Priyanka Kundu Biswas, a resident of Michaelnagar, a colony opposite the Dum Dum airport in northeast Kolkata, tripped on the last hurdle to the MasterChef India final. She had reached the top 8 of the cooking reality show that airs on SET and streams on SonyLIV when her Prawn Paturi with Pineapple Kasundi did not impress the judges in the grill challenge and she was eliminated in the episode which was aired on March 10. The other seven contestants reached the final.
The 32-year-old home cook returned to Kolkata from Mumbai on Tuesday. “I am coming home after four months,” Priyanka told The Telegraph Salt Lake.
Home means her in-laws’ place with her mother-in-law and husband where the Delhi girl was married into. “I love to experiment with food but here they had never heard of ravioli, lasagna or mushroom. My husband’s wildest eating adventure is biryani. I told him long back I am not one to cook daal-roti. Habajabi rannar jonyo ami na,” she laughs.
Cooking at home
Priyanka Kundu Biswas with one of her fondant cakes
An auditor in a multi-national auditing firm in Delhi for five years, Priyanka was earlier barred from the kitchen after a fire accident on Diwali. “I finally started cooking in the hope to recreate the taste of my grandmother’s dishes. Since then, I always found cooking to be a de-stressing exercise,” says the girl who used to carry tiffin to office which everyone loved. “My gifts to myself on my birthdays since then have been cooking utensils or recipe books,” she smiles.
At the age of 25, she quit her job. “I realised that this was the best time to take a risk.” She started baking on a whim and found it to be her calling. “My father and brother are artistes. I was always enamoured of theme-based fondant cakes. Cake for me is art meeting food. I call myself a cake artist,” says the self-taught baker.
Along with baking on order, she started taking baking classes as well. “I must have taught close to 7,000 kids by now. They may be aged 13 to 78 years, but to me my students are all my kids,” she laughs. If any validation was needed for her ability as a baker, it came with Cake Masters, a highly regarded UK-based magazine, selecting her among the India top 10 in 2020.
She married her software engineer husband in an arranged marriage during the pandemic. “I could take time out as business was down with all celebrations being put off.”
The shift to Kolkata in end-2020 meant starting over. “Here cakes are sold in pounds unlike in Delhi where they sell by the kilo. So I learnt to make smaller and lighter cakes, devising new recipes.”
Kolkata audition
Sundari Kamala, a fusion dish she created on the show
Kolkata proved lucky in getting her a Masterchef India ticket. “I had tried twice in the Delhi auditions without success.” This time, standing in queue since dawn at a Sector V hotel management institute with a dessert proved fruitful in September 2022. “I would not say it was any easier than the Delhi audition. During the lockdown, everyone started cooking and became better cooks with increased knowledge. So competition was tougher everywhere.”
The first month she was absolutely star-struck on meeting the three judges. “I have been following Vikas Khanna for years on social media. Ranveer Brar's knowledge of Indian cooking and food history is phenomenal. Garima Arora, the first Indian woman to get a Michelin star, taught us a modern approach to cooking,” she points out.
The biggest challenge in MasterChef India is cooking within an hour. “We developed an ability to devise dishes impromptu. My aim has always been to present Bengali cooking in a modern way. I wanted to showcase the food that I grew up eating like Kumro Chingri.” She has used Aam Pora Sherbet as sauce and Kamranga Chutney as compote on the show. The pick of her creations have always drawn on Bengali cuisine as a fusion element. Thus her Sundari Kamala used the French technique of cream puff, to create a profiterole with plastic peper chutney and kamala kheerer cream as a filling while Bong Alaska was a take on Bombe Alaska, bringing together a Gandhoraj lebu-inspired cake with coconut ice cream. She also created her own dishes drawing on tradition, like Amar Bangla which was Potoler Dorma with Shutki Chingri.
“We were cooking five days a week. It was a friendly ambience. If any of us forgot to collect an ingredient someone else lent it,” she says. She also learnt from other contestants. “Deepa (Chauhan of Chennai) ma'am has travelled so much. Her pesto sauce is better than in restaurants. Priya (Vijan of Bangalore) taught me about vegan food.”
In February, all the contestants were flown over to Abu Dhabi to shoot a week’s episodes. That is where Priyanka’s elimination was announced.
Despite coming within sniffing distance of the finals, she does not want to dwell on what could have been and is focusing on the learnings from the Masterchef kitchen. “I am saving money to open a café. Both Garima ma’am and Ranveer sir have said I am café-ready,” she smiles.
saltlake@abp.in