Top Chef ™ Seasons

Popularly termed as “Vanilla Of The East”, Pandan leaves are the intensely green foliage of the Pandanus amaryllifolius plant.

Pandan gives off a pleasant musky scent, being used in cooking, colouring, packaging food, predominantly in Asian and Indian cuisine.

Muhammara, also written as mhammara, is an Arab dish, typically eaten as a dip with bread, or as a spread for toast, or as a sauce for kebabs, grilled meats, and fish.

The principal ingredients are usually fresh or dried peppers, (typically Aleppo pepper) and pomegranate molasses, often with ground walnuts, breadcrumbs, and olive oil. It may also contain garlic, salt, lemon juice and sometimes spices such as cumin. It may be garnished with mint leaves or parsley.

In Week 5 of Top Chef ™ World All Stars, Chef Buddha made a dish for the Elimination Challenge that he said was based on Salmon Tarator. 

For a Tarator-style salmon dish, salmon fillets are topped with walnuts, parsley, sumac, onion and hummus in this Middle Eastern inspired fish dish

In the "World All-stars" version of Top Chef ™, Chef Ali made his own cottage cheese. This is easier than most people think, and worlds cheaper than buying it off the shelf. 

The usual process is to heat skimmed milk, then add an acid (typically a good vinegar, but lemon juice works, too) and then let it sit to form curds and drain it through a fine sieve. Optionally, you can add some cream, but often, cottage cheese is enjoyed by people watching their fat intake, so this step is optional.