Abinas Nayak Digs Out ‘Lost’ Cuisines Of Odisha To Win MasterChef India 6 Title

Mumbai/Bhubaneswar: The result of MasterChef India Season 6 was leaked even before the telecast of the grand finale. The world knew that Odisha’s Abinas Nayak was the winner, and the victory was as sweet as the ‘Chhena Poda’ he baked for the final battle.

Here’s details of the final round of the grand finale

THE CHALLENGE

Abinas and Oindrila Bala, the two finalists, had to prepare three-course meal – starter, main course and dessert – for 18 people in four hours.

THE JUDGES

Besides chefs Vikas Khanna, Vineet Bhatia and Ranveer Brar, there were other renowned chefs including Padma awardee Imitiaz Qureshi, previous winners and participants of the cooking reality show and food critics.

ABINAS’ BEST ON PLATTER

For starter, he made a prawn dish (Chingudi Samahar) with a different texture. The judges liked the crispy part of the prawn, the tangy feel and the presentation. However, Oindrila scored 0.5 more in this round with her puff pastry.

Main course: Abinas gave a modern twist to a lost recipe of Odisha, ‘Adda Mangsa’. The Judges loved the presentation. Chef Ranveer said that he had hit a sixer with this dish. Chef Vineet admitted that it was for the first time in MasterChef India that he licked his fingers after trying a dish. Chef Vikash described it as a beauty which was delicate, subtle, velvety and rich.

Abinas made up the gap and was two points ahead of Oindrila after this round.

Dessert: He served Chhena Poda and rice kheer for dessert and named it ‘Sudhata’. By giving different texture to milk, he had elevated a simple dish to a different level. Every elements of the dish had a different texture. It was a celebration of ‘Desi Hindustanti Khanna’, is how the judges describe this feat of his.

He got a score of 10/10 from chef Vikash and a 9 and 9.5 from the two judges, made him a clear winner of the season 6 of the reality cooking show.

He beat Oindrila, whose forte so far had been her interesting preparations of sweet dish.