Singapore Polytechnic Masterchef 2014 (SP CLS Cookout)

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Singapore Polytechnic Masterchef 2014 (SP CLS Cookout)

Hi guys! You may be wondering what am I doing back in my school (Singapore Polytechnic) again since I've graduated this May.

Its because, SP Corporate Communications (CCOM), held a half-day blogger Masterchef-esque cookout competition in SP last week on June 18^th, in collaboration with the School of Chemical and Life Sciences (CLS), using our very own SP-produced food products as some of the given ingredients during the competition!! And I got invited there as an blogger participant by the Singapore Poly's Corporate Comms team, in collaboration with Gushcloud. :)

During this event, I made some friends all over studying different courses in SP(total of 12 SP and secondary school participants) , as well as got paired up with a fellow blogger - Cheryl ;) and we were supposed to whip up 3 main dishes in total in 90 mins.

As this is an exciting first refreshing new project for Singapore Polytechnic, cause SP turns 60 this year, they had a filming crew to film and produce the entire event into a 20-min webisode on SP's YouTube channel.

(Video below)

basically the event 'arena' of the whole event.

Where: Singapore Poly - Wellness Lab!!

me and dear cheryl whom I met during this event and surprisingly there was like no awkward silence between us at all since day 1 :D

the crew!

and the judges from this event are professors from food science & technology courses in SP, as well as the gushcloud influencer, Xavier ong!

Basically, contestants will need to use at least ONE CLS-produced food product in their appetiser, main course and dessert. And we can whip up any dishes using our own creativity using the suggested CLS-produced food product in each course!!

and these are all the ingredients choices we had to go along with the CLS-produced food product!

table 6 for us, group 6, with a sneakily smiling cherylll

and thats us after the event with our appetiser, main and dessert! Unlike Cheryl, I RARELY cook, or even do any kitchen work at home. So I was quite surprised that I COULD cook. Thanks Rachel from CCOM for giving me this opportunity to discover my own talent, probably should have taken the Diploma in food science and technology right!! hahaha!

before showing you guys some of the (unglam candids) taken during the whole event, they had professional photographers other than filming crew as well, I shall briefly summarized what were the dishes me and Cheryl spontaneously thought of using which CLS ingredients!

For our appetizers,

The SP product we had to use: Low fat and salt sausages

Description

* Traditional processed meat products contain high levels of fat & sodium

* Fat & sodium are associated with hypertension & heart diseases

* DFST students were involved in creating low fat & salt sausages

(These sausages are less than <10g/100g in fat and less than 450mg/100g in salt!)

* Awarded with healthy choice label by Health Promotion Board

basically I boiled and smashed the potatoes and added pan-fried mushrooms and the low fat and salt sausages in the mashed potatoes with butter and cheese. Pretty yummy and my favorite dish of the day since I thought of it!

And our Main,

The SP product we chose between Yamie Rice and Noodles were: Low GI noodles

Description

What is GI (Glycemic index)?

* It is a measure of how quickly blood glucose levels rise after eating a particular type of food.

* Low GI diet will lower the risk of developing coronary heart diseases and type-2 diabetes

* It also helps in weight control as a low GI suppresses appetite so that you won’t feel hungry easily

- This low GI noodles by SP is a healthier take on traditional Asian noodles, made with lower GI flour

basically we pan-fried a marinated fish fillet as well as the Low GI Noodles adding some extra ingredients like capsicums!

Last but not least for dessert,

The SP products we chose between many choices were: Low GI Brownie & XO kaya

Description for Low GI Brownie

* This low GI cupcake mix and brownie mix can slow down the release of glucose into the blood stream, making it safe for diabetics

* It also enables endurance athletes to stretch their supply of energy over a longer period.

Description for one of my fav SP product among all the XO Kaya

* XO Kaya is was produced as a Final Year Product by 3 DFST students

* This kaya contains 20% less sugar, fat and cholesterol, but still is as rich and aromatic as traditional kaya

* XO kaya also has a healthy choice label awarded by Health Promotion Board

We blended the kaya and bananas into like a filling sauce and added it between our brownie batter before placing it into the oven for a kaya banana flavored brownie cake!