Week 13 - 17 November

Today was a Diwali special episode. We saw the contestants cook Diwali special dishes.

I of course don’t know most of those dishes, but today Nambi seemed very lost - she didn’t know what compote would go on her desert, she was forgetting things.

Shubhojit is making a chicken and rice dish. I fear it might be too simple, since others are making more complex dishes.

Harry is making tamarind rice and a pineapple shakes and beetroot halwa. Two halwas on a plate, doesn’t sound very exciting. Hoping he adds an element for crunch and freshness.

Ashiq is making Prawn biryani and patole, in which he’ll stuff rabdi.

Kriti is making a dessert - phirni ice cream with moong dal mousse.

Kenny - I didn’t understand his dish, but I remember he’s using passion fruit somewhere.

Suraj - he’s making Sel roti, with potato achaar and some other thing.

Nidhi - she’s making a siddu along with some more elements.

Rukhsaar - she’s making a fish and lotus root curry and a sweet dish of paneer stuffed in morrel mushrooms (she kept saying guchi, unless I heard wrong).

So far only Nidhi and Kenny’s dishes sounded interesting to me.

Looking forward to the tasting tomorrow.

Originally posted by: Raina101

Today was a Diwali special episode. We saw the contestants cook Diwali special dishes.

I of course don’t know most of those dishes, but today Nambi seemed very lost - she didn’t know what compote would go on her desert, she was forgetting things.

Shubhojit is making a chicken and rice dish. I fear it might be too simple, since others are making more complex dishes.

Harry is making tamarind rice and a pineapple shakes and beetroot halwa. Two halwas on a plate, doesn’t sound very exciting. Hoping he adds an element for crunch and freshness.

Ashiq is making Prawn biryani and patole, in which he’ll stuff rabdi.

Kriti is making a dessert - phirni ice cream with moong dal mousse.

Kenny - I didn’t understand his dish, but I remember he’s using passion fruit somewhere.

Suraj - he’s making Sel roti, with potato achaar and some other thing.

Nidhi - she’s making a siddu along with some more elements.

Rukhsaar - she’s making a fish and lotus root curry and a sweet dish of paneer stuffed in morrel mushrooms (she kept saying guchi, unless I heard wrong).

So far only Nidhi and Kenny’s dishes sounded interesting to me.

Looking forward to the tasting tomorrow.

To be honest.... Only people who did something different with keeping the root taste same are Kenny kriti Ashiq and nidhi.... Rest everyone did normal home level cooking.... So I really didn't understand on what basis did they select 6 dishes.... No elevation in dish .... Level of execution is getting lower season by season..... Biasness is very evident from chef ranvir n pooja...

Originally posted by: Naay

To be honest.... Only people who did something different with keeping the root taste same are Kenny kriti Ashiq and nidhi.... Rest everyone did normal home level cooking.... So I really didn't understand on what basis did they select 6 dishes.... No elevation in dish .... Level of execution is getting lower season by season..... Biasness is very evident from chef ranvir n pooja...

Pooja cannot comment on the elements if it is a savoury dish. She simply sits. She talks a lot of it is a dessert. She always liked Kriti. Kriti also mentioned during auditions seeing Pooja she started home baking leaving behind her masters.

Ranveer’s order is Nidhi then Kriti. They all like Ruksar irrespective of how she cooks.

I liked rukshar,ashiq,kritis dish more. As i dont know how they tasted,i am going for looks and their description of how they cooked it or what ingredients they used.

Nidhi over rated,but yesterday her dish looked good to me.

To be honest,may be to honour his age,harry is there still. Every day he presents mediocre dish and in service challenge he did literally nothing!

Ashiq's dish looked so so beautiful. That pink or what color it was,mixture of pink purple made of beetroot and blue rabdi- so so so pretty what a color combination.

I would love to frame the pic of this dish.

Coming to the tasting :

Rukhsaars looked wholesome, though playing was nothing great. What I like is she isn’t afraid of making things that may sound odd to us. Whose thing of stuffing a morrel mushroom to make a dessert? Though I know it’s a lost recipe, but still.

Nidhi - I’ve never tried a sattu, but the description and looks aren’t appealing to me. But she stuck to traditional food, which is her forte and todays challenge was about how diwali is celebrated at home. Hardly anyone innovated, so can’t blame her alone.

Ashiq - made prawn biryani and patole with rabdi. Except for the colour of the patole, it wasn’t innovative. But I’m happy his flavours were amazing l, so much so that the judges said he made the best use of rice. His plating was beautiful. I liked the play on pink and purple.

Kriti - her main dish, seemed ok. It was like a carrot, tomato purée on rice but her dessert was the bomb. From the thought, to execution, to plating, she was brilliant. She chose two classic desserts - phirni and moong dal halwa and made them into an ice cream and mousse. Loved the addition of friend moong dal for crunch.

Harry - again simple dishes, made regularly, but I guess the taste was good. His plating is always a let down but his dessert plate looked lovely. It may be slightly kiddish but perfect for the occasion.

