The fourth week of cooking reality show MasterChef India 2023, airing on Sony TV and SonyLIV, saw the elimination of Lucknow-based mehendi artist Vineet Yadav. After the double elimination last week, the contestants got a much-needed break from the MasterChef India 2023 kitchen as the scene shifted to the sun-and-sand landscape of Goa. But their challenges were far from over. Here’s a recap.

Mystery Box Challenge

In the first challenge, the home cooks were taken to the iconic Portuguese church St. Ann’s. It was a mystery box challenge with a twist. The box consisted of ingredients that were brought to India by the Portuguese — potato, pineapple, tomato, chillies, guava, peanut, cashew, coconut, vinegar and port wine.

The contestants had 60 minutes to cook the dish, but after 30 minutes the judges would disqualify three contestants if they felt their dishes lacked innovation. Of the remaining nine contestants, they would taste only six dishes based on the presentation.

Santa, Avinash and Kamaldeep were the first three to be dropped. The presentation of Gurkirat, Sachin and Deepa’s dishes failed to impress the judges and they were disqualified next. Priyanka’s deconstructed pineapple cake with chillies, cashews and port wine impressed the judges, while Priya made the dish of the day — potato pave with grilled pineapple and tomato salsa, cashew cream and chilli guava gel.

Team challenge at Thalassa restaurant

The home cooks got a taste of cooking in a professional kitchen in their next challenge, which involved whipping up a three-course Mediterranean meal at the famous Greek restaurant Thalassa in Goa. Mariketty Grana, the owner of Thalassa, was the guest judge for this challenge. Chef Edgardo Cruzet acted as a guide for the contestants in the kitchen.

Priya and Priyanka, who cooked the best dishes in the previous episode, were made the captains. The contestants were asked to choose which captain they would like to work with. Most of the cooks sided with Priya, given Priyanka’s track record as team captain. In the end, Priyanka became the captain of the Blue Team consisting of Kamaldeep, Nayanjyoti, Vineet, Sachin and Suvarna. Priya’s Yellow Team had Gurkirat, Avinash, Santa, Deepa and Aruna.

While the Blue Team’s Mezze Platter floored the judges, the Yellow Team won the challenge with a fabulous main course — grilled fish and cannellini bean mash — and a lip-smacking dessert (an orange and olive oil cake).

Tag Team Challenge

Priyanka, Kamaldeep, Nayanjyoti, Vineet, Sachin and Suvarna had a shot at saving themselves from this week’s pressure test. The contestants had to face a double tag team challenge in which they’d be divided into teams of two. Only one cook from each team can cook at a time, and every time a judge rings a bell, they have to swap their position with their partner.

Since the episode was a Republic Day special, the pantry had ingredients in three colours — saffron, white and green. Every team had to choose one colour and prepare a dish with only those ingredients. Priyanka and Nayanjyoti went for the saffron pantry, Suvarna and Vineet chose white; Kamaldeep and Sachin settled for green.

The lack of coordination between Suvarna and Vineet was evident from the get go. Priyanka and Nayanjyoti — who excel in making desserts — decided to create a savoury dish this time. They prepared a deconstructed version of the eastern Indian delicacy Kumro Chingri (pumpkin with prawns), with an orange and passion fruit salad. The innovation in their dish won over the judges and they won the challenge.

The Black Apron Challenge

Sachin, Kamaldeep, Suvarna and Vineet faced the pressure test at St. Regis resort in Goa. There were four cloches in front of them, each containing an iconic Goan curry — Caldine, Ambotic, Cafreal and Xec Xec. There were four proteins in front of the judges as well — chicken, paneer, pomfret fish and crab — and the cooks must auction their time in order to win the ingredient of their choice. Every contestant had 90 minutes and they could bid in multiples of 5 minutes, with the highest bidder winning the protein.

Sachin played a smart game and bid for every protein, even if he didn’t want them, thus increasing the bid amount. In the end, Kamaldeep bid 35 minutes for the chicken, with only 55 minutes to cook. Vineet got paneer for 40 minutes and had only 50 minutes left to cook. Suvarna bid 30 minutes for fish and had 60 minutes to cook, while Sachin had full 90 minutes to cook his crab. His Xec Xec crab was the dish of the day. Vineet’s caldine curry with paneer failed to make the mark and he was sent home.