MasterChef India Season 7 Episode 20 is titled ‘Black Apron Challenge’ and the synopsis reads, “The four home cooks at the bottom will compete in the ‘Black Apron Challenge’ wherein they have to make a progressive Goan dish. Who will come out on top and impress the chefs?”
The judges of the show include Vikas Khanna and Ranveer Brar, who are joined by Garima Arora, the first-ever female chef to be a judge on the show. The cooking competition show is a nationwide quest to find the best ‘home cook’ and draws out some of the most brilliant chefs from across India. The judges sample recipes from various cuisines that the contestants prepare in their search for India’s ‘MasterChef’. The show is produced by Endemol Shine India and it is directed by Neeraj Shetty.
-MasterChef India Season 7 Episode 20 Review and Recap Contains Spoilers-
Today the black apron home cooks are going to compete for their survival. The least favourite dish of the judges will take its maker home. The show is being shot at St Regis resort and the general manager of the hotel welcomes everyone and a champagne bottle is opened for their welcome. The four competing home cooks – Sachin, Kamaldeep, Suvarna and Vineet are presented with 4 different cloches in front of them.
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As we have seen in previous pressure tests, where they had to replicate the dishes, similarly today they have four iconic Goan curries in front. Vineet is given Caldine curry which has a heavy coconut base and is made with prawns. Suvarna gets Ambotic curry which is sweet and sour in taste and works best with fish. Kamaldeep is given Cafreal curry which is inspired by Portuguese as well as African flavours and Sachin gets Xec Xec curry, which is a classic made with crab.
But that’s not all, there are 4 different cloches in front of judges as well, which are revealed to be the protein ingredients, that they need to make the curry. They include chicken, paneer & vegetables, pomfret fish and crab. But to get these ingredients they will have to auction their time or in simple words buy it with their time.
In total they have 90 minutes, out of which they can bid their time with 5 minutes intervals & highest bidder will get. Sachin played his mind game here and tried to increase everyone’s bidding time, even if he didn’t require the ingredients. Kamaldeep bid 35 minutes and got the chicken, leaving only 55 minutes to cook. Vineet got paneer & vegetables by bidding 40 minutes and had 50 minutes to cook.
Suvarna bid 30 minutes for fish and had 60 minutes to cook, leaving crab to be the last ingredient which went to Sachin – without any bidding and whole 90 minutes to cook. According to their time, they started cooking their dishes – which should be progressive in nature and shows innovation as well.
Sachin had never cooked crab before, and thus judges questioned him if choosing it was the right decision, other contestants were also facing issues like Vineet’s croquette getting burnt, due to hot oil even his spatula started melting. Also, due to a confined space, they were often bickering about the space or taking a stove from another contestant.
Finally, everyone was able to finish their dishes on time, starting with Sachin who made crab Xec xec curry with small poori. His dish was given high compliments over presentation, taste and even innovation. Next was Kamaldeep who innovated her curry flavours into a Cafreal chicken poi pizza and gave the curry a sauce-like texture, her dish was also noted for presentation & fun innovation.
Suvarna made a Goan fish boat filled with fish and the judges liked her plating, although chef Garima found curry to be not enough on the plate. The taste was also not balanced between all the ingredients, but they tasted good individually. Lastly, Vineet presented a dish called caldine 3.0 with a croquette filled with curry paste, cheese and onion pearls filled with curry as well. He was visibly not happy with his presentation due to less time.
Final Thoughts: MasterChef India Season 7 Episode 20
After all the dishes were tasted, the judges chose Sachin’s Xec Xec crab to be the dish of the day and also saved him. Next Kamaldeep was announced to be safe due to her progressive idea – leaving Suvarna and Vineet. Judges commented how both of them did the same mistakes as yesterday in terms of flavours and that disappointed them. However, Suvarna was selected due to her innovative idea and Vineet was eliminated from the show.
The eliminated contestant doesn’t come as a surprise, as I expected either Suvarna or Vineet to be eliminated, looking at how they were shown in the last few episodes. However, I believe Vineet would have done better if he had more time, alas! Also, the number of times they said amul malai paneer and to make it a hero – turned out to be an eliminated one.
Another thing to note is how careless the cooks are in this season. They hold hot trays etc without any gloves, taste things with their fingers, while making and don’t really care about safety or basic hygiene. Being on national television, either the makers should edit out such practices or make them do things in the right way.
MasterChef India Season 7 is currently streaming on SonyLIV and a new episode is released from Monday to Friday at 9 PM.
Also Read: Check Out All of Our MasterChef India Season 7 Reviews