Mangaluru’s Mohammed Ashiq lifts MasterChef India trophy; takes home Rs 25 lakhs

News Network

December 8, 2023

India's top culinary reality show MasterChef India Season 8 has found its winner. Premiered exclusively on SonyLIV, Mohammed Aashiq, a 24-year-old south Indian city of Manglauru has been adjudged as the champion.

The other contestants who were in the race to win the coveted MasterChef golden coat included Suraj Thapa, Rukhsaar Sayeed, and Nambie Jessica Marak.

Managluru boy

A food enthusiast, Aashiq hails from the coastal city of Mangaluru in Karnataka. With dreams of becoming a chef, Aashiq opened a small juice shop in his hometown called Kulukki Hub. The sole breadwinner for his family, Aashiq auditioned in the previous season of MasterChef India but got through the show only this season with his audition recipe, Fish Fry Mangalurean style.

Toughest challenge

In an interview with NewsBytes in November, Aashiq recalled one of the toughest challenges he faced in the MasterChef kitchen. A savory chef, Aashiq had trouble replicating Chef Pooja Dhingra's macaroons for an immunity pin challenge. "It might appear to be simple, but it was very tricky. There were so many technical challenges that I had to cope with during the baking process."

Audition round

The decision over his audition dish was kept on hold by Chefs Vikas Khanna and Ranveer Brar over its portion size. The pending decision was the biggest learning for Aashiq in the kitchen.

"It was that very day when they taught me what the exact portion and proportion of a dish should be while serving on the plate," he said.

Mangaluean recipes

Whether it was the Fish Fry Magalorean Style or the Crispy Paradise, Aashiq's food inspiration has mostly been a reflection of his Mangalorean upbringing. "Presenting Manglurean dishes in a global way is what I aim to do. My attempt is to give the local food an international face since it is often underestimated," he had said in an interview.

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‘Israel’s sole objective is erasing entire Palestinian presence’

News Network

November 21,2024

Hamas says the Israeli regime’s sole objective lies in “erasing” the entirety of the Palestinian population from across the Palestinian territories.

Khalil al-Hayya, a ranking official with the Gaza Strip-based Palestinian resistance movement, made the remarks to the Palestinian al-Aqsa TV on Wednesday.

“The occupation targets everyone—it strikes hospitals, civil defense, women, children, and the elderly,” he said, adding that the regime sought to “empty Gaza of its residents, and displace the Palestinian people to fulfill its dreams of building a Zionist Jewish state across all of Palestine.”

The remarks came amid the regime’s October 2023-present war of genocide on the coastal sliver that has so far claimed the lives of nearly 44,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children.

“This unprecedented aggression in modern times evokes scenes from the dark ages of human history, having crossed all red lines and exceeded every expectation of brutality in the modern era,” the Palestinian official lamented.

He also regretted that the regime had added “systematic and dangerous starvation to its aggression, falsely claiming before the world that it allows 250 [aid] trucks into Gaza daily. In reality, the number of trucks is far fewer.”

Hayya, meanwhile, regretted that “scenes of children torn apart, women screaming over their children, and heart-wrenching destruction have failed to stir enough humanity to stop these crimes.”

He decried the United States for vetoing the United Nations Security Council’s resolutions that are aimed at bringing about a potential ceasefire in the war, saying this indicated Washington’s “partnership in the aggression” and a simultaneous siege that the Israeli regime has been enforcing on Gaza.

Addressing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the official asserted that, despite what the Israeli official is after, Hamas would not hand over the regime’s captives “without [the regime’s] stopping the war.”

He called Netanyahu “the main obstacle” in the way of cessation of the aggression, saying the Israeli premier “blocks any progress for political reasons,” and citing his preventing conclusion of a ceasefire agreement in July.

Hayya also warned that the regime sought to expand the war beyond Gaza, but asserted that its goals are “impossible and will never happen.”

“Today, the enemy exposes its true intentions of extermination and displacement, but it will fail,” he stressed.

“The Palestinian people are resilient and will not surrender, as they believe in their humanitarian and political cause. The enemy and its allies will not succeed in achieving their goals. This steadfast people will endure, and the occupation will not prevail against them.”

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