'Food evokes sense of belonging to our roots’: twin sisters take out major cooking contest

A long list of mouthwatering Indian food helped twin sisters Visharadha and Prabhanjali Peters, known as Radha and Prabha, win this year’s ‘My Kitchen Rules’ (MKR) cooking contest.

The Sydney-based sisters, who have roots in the South Indian state of Kerala, served some unique delicacies from their parents’ homeland.

It was a very big leap of faith, just sticking to our cultural heritage and our Indian culture.

Prabha Peters

On grand final day, they served spicy fish fry with yellow dhal and tomato chutney for entree.

This was followed by Kerala prawn curry, roti, spicy eggplant, potatoes for second course then chicken biryani with pickled onion and cucumber raita for the main course.

And the meal was finished off with pistachio ice cream and a chocolate dome with an almond and orange zest crumb as desert.

Radha and Prabha said the decision to only cook authentic Indian food had not been an easy one. Credit: Supplied by Channel 7

The winners say they have faced a backlash on social media for only cooking Indian food throughout the entire contest.

Radha and Prabha say the decision to present spicy authentic dishes in the competition had not been easy.

“We never took offence of the other contestants and the entire nation asking why we are cooking only Indian food in the competition,” Radha said.

Sticking to authentic Indian food was a challenging thing in terms of our mindset. There were conversations around the table about this on and off camera.

Radha Peters

Prabha and Radha decided to present what their mother taught them.

“Our mum taught us so much of what her father taught (her) and there’s a lot of stories behind these beautiful dishes and there’s just a lot of emotions,” Prabha said.

The 26-year-old duo said the confidence to participate in the competition came from their mother who is also their mentor for cooking Indian food.

The sisters said they had never gotten to know their grandparents and their father, who all passed away when they were young.

They say cooking Indian food helps them connect to their grandparents’ homeland.