Fifteen amateur cooks from across the region had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet and cook alongside Asha Bhosle as winners of Sony TV’s 2017 Flavours of Ramadan competition
It may be a wrap for the fifth season of Sony TV’s popular Flavours of Ramadan show, but 15 aspiring foodies and cooks from the Gulf recently had the opportunity to spend a day with Asha Bhosle as winners of a unique online competition organised by Asha’s Restaurants group.
This year’s series, which was watched by more than three million people across the GCC, Middle East, North Africa and beyond, marked another first for the legendary singer and self-taught chef, and was Asha’s first live on-camera cooking showcase.
International foodie following
Organised by Asha’s Restaurants, the first global Indian restaurant chain, the online competition ran in tandem with the month-long cooking show. Thousands of entries were received from around the world, with the show broadcast as far afield as the UK, USA and Australia.
“We had an unprecedented response to the competition, and received thousands of entries from people of all ages and backgrounds, with our youngest winner aged just 11 years. The excitement from the group was incredible and they were so appreciative of the opportunity that they even sang for Asha as she entered the room to start the master class,” says Sue Potter, managing director, Asha’s Restaurants.
In the kitchen with Asha
The 15 lucky winners, who were selected via a random draw, enjoyed an all-expenses-paid trip to the original Asha’s in Dubai including airfare, limousine transfers, hotel accommodation and goody bag including a personalised chef’s jacket, selection of Asha’s own brand spice mixes and pickles and autographed pictures.
They also got to meet Asha’s top chefs including Ashwani Rangta, Gaurav Mathur and Navin Chauhan, along with acclaimed international mixologist, Brandon Grusd, who shared a selection of mocktails from the newly launched menu.
But the obvious highlight of the trip was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to meet Asha in person – and cook with her.
The mood turned slightly more serious as the day unfolded, with winners divided in four groups and tasked with recreating some of Asha’s personal favourite dishes such as chicken keema and chingli chaap, with Asha judging each team’s performance and awarding spot prizes of restaurant dining vouchers.
The experience wrapped on a gourmet note with a red carpet welcome and lavish lunch of North-West Indian signature dishes at the original Asha’s Dubai.
Meet our winners
Both Sony TV and Gulf News were on hand to record the experience, with Gulf News’ Facebook page post already receiving more than 67,000 views.
Congratulations to our 2017 Flavours of Ramadan competition winners:
1) Aisha Ali Khameis
2) Bhakti Ganpate
3) Karen Visser
4) Dr Fatima Alvi
5) Arwa Mohammed
6) Asra Yasin
7) Annu Chouraria
8) Hannah Joji
9) Hema Shetty
10) Geetha Mohan
11) Farhat Siddiqui
12) Debjani Choudhury
13) Manpreet Kaur
14) Ritu Sisodia
15) Sabina
To find out more, check out the video and images from the master class on our Facebook page
