I Fell in Love with a Criminal

Cook-Off: Round 1

So many people started raising their hands. Cryptor picked on the first person he saw who was this skinny guy with a tattoo on his left arm who wouldn't stop staring at me. 

"I am hungry for a pretty, pretty girl," he said, looking directly at me. 

Everyone started cheering as I looked at Cryptor. He looked kind of mad, but he didn't do anything. Then, I looked at Zane and he looked back at me. He gave me the calm look like 'everything is going to be fine'.

"Real food people, real food!" Cryptor yelled. 

He chose a short girl with dyed red hair with a nose piercing. 

"Let's get some Samosa and some chutney with that as well. Also, some Naan bread," she said, in a Texan accent. 

This was going to be easy. I started just as she said it. Zane, on the other hand, just stood there staring at me. 

"P.I.X.A.L is making progress while Zane is not trying at all. Why is that so, Zane?" Cryptor asked, going to Zane with the mic. 

"Well, let's see the pretty lady do her magic first," Zane said. 

This time I didn't feel angry. I just looked at him and blushed. He smiled at me. He was so cute!

I just continued on with making the Indian food. After Zane was done staring at me, he decided to start cooking as well. 

I started off with making the Samosa. I had my ingredients ready which were ajwain seeds, amchur, asafoetida, black mustard seeds, garam masala, cumin seeds and powder, coriander seeds and turmeric, flour, green chili, oil, potatoes, ginger, peas, coriander/cilantro. 

I noticed that Zane already had all of his ingredients when he started after me. How?! 

I boiled potatoes until tender, then used a fork to roughly mash. I fried up the spices with fresh ginger and chili which was then tossed through along the peas. I added the mashed potato and gently but thoroughly mixed it through, so the flavoring fully permeated the potato; and I mixed through fresh coriander, then let the filling cool completely before using it. 

Zane was already done with his Samosas and he was moving on to making his chutney. Why was he so fast? I tried to pick up the pace so I started to multitask. I made the chutney while I was making the Samosas. I started off with the green chutney and later I was going to make the red one. 

I mixed the dry ingredients, added some oil, mixed the flour, added Ajwain seeds and salt, then poured the oil in. I then added water until it was wet enough to form a dough. The dough was soft and pliable, but not so sticky. I formed a ball and let it rest for 30 minutes. 

I formed a log out of the dough, then cutted it into 6 equal pieces. I shaped dough into balls, rolled out balls to 2mm thick, then rolled the dough balls into discs 2mm thick. They were about 16cm /6.5” in diameter.

I noticed that Zane was working on perfecting his chutney so I had enough time to make my Samosas. I finished my green chutney and I was working on my red one.

"Zane is taking his sweet time while P.I.X.A.L is multitasking!" Cryptor yelled. 

I used a small knife to cut a circle in half. I worked with one disc of dough at a time. I brushed the disc with water along half the straight edge I cut. I folded one side in, then folded the other side in, overlapping by about 1 cm / 2/5″, to form a cone shape. I pressed joined edges together to secure it. 

I formed an “O” with my thumb and forefinger, then placed the cone inside. I filled that with the spiced potato filling. I learned this technique from my Father. He isn't the best cook in the world, but he knows some stuff. 

I brushed with water along the cone mouth edge and pressed it to seal. I placed the seam side down on the work surface so it folds over, I trimmed the excess pastry off. I pinched the top of the cone to make it nice and pointy and I folded in the other two corners. 

I heated the oil to 160°C/320°F, then fried 3 or 4 samosas for 3 minutes, turning occasionally. I worked with 3 or 4 samosas at a time, but in total I made enough for all the people. I drained it on paper towels then repeated this first fry with the remaining samosas. 

After I was done with the samosas, I decided to make the Naan bread. Zane was done as well and it was time for the prisoners to eat the food. 

The prisoners were in groups of three for the three rounds. We didn't want them to get full in the first round. 

Cryptor gave the food to the people in the first round and they ate it. I was really scared. 

"Raise your hands if you vote for Zane’s food," Cryptor said. 

Less than half the people raised their hands and the Cryptor asked for a vote on my food and many people raised their hands. 

It looked like I was the winner for the first round! 

"We have a winner for the first found, P.I.X.A.L!!" Cryptor shouted, even if he had a mic. 

I looked at Zane with a smile. 

"I guess we know who the winner is going to be now," I said. 

"That was just a lucky shot plus I was going easy on you," Zane said. 

"Sure," I said. 

We will see in the next round who is going to be the winner. 

1531 words

I hope you enjoyed! Apparently, the link above won't work so I decided to put it under here also the image above is not mine, but it would be how Zane looks in the story, but without the red eyes. Thank you and I will see you in the next chapter!