Mother - Daughter Cook Off At Waters Edge 

The Mother - Daughter Cook Off ended with immense success on May 29 at the Waters Edge, where 12 participants in teams of six competed against each other for a brilliantly done cook off! The Water’s Edge knows how important the role of a mother is and apart from the general Mother’s Day celebrations, they made sure the entire month of May was dedicated for lovely, beautiful mothers and a bonding session with their daughters in the cooking department! 

The cook off took place at the Nelum at Waters Edge, with 6 individual cooking stations provided by none other than one of their sponsors - Euro Kitchens which would have been impossible otherwise. The event also had other sponsors on board such as Knorr, Emcee Travels, Snuggle Bugs, The Cutting Station, Ariana Spa and Cinnamon Air. 

The participants had 60 minutes to complete a dish of their choice, which however needs to have the main ingredient of chicken along with any mixes which Knorr has to offer - the Knorr chicken cubes, the Maldive fish mix, and the Italian red and white sauce to name a few. The dishes were judged on a few criteria, namely Presentation, Taste, Portion Size, Technique, Ingredients and Time. 

The six teams enjoyed every minute and the little ones were engaged in helping out their mother, from dicing vegetables, cleaning, and marinating, which truly gave out a master chef ambience! 

The winner was Team Six - Shanika and Amandi who created a dish that was quite stunning and delicious to the judges. The dish consisted of grilled chicken with couscous and a birds nest with quail eggs and hit of the score board with a total of 89 points. And not only did they get all the wonderful goodies, but also the prestigious trophy along with a limo ride home, courtesy of Emcee travels. 

I had the opportunity to head over to these teams while they were busy preparing delightful dishes, and here’s what they had to say! 

TEAM 1 - Nishree and Sanya 

The team with the youngest contestant Sanya (who’s only 7 years of age) was already busy grating ginger for her mum's dish - an Indian chicken curry they enjoy making for dinner at home.  

“Sanya saw this on the paper, and we applied and we got in! It has been so much fun and a fantastic experience,” - Nishree 

TEAM 2 - Candy and Wendy 

The team with two beautiful Chinese contestants and a little one who loves to make Italian which is quite interesting. Their dish was chicken legs. 

“We’re not nervous at all; we cook at home everyday and we're pretty confident. Winning isn’t important and it’s all about having a good time!” - Candy 

TEAM 3 - Ruwanthi and Rekaha 

Rekaha has already won a previous junior chef competition and was all hyped up and enjoying her time. Their dish was homemade fettuccine pasta with Cajun chicken. 

“It’s been fun trying to work in the kitchen and doing something together,” - Rekaha 

TEAM 4 - Surangi and Pehansa 

They did a great job with their dish which was a Chinese chicken pesto with summer vegetable gratin. 

“It’s very exciting and enjoyable” - Pehansa 

TEAM 5 - Shamara and Anne 

This lovely duo went on to make stunning chicken noodles with vegetables. 

“It’s really good and we want to win!” - Shamara 

TEAM 6 - Shanika and Amandi 

And here are the winners with their fabulous dish of grilled chicken with couscous! 

“I’m a working mother, and with busy schedules we find time to discover their innovative and creativeness,” - Shanika 

By Zainab Faizal 
Photographs by Kushan Pathiraja