Dr. Loitongbam wins bamboo-shoot cooking competition held in Imphal

[caption id="attachment_232398" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Judges along with the winners and participants of the bamboo-shoot cooking competition at the ongoing five-day world bamboo workshop in Imphal.[/caption] Our Correspondent Imphal, Feb. 7 (EMN): In a move to promote different uses of bamboo and its products in cooking, by unearthing its exotic taste using different approaches, the bamboo-shoot cooking competition was held at the ongoing five-day world bamboo workshop in Imphal. The competition was organised by the Dimapur- based Exotic School of Cooking in collaboration with POPA restaurant in Imphal from February 4 to 6th. Nine cooking enthusiast from different professional background competed in three rounds of cooking — signature, mystery and vegetable using bamboo products as the main ingredients for three consecutive days, Three expert panels from Manipur and Nagaland were the judges of the competition. The contest was judged based on taste, quality of work, presentation, degree of difficulty, food knowledge and professionalism. Alemjungla Jamir from Dimapur, said the idea of organising such competition was to motivate the younger generation and to promote indigenous cuisines so that it travels well beyond the borders. Dr. Nelson Loitongbam bagged the first prize and went home richer with a cash prize of INR 25,000, certificate, gift hampers while Yurrinchon Keishing and Zingyatphi Hungyo were placed in second and third positions and received a cash prize of INR 15,000 and 10,000 along with citations. Some of the bamboo dishes prepared by the contestants during the bamboo cooking competition include – ‘Soibum Biriyani’(bamboo shoot biriyani), pork cooked with dried and fresh bamboo shoot, ‘khajing soidon kangshu’, ‘Mangal laiwa ooti’, ‘yen soibum kangshu’, ‘soidon nakuppi kangshu’, etc.