Men Can Cook

It’s not every day that one gets to see the likes of a professional golfer,an ace motor rallyist,an award-winning artist and an uber successful agriculturist meet under the open skies and take to cooking with a vengeance! But that’s exactly what happened at the well-put together ‘Men Can Cook’ event hosted by Carlsberg beer on Wednesday evening at the Taj Chandigarh. Bringing six successful men-about-town and their culinary skills on one platform was celebrity chef Karen Anand who flitted from one cooking station to another,encouraging the men and getting to know them and their dishes better. “The idea is to encourage men to take to cooking and for those who enjoy the same,this event gives them the perfect chance to impress,” spoke Anand who gave the chosen six men from the city – artist Shiv Singh,golfer Amrit Inder Singh,agriculturist Bhagwat Singh,rallyist Hari Singh,industrialist Jessie Grewal and entrepreneur Amit Ahuja – under 30 minutes to prepare a dish. Each of them had their own workstations and a centre table where assorted ingredients were laid out. And if you thought the men would have stuck to the easy recipes,there were many surprises in store.

“I’m making Chilli Garlic Prawns,” Hari Singh mentioned as he dexterously went about preparing his dish. On his opposite side,professional golfer Amrit Inder Singh went even more elaborate choosing to make ‘Dahiwala Meat’. “I love to cook and it isn’t an alien concept to me. In fact,my grandfather was known for his fondness for cooking,” he quipped. Though competitive in nature – the six were judged by Karen,Taj’s Executive Chef Neeraj Chaudhary and General Manager Anil Malhotra – the event packed in a whole lot of fun. Amit Ahuja’s dish kept changing names as he went about preparing it. In the final it appeared as ‘Iranian Aloo Cuckoo’ something he credited his school Lawrence School,Sanawar for teaching him!

Driving home the point that men can not just cook but do a good job at it were the likes of artist Shiv Singh and agriculturist Bhagwat Singh. While the former was at ease preparing chicken kebabs,Bhagwat impressed with ‘Chhauni Chicken’. “I truly relished the idea of an informal contest and it’s for the first time that I have participated in contest,having so far cooked for just friends and family,” mentioned Bhagwat Singh.

In the end,the judges panel adjudged the ‘Dahiwala Chicken’ by Amrit Inder Singh as the best. A close second was the ‘Chhauni Chicken’ by Bhagwat Singh while Hari Singh bagged the third prize for his ‘Garlic Prawns’. The winners walked away with umpteen boxes of Carlsberg beer and plenty of admiration from the ladies!