Teen boys shine in cooking battle

(From left) Muhamad Aliff Irfan Azahar, Muhammad Irfan Mohd Rodzhan and Muhammad Aidil Adha Abd Najid, all 15, holding up the dish they prepared during the cooking competition at the state-level Maggi Secondary Schools Cooking Competition (MSSCC) in SMK Sungai Ara, Penang.// CHARLES MARIASOOSAY/ The Star/09/August 2017.

EVERY day for a week, three 15-year-old boys practised cooking.

Their dedication paid off when they won the Penang Maggi Secondary Schools Cooking Competition (MSSCC).

Muhammad Irfan Mohd Rodzhan, Muhammad Aidil Adha Abd Najid and Muhamad Aliff Irfan Azahar beat nine other teams recently at the competition held in SMK Sungai Ara.

The trio represented SMK Desa Murni in Sungai Dua, Butterworth.

“At first, our food didn’t taste great. We kept experimenting to get it right.

“A lot of it is trial and error,” said Muhammad Aidil.

The complexity of their masterpieces could be discerned by how they named their dishes — Yellow Glutinous Rice and Pitcher Plant Leaves with Heritage Chicken Rendang, Boiled Tubers and Maggi Nostalgia, Traditional Nestle Glutinous Rice Tapai and Nescafe Classic Kopi O.

Students preparing their dishes at the state-level Maggi Secondary Schools Cooking Competition in SMK Sungai Ara, Penang.

Accompanying the boys were teacher advisers Roszaisyaheda Muhd Rosdi and Suzita Che Khas.

Roszaisyaheda said the ideas for the menu came in a brainstorming session with the students.

“We wanted to show uncommon traditional Malay cuisine.

“Perhaps some of these dishes are forgotten and we wanted the younger generation to be exposed to such traditional food,” she said.

She added that the pitcher plant leaves were sourced from a supplier.

Roszaisyaheda added that this was the third consecutive year that the school had won the state-level cooking competition.

“But this is the first time we have an all-boys team. They were chosen because they won the school-level cooking competition earlier this year,” she said.

Besides the cooking competition, there was also the Maggi Mystery Box Challenge in which participants were required to prepare a dish using a mystery ingredient in 30 minutes.

The competition saw students from SMK Sungai Acheh and SMK Berapit winning the second and third prizes respectively.

Seven other teams walked away with consolation prizes.

State Education director Shaari Osman presented the prizes to the winners.

Nestle Products Sdn Bhd shopper and consumer engagement executive Syed Amir Faisal Syed Ali said the competition was aimed at inculcating the students’ interest in the Household Economy aspect of the Integrated Living Skills school subject.

“The theme this year was ‘Healthy & Classic Malaysian Dishes’.

“We wanted participants to be creative yet traditional in their cooking style on top of striving to include nutritional values,” he said.

MSSCC, now in its 21st edition, is annually held and jointly organised by the Education Ministry and Nestle’s Maggi.

Thirty participants from 10 secondary schools in five districts in Penang joined the event.

SMK Desa Murni will represent Penang in the national-level competition which will feature 16 schools.

The event will be held at the ministry’s state office in Kota Baru, Kelantan, on Oct 9.