Will serai ice cream, salted egg appetiser win over culinary olympics jury?

ISKANDAR PUTERI (Bernama): Serai (lemongrass), telur masin (salted egg), curry leaves and siew mai (Chinese dumpling) are among the flavours that are going to be highlighted by senior chefs from Malaysia participating in the Internationale Kochkunst Ausstellung (IKA)/Culinary Olympics 2020.

A senior and junior team with 10 chefs each will be heading to one of the world's prestigious chef competitions in Stuttgart, Germany on Feb 14 to do their best cooking in the Restaurant of Nations and Chef's Table categories.

Team coach, chef Zubir Md Zain - who has represented Malaysia at the competition, as well as the Culinary Masters - said 32 countries will be vying for the gold medal in these categories.

He said the jurors are from Europe, the US and Australia and that they will have to win over their taste buds, which can be a challenge.

"But this is no obstacle, instead it ignites the spirit to bring fame to Malaysia," the Masterchef Malaysia judge told Bernama, adding that their closest rivals are Singapore, South Korea, Norway and Sweden.

He said the group's advantage over the competition is our food diversity - Malay, Chinese, Indian - "but we can't make the taste overpowering, too strong and too spicy".

He said their menu will include an appetiser incorporating curry leaves and salted egg, and a tantalising serai dessert.

He said that another challenge will be time management: "We're given six hours to prepare and present. This is why we have to train to ensure the plan goes smoothly."

Professional Culinaire Association (PCA) president and the group's adviser, chef Mohd Kamaruddin Adnin, said both teams have been preparing for seven months.

"We trained every week, sought the feedback of senior chefs who have been in a competition and also chefs from elsewhere, like Singapore, in order to become better," he said.

He said this will be Malaysia's fourth participation in the thrilling competition, with the senior team winning two silvers in 2012.

For the first time, the over a century old Culinary Olympics, which will bring together around 2,000 chefs from over 60 countries, will be part of Intergastra, a gastronomy trade fair that ends Feb 19. - Bernama