MUMBAI: Big FM’s Delhi station recently culminated the on-ground campaign of its popular cooking contest ‘Rasoi Ki Rani’ with Chef Rakesh Sethi. The event witnessed a large section of women from the society participating in the month long activity.

The campaign received over 1000 registrations from house-wives across Delhi, coming forward to fight for the coveted title from across the on-air promotions and on-ground resident welfare association activations. As per the entries, the teams were divided into four zones of North, South, East and West Delhi.

A total of 20 semi-finalists were selected who got the opportunity to meet Big Chef Rakesh Sethi for a Q&A, which finally saw 10 finalists emerging. The finalists battled it out in the kitchen at IIHM Mohan Cooperative Industrial Area in Delhi.

Judged by Sethi, the finale witnessed 60 minutes being allotted to participants to put together a sumptuous dish. Marks were allotted to recipes on the basis of taste, temperature and presentation.

Big Chef Rakesh Sethi said, “This initiative gave the women a platform to showcase their skill sets that they often receive no acknowledgement for. We are thankful to the ladies from Delhi for coming forward in such large numbers and making this event truly a challenging one. What was heartening to see was also the encouragement from their families who came in, in full support. The task of selecting the best recipe was extremely challenging for me, but finally we had to select one winner.”

The winner of the first ‘Rasoi Ki Rani’ was declared as Puja Beri from East of Kailash, who won a microwave oven for her Paneer-e-Shahi recipe. The runners-up were declared as Himani Kundra for Paneer ka Cheeze Khazana and Astha Chhabra for Dhaba Dal Masala Baigan recipe, who received a cutlery set and induction cooker respectively.

Rasoi Ki Rani winner Puja Beri said, “For me it was a dream comes true. I’m very happy to have won the event. I think Big FM Delhi hosted an excellent initiative by inviting women to showcase their culinary skills and to bring our talent out in the open. Competitions like these can be instrumental in encouraging women by providing a platform to showcase their cooking skills which this far, has remained restricted to the kitchens.”