Cancer Institute Foundation (CIF) Kitchen Khiladi Contest 2013 was a huge success with participants from all over the bay area, esteemed judges, CIF volunteers and amazing audience.
Cancer Institute, Adyar, Chennai, India is a Hospital and Research Institute delivering free cancer care for thousands of poor patients over the past 50 years. You can read more about them on http://www.cifwia.org.This event was a fundraiser for a noble cause which was to raise money to treat 10 kids suffering from cancer.

The CIF cooking competition comprised of Audition & Final round. The audition round was held on March 2, 2013 at Lucie Stern Community Center. Going green was the concept for the Audition Round thus Leafy Greens ( Kale, Mustard) were the ingredients to use in the dishes. It got immense response with around 28 teams consisting of 2 participants in every team.
8 teams were selected for the final round which was held on March 10, 2012 at Young Chef’s Academy. The second & final round was much more exciting and challenging with a live cooking contest and a secret ingredient . The participants were divided into 2 batches of 4 teams each. Secret Ingredients given for the first batch were Mustard Greens , Turmeric, Cinnamon, Apples and for the second batch – Mustard Greens, Ginger powder, Cardamom and Oranges. They had to make an entrée and a dessert in a time span of one hour.
The esteemed Judges for the event were Praba Iyer, Ex Associate Chef at Greens Restaurant in Fort Mason in San Francisco and owner of the innovative RocketBites, Veena Narayanan, owner of the famous Kamakshi’s Kitchen LLC and Dr. Shamala Kanchan, a Psychiatry expert. They judged the dishes on the basis of creativity, presentation and best use of secret ingredients.
The first spot was won by Pradipmaya Maharana, Yashodhan and Swapna who made the amazingly tasty and beautifully presented Mustard greens Momos , Orange cake Parfait . The 2^nd spot was grabbed by Trupti Kankaria , Preeti who created the innovative Fusion Ravioli, Fruit Sprout Halwa. The 3^rd spot proud owners were Niranjani Raya , Prajna Nayak who made the awesome Veg Green Kebabs and Orange Paradise.
The dishes made by other 5 teams where:
Veg Mustard Delight, Eggless Fruit Mini cupcakes  by Padma Akella, Bala Panatula
Quinoa Bisibelebath, Sweet Potato Delight by Bhavani Prembabu, Shanthi Kathiresan, Jaya Namasivayam
Rasz Potli, Rasz blue  by Reshma Iyer, Amutha , Supriya
Multigrain Crepes, Dry fruit meloday by Sonal Nekkileru, Shobana and Amisha
Vegetarian Quinoa Upma, Kerala style Ada with Moong by Renuka Empranthiri , Latha
The sponsors for the event were Komala Vilas , Shasta Foods, Thirupathi Bhimas, Aachi Aappakadai  and Ananda Bhavan. The media partner for the event were Bay Area Desi.
I got the opportunity to cover this event and it was a great experience. Below is the gallery and you can check more pictures from this event on Anita Mokashi’s Photography website’s CIF Kitchen Khiladi Gallery