Food: Chef at Vikas Khanna's restaurant wins US reality show

Aarthi Sampath

'You know the rules. Three rounds, mandatory mystery ingredients. If your dish doesn't cut it, you will be chopped.' You've heard this on reality-based cooking television game show series, Chopped, where each week, four chefs take the pressure test for $10,000. On the episode that aired on August 9, Aarthi Sampath, chef de cuisine at Vikas Khanna's Junoon restaurant in New York cooked it off to the finish.

Aarthi Sampath

Hooked on to the show as a collegian, thanks to her roommate, the show seemed challenging, almost impossible (at the time). "I put it up on my vision board that someday I would make my skills so strong that I could be on that intimidating game show," she adds. The thirty-year-old applied to participate as a contestant in May last year, which began a series of rigorous interviews, emails and questionnaires before she went on the show.

Sampath, who grew up in Deonar's Patwardhan Colony, and began her career at Taj properties, didn't have to apply for leave from her job at Michelin-starred restaurant. "The show, which was shot in December, required an entire day's shoot. It was scheduled on a Monday, which is my day off," says Sampath. At Junoon, Sampath is in-charge of standardising recipes, training staff, hiring and maintaining daily operations. "I specialise in nostalgic Indian flavours with a modern approach," says Sampath who applied for an internship at the restaurant in October 2014, after a pastry specialisation course from Johnson & Wales University.

The show
Chopped has three rounds - a 20-minute appetiser master basket, 30-minute entrée and 30-minute dessert judged by Geoffrey Zackarian, owner-chef at The Lambs Club and Amanda Freitag. For the first round, Sampath did a take on Kerala Butter Pepper Garlic with Snails, Orzo Saffron Pilaf, Corn Shoot Salad and Spiced Seared Weiners. "I had no clue how to use escargots (snails). I thought of shell fish and what goes best with shellfish - butter, garlic and lime," says Sampath.

Just another day at the office for Aarthi Sampath at Junoon in New York

She impressed the judges with her Kerala-style Butter Pepper Garlic Sauce with Cilantro. In the entrée, the Mystery Basket had tile fish, cookie butter cups, garlic knots and chayote squash, which she transformed into a Masala-Fried Tile Fish, garlic knots upma, chayote squash coconut puree and a chocolate lemongrass reduction.

Final cook-off
The pressure increased in the final dessert round. "I was given Angel food cake as one of the mystery ingredients. I decided to do an Angel Cake Shahi Tukra, Grenadine Srikhand, Caramelized Almonds and Pomelo Mint Salad. I forgot about the cake left to toast behind me. I overheard the judges commenting about it. That's when I turned around and saved the cake in the nick of time!" she recalls.

When she reported to work the next day, she feigned defeat before her boss, Vikas Khanna. "Just as he started saying that it was okay, and there is always a next time, I broke the news of my win. His eyes got misty and he raised his fist in the air: 'I knew you would do it'." Sampath hopes her experience will motivate women across the world. "They should pursue their dreams in this male-dominated field," she adds, leaving us with something to look forward to: "I am definitely looking to give back to my city. Down the line, I would love to helm a restaurant in Mumbai."