Last year I promised myself that I would enter a dish into the Naturally Nutritious Cooking Contest at our county fair. When it rolled around this year I knew I wasn't going to be able to get out of it due to my own stubbornness. I've never entered a cooking contest, and while this one in particular doesn't have a ton of competition, my food was still going to be critiqued. I wasn't sure I was ready for that!
I had decided to make my Indian butter chicken recipe with rice, and decided to make some naan to go along with it because naan is just plain delicious. If I had been planning better, I would have snapped a picture of my finished product, but this just goes to show how nervous I truly was.
My sweet husband was so great during the competition. He helped me carry the food to the entry table and tried to distract me by walking with me around the fair while the judges did their tasting (seriously the longest hour ever), but I was kind of a mess! I would teeter between being cheerful and being moody because of the nerves. Marshall kept trying to hold my hand or tease me in a way that I would have normally liked, but not this evening. He just laughed each time I told him to stop because looking back, it really is quite funny how grumpy I was being! He should get an award for the most patient husband at the fair.
Things settled down a bit once the results were in. My naan won 3rd place and my butter chicken and rice won 2nd. I was going to originally enter them together, but the entry managers suggested I split them up to increase my chances. I am glad I followed his suggestion! Honestly, not winning 1st in the international category wasn't a problem for me because a really sweet Indian lady won 1st for her Samosas. I had no argument there.
The best part of the entire event was watching and seeing the various reactions of the patrons of the fair try my butter chicken and naan.
"The level of spice in your chicken is perfect. It makes all my Indian cooking attempts look dismal!"
"I've already had 2 pieces of naan. Seriously the best naan I've ever had."
"Wow. You did a great job!"
But the best response? When I saw the little 11 or 12 year old Indian girl who won 6 or 7 ribbons that evening for her various dishes go back to the butter chicken for seconds. You can always judge the yumminess of your dish by a child's preference, especially if she is a good cook.
And Marshall even washed up the prep dishes in our kitchen when we returned home, without my even asking. I was going to leave them for the morning because I was done for the day. A perfect ending to a fun (albeit emotional) cooking contest. I might try it again next year.
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