The second week of cooking reality show MasterChef India 2023, airing on Sony TV and SonyLIV, saw the elimination of Mumbai-based septuagenarian YouTuber Urmila Asher aka Baa who had not only impressed the judges but also won the hearts of the audience with her simple and cheerful personality. A series of tasks tested the contestants’ culinary skills, their ability to perform under pressure, and team spirit during the eventful week. Here’s a recap.

The first challenge of the week

The second week of MasterChef India 2023 began with a unique task set by the three judges — celebrity chefs Vikas Khanna, Garima Arora and Ranveer Brar. Two plates were kept in front of the contestants, each containing their most favourite and least favourite ingredients. They were asked to present a dish incorporating both the ingredients within an hour. Twenty-six-year-old Nayanjyoti Saikia from Tinsukia created the most impressive dish — a dessert with cherries (his favourite) and beans (his least favourite ingredient) — winning immunity for the rest of week. Nazia Sultana’s prawn dumplings, with a side of papaya sauce, also floored the judges. Nazia was the second contestant to become safe from elimination this week.

A Pan-Asian challenge

In the next challenge, the remaining contestants were asked to cook a Pan-Asian dish with Indian ingredients. However, the judges announced that they will be tasting only eight dishes following which two cooks will join Nayanjyoti and Nazia in the gallery. Not having tasted a lot of Pan-Asian cuisine before, most of the homecooks struggled with the challenge. But chefs Vikas, Ranveer and Garima helped them with tips that eased the pressure. Aruna Vijay presented a vegetarian version of the popular Thai dish called miang kham, which impressed the judges. Suvarna Bagul’s interpretation of Thai dessert bua loy won her the second spot in the gallery in this episode.

The first team challenge

On Wednesday’s episode, the remaining 12 contestants were divided into three teams of four cooks each. Santa Sarmah, Sachin Khatwani and Deepa Chauhan were the captains of the blue, green and red teams, respectively. Each team was asked to prepare a four-course meal for the judges in 90 minutes. However only one member from each team was allowed to visit the pantry. In a mad rush to get all the required ingredients, all the teams forget to collect major ingredients for their dishes.

Team Green’s bajra vada, with a filling of pomegranate and feta cheese, was adjudged the best dish in the first course. For the second course, team Blue’s corn soup with sesame lavash won the laurels. Team Red hit the jackpot in the third course with their Odia dish chingudi nadia rasa. The dessert prepared by team Red’s Dyuti Banerjee — payesh tres leches — was named the dish of the day, thus making them the winner. As a result, team Red, comprising Priya Vijan, Deepa Chauhan, Avinash Patnaik and Dyuti, won immunity from this week’s elimination.

The first Mystery Box challenge

In the ninth episode, the remaining eight contestants had to face one of the most popular challenges of MasterChef — the Mystery Box. They must prepare a European cuisine-inspired dish with at least five of the ingredients present inside the box — duck breast, Salmon, red cabbage, oats, butternut squash, grapes, cheese, thyme, wine and nuts. Chef Guntas Sethi joined chefs Vikas, Garima and Ranveer as a guest judge for this challenge. Gurkirat Singh’s squash tart with oats and Kamaldeep Kaur’s pan-seared fish with butternut squash puree were adjudged the best dishes of the day.

The Pressure Test

In the first Pressure Test of the season, the remaining six contestants — Urmila Baa, Priyanka Kundu Biswas, Santa Sarmah, Vineet Yadav, Yashu Verma, Sachin Khatwani — were tasked with recreating one of the two signature dishes created by chefs Vikas Khanna and Ranveer Brar.

Santa, Sachin and Yashu had to replicate chef Ranveer’s dish ‘Tyohar’, which is a crayfish poached in coconut water, glazed with a herb crust. The dish also contains Meghalayan turmeric, eggless mayo remoulade, a potato shred and bamboo rice salad with a Vietnamese spring roll.

Priyanka, Vineet and Urmila Baa have to make a dessert created by chef Vikas. Named ‘Durian ka Taj’, it contains a coconut sponge, durian and lime mousse with a raspberry disc at the bottom and a coconut crumble with cream and bonbon.

Urmila was unable to follow the recipe from the beginning itself. Priyanka, the cake artist from Kolkata, rushed to her aid and helped Baa put her dish together. However, the end result was disappointing and she was eliminated.