India's First Green Gourmet Cooking Challenge takes place at Ekatva Festival 2023, Delhi

9th November, 2023

The Green Gourmet Cooking Challenge was organised for the first time at Ekatva Festival on 15th October 2023 in the Exhibition Area, Sunder Nursery, Delhi. 

Ekatva Festival 2023 at Sunder Nursery, Delhi

Ekatva Festival, a one-day event full of expert talks, music, and shopping was complete with a first-of-its-kind, live cooking challenge in India, followed by a cooking workshop. The festival aimed to bring people together from all ages and start a conversation about sustainability in the form of infotainment. The festival achieved resounding success with thousands of attendees from 20 cities, 50+ planet-conscious and ethical brands, 20+ experts, VIPs, speakers, and artists.

Live audience for the Green Gourmet Cooking Challenge

The Green Gourmet Cooking Challenge 

The first round of the challenge asked the participants to bring a home-cooked dish to the venue, Sunder Nursery. It was tasted by the judges - Chef Priya Vijan, who won a million hearts with her passion-driven plant-based dishes in Masterchef India 2023 and Chef Abhey Mehta, a celebrated chef with 20 years of international experience and co-founder of V-Shudh Foods.

22 participants came early in the morning from various parts of Delhi NCR with beautifully plated, completely plant-based sweet and savoury preparations. These dishes were scored on 3 criteria - the presentation, the taste, and the reason why they chose to cook the dish. Soon, the results were declared and 6 participants were chosen to head to the finale. 

Ekatva Festival was sponsored by plant-based food and sustainability brands - Continental Greenbird, Hubbba Hubbba Foods, and World One India, with Knowledge Partner Mohanji Foundation and PETA India as NGO partners. For the Green Gourmet Cooking Challenge, both Greenbird and Hubbba Hubbba Foods provided their delicious products to add a creative twist to the mystery box challenge in the final round. 

Mystery Box Contents

More about Greenbird Mock Meats

The makers of the popular instant coffee powder Continental Coffee have forayed into plant-based products with their brand Continental Greenbird. It's one of the first products in the category which is made of green peas and chickpea protein. Apart from offering a meat-like texture, the taste urges one to try their products. Greenbird plant-based mock meats are tasty as well as environmentally more sustainable than animal-based meat.

Created to mimic the taste and bridge the gap between meat carvings and guilt-free habits, their offerings include plant-based sausages, nuggets, keema and seekh kebabs. These mock meats are flavoured, ready to cook, and have versatile applications. For example, the Greenbird Plant-based Mutton Like Keema can be cooked and eaten with Pav, Rice, or a Rumaali roti. It can also be used to make pasta with meaty chunks!

Festival goers tasting Greenbird Mock Meats

Mr Gurpreet Singh Notra - Senior Brand Manager, Greenbird

More about Hubbba Hubbba Foods

Hubbba Hubbba Foods is dedicated to providing healthy snacking alternatives made using 100% clean ingredients. Founded by Ritikaa Bhawsinghka to spread nourishment and well-being, Hubbba Hubbba Foods offers millet flour, millet flakes, idli dosa batter, cookies, noodles, dips, and pasta. These products can be easily integrated in our daily lives and replace the foods that do not offer any nourishment.

Hubbba Hubbba Foods stall at Ekatva Festival 2023

Ms Ritikaa Bhawsinghka - Founder, Hubbba Hubbba Foods

The Mystery Box Challenge

The final round of the Green Gourmet Cooking Challenge kickstarted at around noon with hundreds of festival goers watching it live. The host and emcee for Ekatva Festival 2023, Vironika Sharma announced the rules of the challenge and explained the judging criteria to choose the winner. The winner stood to win a grand cash prize.

Each contestant received 1 mystery box with one type of grain, one leafy vegetable, one variant of Greenbird Mock Meat, and selected products from Hubbba Hubbba Foods’ wide range of plant-based products. The ideation time given was 10 minutes followed by 50 minutes of cooking time. As the clock ticked, excitement and anticipation grew. 

The dishes were scored based on innovation, taste, presentation, and the thought behind creating the dish. Meanwhile, our judges Priya Vijan and Abhey Mehta were keenly observing the participants’ cooking techniques. With every passing minute, the pressure was increasing, as was the temperature in the arena.

Contestant cooking with Greenbird Mutton-like Keema

They were then given a chance to share what they were preparing from the mystery box ingredients. This is what they came up with -

• Shahi kebab in Almond and Cashew sauce by Seema Sethumadhavan
• Vegan Mince Korma, beetroot pesto Quinoa in Almond Moilee curry topped with chilli oil by Vipul Tiwari 
• Chilli Kebab Vermicelli by Gurpreet Kaur
• Vegan Kebab Vermicelli by Lekshman
• Quinoa Salad with Pesto sauce by Ravee Singh
• Stuffed Vegan meat Capsicum by Astha Jain

Judges tasting the final dishes

The winner

Within just 60 minutes the contestants had cooked up amazing plant-based dishes. The judges tasted the dishes and scored them alongside. The finalists meanwhile shared their experience of participating in the first ever completely plant-based cooking challenge of the country. After the scores were tallied, Mr Vipul Tiwari was announced as the winner with a big round of applause and cheers. 

The winner, Vipul Tiwari with judges Chef Priya Vijan and Chef Abhey Mehta

The Vegan Mince Korma along with Beetroot Pesto Quinoa in Almond Moilee curry was a celebration of varied textures and deep flavours in a dish. Warm and spicy with the familiarity of comfort food, his dish displayed his prowess in vegan culinary. 

The Winning Dish (using Greenbird Plant-based Mutton-like Keema)

We congratulate Mr Vipul Tiwari on his win and thank our sponsors Greenbird, Hubbba Hubbba Foods, and World One India for making Ekatva Festival a reality! 

Follow @ekatvafestival for the latest updates on Ekatva Festival 2024 edition.