Hyderabad: When Suparna Tikadar struggled with her equipment on the final day of ‘The Flavour Games’ at the Telangana Bengali Film Festival, Bindu Bhandari handed her a spare ‘kadhai’. She could have kept it to herself, let the rules play out, but she didn’t. “It’s good to help someone. She had no vessels and I had three,” she said, adding, “You don’t have to be competitive to win.”A home cook, running a cloud kitchen in Kokapet, Bhandari secured the second place in the contest. Her ‘methi kadhi chawal’ had a distinct taste, different from the versions made in Rajasthan or Gujarat. She paired it with dates and dry fruit barfi, naturally sweet, without sugar. “Only dates,” she said. “You can try it.”The one who beat Bhandari was Sonali Ghosh Chanda, who had cooked Kasan Bhape Murgi, a dish from Barishal, Bangladesh. She ground the mustard, coconut, and poppy seeds fresh, without any shortcut.The scent of mustard would bring any Bengali memories of paturi, the famous fish dish, and old Bengali kitchens where everything was done by hand.Judge Satya Pandhari, executive chef, was impressed. “People don’t do this anymore,” he said. “Everything comes in packets. But she started from scratch. The mustard paste, the steaming, that’s what brought out the real taste.” The judges even asked for her recipe.In third place was Suparna Tikadar, who brought in different styles. She cooked creamy chicken, garlic herb rice, pineapple salsa, and sautéed vegetables. “A little Italian, a little British, but I made it all in an Indian style,” she said, laughing.Judge Shreya Basu had brought the idea of a cook-off to the festival. “Bengalis love cinema, and they love food,” she said. “This was about bringing those two together.” On Saturday, 15 contestants competed, cooking from home and bringing their dishes in. On Sunday, the final five cooked everything on-site. No mixers, no electric grinders. Only hands, knives, stone grinders, and time. “It reminded me of my mother’s kitchen,” someone said. “The smell, the slow cooking. It wasn’t just food, it was a memory.”The top five finalists were all women, and two weren’t Bengali. Someone watching pointed it out. “In MasterChef, all the judges are mostly men. When it comes to cooking at home, we mostly see women.” On Saturday, one male chef had made it to the first round, but on Sunday all five finalists were women. It wasn’t surprising, but it was something to think about.Prachi Robinson, another finalist, had been on MasterChef. She cooked dry fruit and peas pulao, kaju chicken curry, and pineapple raita. “I added Guntur mirchi for spice,” she said. “Something familiar to Hyderabad.” Finally, Sujata Mitra had fused Bengali and Rajasthani food with capsicum and mushroom infused with prawn gravy, served alongside lachcha paratha.
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