KDU team cooks their way to victory
SIX students from KDU University College took their passion for cooking one step further by competing in the iCHEF Championship last month.
Competing against students from other institutions and against each other, the team of six came out victorious as they clinched several awards in various categories.
Preparations had been intense and challenging for both the contestants, as well as the team’s coach and manager.
KDU’s School of Hospitality, Tourism, and Culinary Art (SHTCA) chef lecturer Chef Muhammad Edwan Shaharir who coached the students said: “The intensive training sessions were meant to familiarise the competitors with the ingredients, techniques and plating design.
“On top of that, real-time simulations were run, so that competitors could feel the pressure of
time constraints during the actual competition.”
Team manager Chef Hamirudin Nazir commended the students for creating dishes from a mere piece of paper with menu designed by him and Chef Muhammad Edwan.
“We are glad that the judges gave us good comments for the winning dishes, while praising the creativity, taste and competence of the techniques shown by the students,” he added.
Diploma in Culinary Arts student Chan Qi Li, 20, who won the Gold Award in the iChef Six Continents Apprentice Main Course Seafood/Fish category, said that during training, she and her teammates sharpened their skills and minimised their mistakes to ensure they worked well in the kitchen.
“I decided to study culinary arts because I want to become a food critic one day,” she said.
Bachelor of Culinary Management student Yap Soon Huat, 22, shared that cooking has always been his passion.
“I fell in love with the art of cooking when I was eight years old, when I spied on my mum in the kitchen.
“My mum falling ill meant that I had to take over the kitchen duties for the entire family.
“The smiles I received from my parents and siblings were life-changing, so much so that it pushed me to soldier on in this industry,” said Yap, who won the Diploma award in the iChef Six Continents Stuffed Pasta Challenge.
Fellow Diploma award winner Sylvia Chandra, 26, said, time management was the most difficult part of their preparation for the competition as they had to juggle between attending classes and training.
“Rest time was almost non-existent as we sacrificed the free gap hours to be in the kitchen practising to perfect our techniques and learn from the mistakes that we made during the training sessions,” she added.
Johan Sebastian Chee’s pan seared coriander and pink pepper crusted duck breast, served with a parsnip and potato puree, roasted fennel, compressed pears, red pepper tuille and raspberry gastrique dish, earned him the Bronze Award for the Main Course Meat/ Poultry category.
“The reason for choosing this particular dish was because I developed it myself, utilising my past work experience to create a dish that infused all the components, flavour profiles and colour, onto a plate,” Chee, 33, said.