Young chef looking to whisk up national success

Sunday 15 March 2020

A local teen chef will be hitting the regional finals of a cooking competition after judges cheered on her Jersey produce-filled chicken tikka and fish curry and got stuck into her sticky toffee pudding.

JCG student Sarini Varma will travel to Waterlooville on 28 March where she'll compete against 12 other youngsters in a bid to join the National finals of the Rotary Young Chef competition in May.

It comes after the teen scored a third place in the district final of the competition, which saw over 5,000 students from the UK cook up a storm, against ten other district finalists.

The object of the competition is for each student to come up with a healthy three-course menu for two people sticking to a budget of £20. 

As well as being judged on taste, Sarini was assessed on her presentation, kitchen hygiene and her choice in supporting healthy eating.

Pictured: The first thing Sarini cooked brownies.

Sarini first got into the kitchen at the age of 10, although she admits she was fonder of baking than cooking at the time.

“The first thing I made was brownies which didn’t turn out well, but over the years, I improved. After a while I got into cooking as well,” she explained. 

“The first meal I made was chicken curry with my dad. After that, I was really interested in cooking and baking, and I started learning to make new dishes at home and at school.”

 The teen says she enjoys the versatility of cooking and the fact that it allows the chef to try “lots of different flavours and recipes with the meals you cook to make it your own.” 

“It is also a very creative skill to have,” she added. 

When she first heard about the Rotary Young Chef competition, Sarini said she was really intrigued. She went through several options with her mum and ended up picking a starter of chicken tika with a mint and coriander chutney, a fish curry with homemade chapati for main, and dessert a sticky toffee pudding with a toffee sauce for dessert. 

“I think the reason I specifically chose the menu I did was because of the Jersey local produce used in it,” she said. 

“During the competition, I was able to make all the dishes in the two hours given,” she explained. “Throughout the two hours, I was very focused on my food but at the same time I spoke to some other people taking part in the competition.

“It was a really nice experience to meet people from different parts of the UK and get to know more about them.” 

Pictured: Sarini said she was "elated but shocked" to hear she had made it to the regional finals.

The budding chef said she was “really relieved and proud” of presenting her meal to the judges. She, however, could not quite believe to hear she had gone through the regional finals. 

“I was elated, but also shocked as there were so many other people with amazing meals,” she said. “Overall, this was a really great experience and I am really excited to go forward to the regional finals and see what happens.”

If she is successful in Waterlooville at the end of the month, Sarini could get a spot on the National finals that will take place in Stratford-Upon-Avon in May.

Bob Marshall of the Rotary Club of Jersey who organised the local heats of the competition and travelled over with Sarini to the competition said: “Once again Rotary are very pleased to be supporting the Young Chef competition, and in seeing all of the competitors in action, all who are all fantastic ambassadors for our youth. 

I’m very much looking forward to seeing how Sarini does in the next round later this month and wish her the very best of luck.”