STARS Dietetics and Food Services staff wow judges with Asian-style chicken dish

STARS Chef Rajesh Pundir and Dietetics & Food Services Site Coordinator Brendan Host were runners-up in the recent Institute of Hospitality in HealthCare (IHHC) Culinary Competition.

Rajesh and Brendan’s original recipe ‘Asian-style chicken with wasabi mash, oyster mushrooms, pickled heirloom beetroot and edamame’ scored an amazing 285 points out of 300, only one point behind the winning dish.

In true reality TV cooking style, the competitor’s final dish had to include two market basket ingredients (mango, cauliflower, mushrooms, fennel, chocolate, beetroot, figs and cheese) and a protein (chicken maryland, pork collar or beef rump) or three market ingredients for a vegetarian dish.

As well as tasting great, the recipes had to comply with nutritional guidelines and cost no more than $7.50 in raw ingredients per plate.

Entries were judged on the originality and innovation, applicability in healthcare food service environment, use of colour and texture, and overall plate presentation.

Rajesh and Brendan involved STARS staff in a taste test to select their competition entry.

“We did a cook-off with four dishes, one with each protein and one vegetarian dish in the kitchen. All the dishes were amazing. We had staff and dietitians pick their top two and we entered these dishes with the Asian-style chicken picked as a finalist,” said Brendan.

“The inspiration for the Asian-style chicken was to combine exquisite traditional Asian flavours with Western-style cuisine by exploring the different flavours, colours, and textures, using seasonal ingredients for freshness, keeping the cost low and presenting the dish with a fine-dining style.

“We were up against some incredible teams with a lot of competition cooking experience and they all produced very impressive dishes. To come runners-up is amazing.”

This year’s Culinary Competition organiser Liam O’Toole explains how the competition shines a light on the wonderful cooking skills of hospital food service staff.

“It gives these workers some recognition for all the hard work they put in to provide patients and residents with quality food. We want to acknowledge these unsung heroes of the industry,” said Liam.