In order to improve the FoodFu app before we publicly release we’ve continued to do beta testing with friends and family. We really are fortunate to have a community of people willing to help us along on this journey. For beta test Battle Coconut Milk we invited our friends McKenzie, a yogi and jewelry designer, and Adam, an artist, yogi and teacher, over to our house to cook and judge.

Who participated in Battle Coconut Milk?

One thing we’ve noticed by doing these FoodFu battles is that the competing chefs arrive nervous. As soon as they walk in the door they are ready to grab their spatulas and get cooking. This time before Battle Coconut Milk started we chilled out and chatted while noshing on some hummus and veggies and a cheese plate with some beer and wine. Once we relaxed for a while McKenzie and I prepped for our food fight. Because we aren’t professional chefs FoodFu encourages the chefs to preheat ovens, get water boiling, clean all produce and have all kitchen utensils out (cutting board, knives, measuring cups, bowls, pots and pans, etc.). I guess you could call this the FoodFu mis en place, or if you prefer non-fancy terms the FoodFu pre-battle set up.

What did the chefs make to highlight coconut milk?

McKenzie and I made two totally different entrees with coconut milk but both were Thai inspired. McKenzie made a Thai cashew coconut rice with panko crusted chicken drizzled with ginger peanut sauce. I prepared Tom Kha Gai soup which is a traditional Thai chicken soup in a coconut milk broth flavored with lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves. I finished my soup with a drizzle of chili oil and cilantro. Since my soup spent a while simmering I used that down time to prepare a coconut milk cocktail with bourbon and muddled kaffir lime leaves. McKenzie, Adam and Jim debated during the battle if adding a cocktail to my dish would be an unfair advantage or my demise. I will say I served all of them tastings of the cocktail before judging so maybe I was pandering to them a little. You’ll find out later if this helped me.

Both of us found our recipe inspiration online, if you want to try either dish at home here are the recipes:

• Thai Cashew Coconut Milk Rice with Ginger Peanut Dressing from the Host the Toast
  Note: to make it exactly like McKenzie add Panko crusted chicken
  
• Tom Kha Gai Soup from Epicurious

Watch battle coconut milk unfold:

The plates for FoodFu Battle Coconut Milk:

Judging was difficult for Judges Adam and Jim because, although they were very different, both plates were terrific. In the end McKenzie beat me. The judges felt that McKenzie had better plating and a little more originality in her dish. My Tom Ka Gai soup was super tasty but didn’t seem to highlight the featured ingredient as much. Chef Mckenzie’s dish had bright flavors and really focused on the featured ingredient. It was a close battle!

Adam did a great job being our emcee for the evening. He was able to give us some really valuable feedback. He noticed the app needed more and louder alerts so the emcee knows when to ask chefs and judges questions. He also mentioned offering a rematch at the end of the battle which is a brilliant idea! We plan on adding both features into FoodFu before our public launch.