The Final Mystery: The second last round
With only six participants remaining, the competition has nearly reached its ending. Three would be eliminated today. Those that have passed, would stand to win a guarantee of three lakh taka, and it was not going to be so easy. Having already faced numerous obstacles, this one was supposed to be the hardest. All the things the participants have learned throughout the competition would now have to be used.
The judges Shawkat Osman, Shaheda Yesmin and Afroza Banu together devised the challenge for the round. The six participants had no clue about what to expect. Then they took their positions in their stations and waited with bated breaths. Soon, a box was placed in front of them and then the judges went about explaining the task. The box before them contained certain ingredients. These ingredients would have to be used to prepare a dish. The pantry was made off-limits to the participants, with only the spices section open for their use.
After explaining the tasks, the judges instructed the participants to open the boxes in front of them and then they did. A gasp went through the challengers, all a little taken aback. Staring at them from the box was a large rupchanda fish. That was to be the core ingredient, but there were also other things that could be used, if one wished to not draw too much attention to the fish.
Till now, the pomfret, one of Bengali cuisine's finest delicacies was yet to make an appearance till today. The participants were then given some time to mull the ingredients before them. They were also allowed to look around the pantry for whatever spices they would require.
The participants had all their concentration set on the ingredients. All reached for the pomfret and the timer started. The participants were initially seen rushing about getting spices. Some had questions for the judges. The judges explained that all the tasks they had done were designed to train them for the challenges ahead.
Last week they had learned at what temperature to fry, how to de-bone, how to stuff and previously they had learned how to make the most use of time and spices and overall the challenges had made them familiar to their own kitchen stations.
The smell of frying and cooking pomfret soon filled the air. It seems the participants had prepared well, but even then only three would go through to the final round to get a crack at 5 lakh taka cash prize and the first ever Rupchanda-Star Lifestyle Super Chef crown.
The judges tasted each dish individually. Those that added a garnish, a roti or even a sauce were appreciated. They showed proper time management. In the end though, three were eliminated on the basis of a nearly-done fish, missing ingredient or poor presentation.
Now the last three were remaining to battle it out in the Grand Finale of the Rupchanda-Star Lifestyle Super Chef 2014. Catch the final episode on NTV at 9pm, next Monday.
Photo: Shariar Kabir Heemel
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