Nambi - she was all over the place and a mess. None of her plates looked good. The judges while praised her dish also found faults. I just wish she stopped using black rice in every other challenge. We’ve had enough of it.

Kenny - the Murukku on the rice was clearly an afterthought.I wish he did something else with it, instead of just placing it on top. His dessert sounded good, Pooja just had to comment so she said she wished his banana ice cream had some sea salt, not sure that was a necessary comment, but oh well.

Shubhojit - he made basanti pulao and chicken in posto sauce. Posto sauce isn’t strong in flavours, not sure it was the best dish to cook. He didn’t get negative reviews though. I wish he’d have added some sweet also, like the others. His seemed like an incomplete meal.

Suraj - loved his leaf playing for sel roti. That added so much more to his presentation. I think last season Santa made chamre bhaat as well. Simple humble dishes, but I guess the taste was good. To me it looked like a proper pooja meal.

For me, Kritis was the most innovative dish and also the one I’d happily eat.

My most fav nayan jyoti and ashiq were together today and no score for guessing,they won it simple beautiful presentation.

Aruna again came with her sauce ice cream!

Harry's dish was taco,very simple and not good looking.

Gurki and kriti- not up to the mark

Rukshar's chicken was over Cooked but others were wonderdul,dish looked average

Originally posted by: PilloWtalk_13

My most fav nayan jyoti and ashiq were together today and no score for guessing,they won it simple beautiful presentation.

Aruna again came with her sauce ice cream!

Harry's dish was taco,very simple and not good looking.

Gurki and kriti- not up to the mark

Rukshar's chicken was over Cooked but others were wonderdul,dish looked average

What made me laugh is how the pairings ended up.

1. Suraj plays with his flavours and KDK was similar - a good pairing there.
2. Kriti and Gurki were always strong in desserts and mainly lasted because of their good luck - perfect pairing there.
3. Nidhi and Aruna managed to last long because of Ranveer's favouritism - another great pairing.
4. Aashiq and Nayan are the quiet underdogs always surprising the judges with their flavours but never overconfident - an awesome pairing there.
5. Rukshar and Santa stay true to their roots and bring new flavours through that - on point pairing.
6. Finally Harry and Survarna are 2 people who are weak but managed to make it through because others got out first - final good pairing.

Seriously. Just think it through. Such great pairings without even attempting it.

I'm super happy that Aashiq won. He totally deserved it based on the innovation, presentation, and comments on tasting. I was a little worried that they would somehow make Nidhi the winner.

I will say 3 more things about today's episode.

One, I kind of expected that whoever is with Nayan would win as he is last season's winner and it would be a failure on the judges' part if the winner from last season didn't help a contestant from this season win the advantage. Instead of Nayan they should have gotten Sachin because then it wouldn't have been as obvious. Nayan could have been a guest instead.

Second, Suvarna will be Survarna. She didn't even accept that Harry won't get the advantage because of her. She just said he wouldn't get because of the comments. Typical Suvarna. I expected that whoever ended up with her would fail anyways.

Third, Rukshar's comments at Aashiq's win were so funny. He needs to rest because that means he'll learn less. So true. Rukshar both called him her biggest competitor but also was super happy for him in that one comment.

The Diwali episodes were better somewhat okay even though not the best here and there at times. Kriti's dessert was probably the best (moong daal mousse was pretty interesting, even more then the phirni ice cream itself) whereas Mohammed A. came in 2nd because of blue pea colored patoli and I'm gonna be kinda candid that I'm kinda bored seeing him cook prawns nowadays.

I think Suraj did justice in terms of attempting to make the sel roti even though it didn't come as expected which he aforementioned prior to cooking that he ain't the best at making the sel roti shape but still gave it full attempt and his cabbage sabzi looked pretty enticing.

The S7 and S8 pair ups was kinda boring episode till Rukhsar's comment of Aashiq earning the advantage. I'd say I'd give kudos to her for admitting that he's her competitor in the game. Nambi regretting over not partaking in the competition and working with fermented soy beans was mainly due to her being overwhelmed in the Diwali episode so it's kinda hysterical to see this bit be added lol.

LOL, overall pairing was hysterical as its two individuals with a similar background in the MCI seasons lol. I kinda found Suvarna-Harry pairing comical b/c it was obvious ki Suwarna ki hi chalegi lol. 😂 🤣 Harry took a backseat lol.

I think I am in the minority here but I don't know why I don't like Rukhsar much, its not about her cooking or presentation or anything but I don't like her, there is something which I am unable to describe but I don't know why this feeling.

However, I think since this is a cooking show therefore I should not say this, so sorry if I have hurt anyone.

btw a small Q

Was chef Ranveer bit different to Seema ji? He was behaving as if she has captured his property or stolen something, I mean I felt this, how she cooked is another thing, but his behavior looked bit weird to me, so I wanted to ask that am I the only one who is assuming all this?