Delicious competition

The third edition of the cookery show organised by Pakistan Women’s Association (PWA), overseen by celebrity chef Gulzar Hussain from Pakistan, once again attracted a substantial participation and interest from the Doha-based Pakistani community.
Fifteen women participated in the ‘deliciously’ close contest with their savoury traditional Pakistani dishes, prepared with a tinge of contemporary flair.
After a tough competition judged by four experts — Alia Sajjad, the owner and partner of Punjab Restaurant; Rizwana Abdul Sattar, the owner of Pistachio’s Restaurant; Jassim Mohammed, CEO Red Apple Events; and Ali Zafar, Doha Marriott Senior Chef; five top contests were shortlisted.
Chef Gulzar then individually examined the five preparations for the best taste and presentation at the 3rd PWA Cookery Contest held at Doha Marriott here on Thursday night.
Ghazala Faheem emerged as the winner, while Saba Imrani finished second. The third place went to Sadia Hamayoun, followed by Aisha Ali and Najma Rafique tied for fourth. Tabassum Naseem, Ambreen Fahad, Haleema Ahmed, Naureen Anwar, Hafsa Chauhan, Anila Asrar, Muneera Bader, Saba Mudassir, Rida Shahida Atiq were among the other contestants.
“It was a challenging decision to choose winners from 15 contestants as each one of them did a great job,” said Gulzar.
Gulzar has made his mark amongst audiences in Pakistan for his dishes. He is trained in Japanese cuisine — completing his culinary education in Japan and working there for many years after.
Gulzar is the top choice for advice on Japanese and Thai cuisine restaurants opening in Pakistan these days. In his popular TV show that airs on Pakistan’s top food channel, Masala TV, Gulzar is seen fusing different cuisines with ‘desi’ traditional tastes.
“Having worked on how desi dishes can be prepared with mixing of other international cuisines, I am more into fusion cooking these days. It has a good audience in Pakistan. The TV shows and restaurants doing fusion cooking have been well received,” Gulzar tells Community in a chat during the cookery contest.
If you take a Thai recipe for instance, you would see that it is very close to recipes from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, says Gulzar. He says the traditional sub-continental spices match perfectly with the Thai recipes and mixing them together gives a delicious taste to local food.
Gulzar says Hakka Chinese (Desi Chinese) food is very popular in many South Asian countries these days. These kind of recipes combines South Indian or Indian/Pakistani spices and Chinese spices, which is a contrast, to produce Hakka Chinese.
Chef Gulzar permanently moved to Pakistan in 2005 after living in Southeast Asia for over a decade. Working on his own restaurant, he says he ‘ventured accidently’ into media and showbiz and started his own show.
He says that cooking shows in Pakistan have created great awareness about food and modern recipes. To try exotic cuisine, people would have had to go out to eat earlier, but not anymore.
 “People were not aware of the kitchen secrets about these exotic dishes. People can now prepare these dishes at their homes, because they have learnt the techniques from the chef on the show,” says Gulzar.    
 He is also known for his dance moves on his show, which often starts with Gulzar grooving to a musical tune often produced with cutlery. This, he says, he does to cheer up his audiences and to keep his show light-hearted — the idea is to teach people recipes with fun.
“People really enjoy it. They often tell me that I prepare very difficult dishes with ease. It is only that I [simplify] the teaching process, so that people can grasp the techniques easily,” says Gulzar.
He also participated in a Question & Answer session with the audience at PWA programme, which also featured a quiz competition with multiple prizes.
“We were really pleased with Chef Gulzar accepting our invitation to come to Qatar. His visit to Qatar has given PWA many stars. We are proud to have names like Chef Gulzar with us,” said Rahat Mansoor, PWA president.
She also thanked the sponsors and partners of the programme, including Punjab Restaurant, My Trip, Malabar Gold & Diamond Jewellery, Naseem Al Rabeeh Dental, Aqua Park, Safari Mall, Nazih Qatar and Pistachio’s Restaurant.