Bradford College

Curry Kid Comp Goes National

 With just days to go before the National Finals of the Junior Curry Chef Competition 2012, Event Organiser and Chef at the International Food Academy (IFA), Colin Burt has announced that he intends to smash the Guinness World Record for the largest samosa in the world, in partnership with award winning restaurant Prashad.

No previous Guinness World Record is held for the biggest samosa in the world - Colin Burt, Prashad and the team at the IFA will set a new precedent!

This announcement comes after Mr Burt broke the Guinness World Record for the biggest bhaji in the world in 2011 working in partnership with critically acclaimed restaurant Prashad.  The belt busting bhaji weighed in at a whopping 102.2 kilograms. It took four men to lift the giant sized snack into a special cooking vessel and a team of 9 people to ensure the beast of a bhaji was cooked to perfection.

Following the success of the record breaking bhaji, the IFA will play host to the National Finals of the UK’s Junior Curry Chef Competition on the 3rd April 2012. The tough cooking competition will see budding young ‘master chefs’ being pushed to the absolute extremes of their cooking abilities, in the battle to be crowned National Junior Curry Chef 2012. 

This follows the announcement that restaurateurs throughout the country are facing an unprecedented ‘Curry Crisis’ and are struggling to find skilled chefs due to a tightening of immigration laws.

Commenting on the competition that encourages young cooks to become the curry chefs of the future, Event Organiser and Chef, Colin Burt said: “The Junior Curry Chef Competition has been prompted by the ‘Curry Crisis’ and the need to address the skills shortage in the Asian restaurants. We’re keen to promote and encourage budding young chefs, both female and male to develop the skills needed to fill the gap.” 

Talented young chefs will pull out all the stops to impress a panel of critically acclaimed judges with their preparation, cooking and presentation of a curry dish of their choice.

Chief Patron of the IFA, Mr Mohammed Aslam MBE, Managing Director of Aagrah group of restaurants, has been announced as one of the prestigious judges of the national finals, along with the Mr Mumtaz Khan, International Food Manufacturer/Managing Director of Mumtaz group of restaurants and critically acclaimed celebrity chef Kaushy Patel from award winning vegetarian restaurant Prashad.

Torn between an array of extraordinarily top-class dishes from the budding young finalists, the panel of award winning judges decision to select winners from each category (18 years and under) and (16 years and under) will be difficult in the tough cooking competition.

Westmill Foods and Wharfevalley are proud sponsors of the culinary curry event, which will see young hopefuls turn up the heat in the kitchen to impress the judges.

Colin Burt,  Chef at the International Food Academy reflecting on the success of the competition which has the backing of award winning restaurants, Prashad, Mumtaz, Akbars, Nawaab and Aagrah said: “Everyone including the prestigious judges have been blown away by the standard of entries from these young budding chefs. Look out for these bright young stars of the future!”

Michele Sutton, OBE, Bradford College Principal backed the initiative and concluded: “Working with top Asian restaurants, we’re delighted to discover the young inspiring cooks of the future, whilst also plugging the gap in the current staffing crisis.”