[Watch] MasterChef India 7 Premiere: Odisha’s Avinash Patnaik Gets Direct Entry Into Kitchen With Odia Dish ‘Gaintha Pitha’

Bhubaneswar: In a rare feat, Avinash Patnaik from Odisha capital has won the distinction of becoming the first contestant to get a direct entry into MasterChef India’s kitchen in the grand cooking show.

The premiere episode saw several contestants, including 32-year-old Avinash, presenting their best dish in front of India’s most celebrated chefs, Vikas Khanna, Garima Arora, and Ranveer Brar.

While several contestants impressed the judges, it was Avinash who got a direct entry into Masterchef India’s kitchen.

Avinash, who hails from Bhubaneswar, was the last contestant shown on the episode. He brought a perfect dessert for the last moment of the show.

A PhD student, he is studying landscape gardening and one can be see the touches in his dish. He presented a traditional Odia dish called ‘Gaintha Pitha’ which was flavoured with Pandam leaves and served with coral Jasmine infused milk and Indian almonds.

Avinash revealed that he wanted to take agriculture and cooking to another level and hence created dishes that are a blend of both.

Visually the dessert looked beautiful with the blue colour, that came from the Aparajita flower – also known as the butterfly pea, which can be found as a tea in Thailand as well. This added a pop to the dish making it visually appealing with its sweet taste.

Most of these ingredients were grown by Avinash, and the elements added to the dish were added by edible flowers. After tasting his dish, all three judges were quite impressed with his cuisine and applauded his presentation of the dish as well.

The judges handed their last apron of the episode to him and Avinash became the first contestant who got a direct entry into MasterChef India’s kitchen.

MasterChef India is a grand cooking show that offers home cooks a platform to showcase their talent in cooking and helps them make a career in it.