Season 2 of "The Great Minnesota Recipe" on PBS North is in the books. This year's winner? Santhi Muniandy-Deisch, who took home the top prize with her east-meets-west take on the hot dish. "The idea behind it was to bring in a lot of my Malaysian ingredients to the forefront and combine it with some Minnesota flavors," says Muniandy-Deisch. "There was probably about close to forty ingredients."
The cook admits to spending many considered hours in the kitchen making sure all of the ingredients served their purpose. Since the win, Muniandy-Deisch has continued her self-proclaimed "mad scientist" approach to cooking at her home kitchen, but looks forward to slowing down and taking time with food. "For me it's a ritual and I'm hoping to inspire people to just cook together more and to have this communal connection over food."
Muniandy-Deisch won't rule out the possibility of future cooking competitions, and at the moment is still feeling the excitement from the season wrap-up event at Clyde Iron Works in Duluth. "I felt very special, like, VIP... it was such a fun event."
You can find out more - and watch full episodes of "The Great Minnesota Recipe" - on the PBS North website.
