VIDEO: Young chefs take part in creative cooking challenge

A team of five Year 10 pupils, representing Thomas Bennett Community College, in Tilgate, hope their Chilli Berry Explosion will win over judges for The Ready Berry Cook competition.

The pupils are in with a chance to cook with BBC presenter Stefan Gates.

Charlotte Simmons, 15, one of the young chefs, said: “It would be brilliant if we won, we would all be ecstatic.”

The winners will also have their recipe published on the Children’s Food Trust website and win their school £500 worth of kitchen equipment.

Thomas Oldfield, 14, Kasey Morly, 15, Caprice Hibberd, 15, Charlie Northwood, 14, and Charlotte Simmons, 15, invented the recipe after Barbara Flitton, their GCSE Food and Nutrition teacher, invited them to take part in the national competition.

Their invention consists of a Jasmine rice bowl with mango and coconut slices; a complex berry sauce made with pine nuts, dates, five seasonal berries and red chillis; and a creme fraiche and coriander dip.

Charlotte added: “It allows us to be creative.

“We were thinking how to be different and just chucked everything in a pan.

“We are quietly confident we’ll win.”

The team’s GCSE classmates all invented their own berry recipes today.

Barbara Flitton said: “It’s a subject they can really express themselves in.

“I’m excited for them.”