This page has been redesigned to document my Kitchen Journey, marking the transition from campus life to my professional internship chapter.
“Spice Odyssey is one of the key projects in the Diploma programme at At-Sunrice GlobalChef Academy. In this module, every student must create a small dish – usually a canape or amuse-bouche – inspired by a specific spice. The process includes researching the spice’s history, understanding its flavour profile, applying the right cooking techniques, and presenting the dish creatively. Spice Odyssey isn’t just about cooking; it’s a journey of exploration, innovation, and storytelling, where each student expresses their culinary identity through a single bite.”
1st Prototype Spice Odyssey
This is the original sketch for my Spice Odyssey concept. I’m planning to create a pillow-shaped cracker using rice paper, with the corners trimmed and the center filled with sliced avocado, tomatoes, and a sauce in the middle. My goal is for people to enjoy the fresh creaminess of the avocado paired with the light, crisp crunch of the rice-paper cracker
However, the result didn’t meet my expectations. Based on the chef’s feedback:
The avocado will begin to discolor within minutes once exposed to room temperature. The rice-paper cracker is very fragile, and keeping it at room temperature requires extra care. Adding avocado, tomatoes, and sauce could easily cause the rice paper to soften or collapse
2nd Prototype Spice Odyssey
So I decided to revise the dish by removing the avocado, since its moisture was causing the rice-paper pillow to soften, crack, or melt. Instead, I reworked the concept by keeping the pillow structure intact and placing the filling inside, creating a more stable and visually refined version of the dish.
I also considered adding caviar or fish roe on top, but caviar would significantly increase the cost of the dish, while fish roe presents another challenge due to its high moisture content, which could again affect the stability of the rice-paper pillow.
At last, the Spice Odyssey almost reaches its final form ..
I may be a little stubborn about my design, but this creation truly reflects the Zen theme I stand for – so I’m committed to keeping it as it is. I believe in making changes only when something no longer works, not when the vision is already clear.
But things weren’t as simple as they seemed.
The basil-leaf caviar alone demanded real patience – juicing the leaves, blending them with agar-agar, then carefully dripping the mixture into ice-cold neutral oil. The temperature had to be perfectly cold; otherwise, the caviar simply wouldn’t form.
After several rounds of testing, I also ran into challenges with
the rice paper.
Timing its perfect ‘puff’ in the oven was far from easy – it took multiple trials to find the right balance of temperature and baking duration to achieve that ideal khaki hue. And even then, in every full tray, only about half of the rice-paper pillows formed perfectly
and … this is my final dish of Spice Odyssey .. let me know your comment ..
