered with a guest participant for the cook-off. The guest participants were some chosen participants from the corporate sector, bloggers, home chefs, etc. 

The afternoon consisted of a semi-final cook off where "people cooked for people". The chosen participants got a chance to showcase their culinary skills. The recipes were judged based on the following key criteria - name of the recipe (easy to understand yet creative), nature of recipe (traditional or unique), simplicity, availability of ingredients and reason for participating.

There were stalls at the Lido-Poolside Restaurant where the participants cooked the yummy recipes. 

The event was judged by food writer Ruma Singh, food critic Kripal Amanna and chef Rishad Minocher.

Children from SMILE foundation had a great time too and they too displayed their culinary skills.

Some of the guest participants had a tough time communicating with the children who only knew to speak Kannada. Yet they made a great team and cooked off a storm. Judges were impressed by the knife skills of some of the children. Indeed budding chefs.

Throughout the entire event wine, cocktails, mocktails and appetizers kept going around.

I loved this pineapple upside down cake which was cooked by an enthusiastic 70 year old Nirmin Lamba who is also a home-maker. The child partner chopped the cherries and decorated the cake beautifully.

The cook-off was followed by lunch. Different types of breads, salads, gravies like Mushroom hara pyaza, paneer khurchan, Lahroi murgh, Beans and potato lasagne with pesto,smashed potatoes and biryani was served.

There was a live grill which grilled yummy prawns, fish, chicken wings, pork and lamb along with veggie items like sweet corn, pineapple, mushroom, bell peppers, paneer, etc. Live pasta station was also present where pasta of our choice was being served.

The desserts like Lemon meringue pie, Mandarian cake slice, Strawberry mousse cake, Cocoberry cake, Chocolate autumn cake, Rasmalai, etc were also very yummy.

The winner of the event was Mrs. Preeti Marwaha, a home-maker and her 13-year old partner Anjali who cooked chicken roulade stuffed with breadcrumbs, spinach, and sun-dried tomatoes.

The runner up were 11 year old Vanilla and Mr. Arnad Saha who cooked a Bengali dish named Chingri Bhapa or prawns in mustard sauce.