BHUBANESWAR: With his unique fusion of flavours - first with flowers and then, fish - Odisha’s home cook Avinash Patnaik is a standout in the seventh season of MasterChef India, country’s biggest reality TV cooking show.
Not only is he the only contestant to get direct entry into the MasterChef India kitchen in the first round for his interesting twist to the traditional ‘Gaintha Pitha’ but Avinash has also secured a place among the top-16 contestants with his ‘Flavours of Tatini’, a fish recipe that is originally from north Odisha. Both the dishes were an instant hit with the three judges, chefs Vikas Khanna, Ranveer Brar, and Michelin star chef Garima Arora. “Flavours of Tatini is actually a family recipe dedicated to my Aai (maternal grandmother) from Bhadrak,” said the home cook who served it with rice.
Pursuing his PhD in horticulture with floriculture and landscape gardening as specialisation, 32-year-old Avinash fashioned the Gaintha Pitha in the shape of flowers with a tint of blue derived from Aparajita (butterfly pea) flowers and flavoured it with Pandan leaves. He dunked the pitha in milk infused with coral Jasmine (Parijat) flowers and almonds.
In fact, traditional Odia pithas and recipes of edible flowers have been central to Avinash’s culinary journey. The home cook who is popular in Odisha’s food blogging scene as ‘Bhukkad Insan’, has been curating several dishes from local edible flowers. And his Instagram account where he documents the recipes is every foodie’s delight.
With very little literature available on Odia pithas except for scriptures, Avinash, a former agriculture officer with the Government of Odisha, started documenting heirloom pithas and their significance many years back. A foodie himself, he has so far documented traditional recipes of more than 15 Odia pithas and the history behind them. “There are many varieties of pithas or sweet pancakes that form the basis of an Odia platter. They can be steamed, deep-fried or pan-roasted, which define its texture and name”, said Avinash who began learning about them from his maternal grandmother and fellow food bloggers.
As far as edible flowers are concerned, through his in-depth research in floriculture and unique Odia recipes, he has been giving a spin to many classic dishes. The result? A curation of some amazing delicacies like ‘Amruta Bhanda Phula Rai’, ‘Kadamba Phula Tarkari’, ‘Kain Phula Pakoda’, ‘Gulmohar Kali Ke Pakode’, ‘Ashoka Phula Chutney’, ‘Sorisa Phula Bara’, ‘Gilri Phula Tarkari’ ‘Kanchana Phula (Bauhinia flower) Bara’, ‘Sunari Chutney’ made from Sunari or Golden Shower flowers, Palash flower sherbet, and so many more!
“My curiosity in flowers and plants is something which I cannot explain in words. I feel I have found my purpose in life through them. It takes lots of time and patience to document these plants at different stages but it gives me immense satisfaction at the end of the day,” he said. This is the second attempt at MasterChef India for Avinash who is also a painter and digital illustrator. He has been a part of several cooking shows in the state earlier.