| Aziz Idris |
BIRAKSA, a traditional Bruneian dessert, made its way onto the global culinary stage at the WorldChef Battlefield (WCB) 2019 Competition at Movenpick Hotel & Convention Centre in Sepang, Malaysia.
The local dessert was given an improvised twist at the event when it was topped with Mont Blanc puree, creating an exquisite fusion of Asian and Western style cooking without compromising its sweet-spiced taste derived from its four main ingredients of rice flour, mixed jintan spices, coriander seeds and gula melaka. The brains behind the dish was the team from Brunei, comprising team leader Rezal, an executive chef from The Rizqun International Hotel, and chefs from established hotels in Brunei and Institute of Brunei Technical Education (IBTE) culinary students.
Dubbed ‘the World Cup of cooking’, the competition, which was also filmed live as a culinary reality show and will be broadcast to an Asian audience via Astro (filming recently concluded), features 16 teams each consisting of four chefs from all over Asia, Australia and Africa (including Thailand, Hong Kong, Mauritius, India, South Korea and Singapore) battling it out against each other in an elimination cook-off.
Two teams will compete in the finals for the chance to be crowned ‘Champion of the Masters’, with winners receiving a cash prize of USD12,000.
Each of the teams’ dishes were tasted and rated by nine judges, with an additional 10 judges assessing the skills of the chefs in the kitchen.
Originally from Singapore, Chef Rezal bin Othman, who took on the role of ‘Chef Commander’ for the Bruneian team at the WCB 2019, said he is proud to showcase traditional Bruneian kueh with his fellow culinary “Olympians” at the cooking contest.
“Creating the dessert was a challenge because of the limited ingredients and time given. The pressure was even higher when you are competing alongside the best chefs from around the world,” Rezal said.
“The strong spice taste of Biraksa coupled with the sweet Mont Blanc puree resulted in a well-balanced dessert that managed to impress the panel of judges.”
Chef Rezal also managed to finish as a gold medallist in the categorical challenges at the competition.
“We entered the competition as the underdogs but to be able to be recognised based on the quality of food prepared, we feel really honoured and blessed,” he beamed. “We hope that this will open up more opportunities for Bruneians to join international cooking contests and inspiring more youth out there to showcase their culinary talents.”
The competition was chaired by professional chef and MasterChef Malaysia judge Zubir Zain, while the judging panel was headed by Otto Weibel from Switzerland, who is accredited by the World Association of Chefs Societies (WACS).