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Ivana Alawi unleashes culinary skills in fun cook-off with siblings

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Liezel dela Cruz

Things heated up in Ivana Alawi’s kitchen!Ivana’s loyal followers know that she’s got some serious cooking skills, thanks to her culinary degree. Now, she’s showcasing her expertise again in a fun-filled cook-off with her siblings Amira, Hash, and Mona, with their mom, Fatima, as one of the judges.And let’s just say the chaos started before anyone even touched a knife. Deciding the teams alone was already a battle. Ivana and Mona wanted to team up, but Hash and Amira protested because, well, neither of them claimed to be kitchen virtuosos (despite Hash’s attempt at culinary school).<div><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameBorder="0" height="703" referrerPolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eNg6EhJyfM4" title="SIBLING COOK OFF CHALLENGE! | IVANA ALAWI" width="1250"></iframe></div>The teams were finally decided using the classic &#x27;maiba-taya&#x27; (odd one out) technique, leaving Ivana and Amira on one side and Hash and Mona on the other. They could cook anything they wanted, but they all had to use the same ingredients: ground chicken, squash, bell pepper, cabbage, eggplant, cauliflower, chayote, carrots, patola (sponge gourd), ampalaya (bitter melon), cucumber, misua (thin wheat noodles), winged bean, string beans, onion, ginger, garlic, and a can of sardines.With ingredients laid out and the clock ticking, you can already guess that the sibling rivalry is about to get spicier than any dish they’re about to serve up!They had 30 minutes to whip up their meals. As they got started, Ivana mentioned that she studied culinary arts because she once dreamed of becoming a housewife and wanted to perfect her cooking skills for her future husband. Meanwhile, Amira confessed she has zero knowledge in the kitchen—she even struggles with something as simple as preparing hotdogs!The challenge was mixed with some playful teasing, with Ivana accusing the other team of copying her ideas. As for her recipe, she decided to try something new with ground chicken and bagoong (shrimp paste), which she ended up liking. Meanwhile, Mona felt that the food she and Hash were making was missing something. But no one should get too confident—who knows, the dish that&#x27;s a little underdone might end up winning later on!While cooking, Ivana, who we last saw on TV as Bubbles in “<a href="https://ent.abs-cbn.com/batangquiapo" target="_blank">FPJ’s Batang Quiapo</a>,” kept distracting her opponents, especially rattling a nervous Hash. Even when the prep time wrapped up, the teasing didn’t stop, with Ivana joking that Hash and Mona’s creation tasted like “tubig na may paminta.”Time for plating! Ivana and Amira described their first offering—sinabawang misua with patola—as pure comfort food. For their meat entree, they served ground chicken with sardines, promising a burst of tomato flavor and an appetizing presentation with the meat stuffed into seared capsicums.Hash and Mona also made sinabawang misua and patola, but they mixed the ground chicken directly into the soup. Their other finished product was sautéed sardines with plenty of tomatoes, which Ivana humorously labeled as &quot;super basic.&quot;It was time to present their creations to the judges: their mom; Ivana’s hairstylist, Ariane; and their family cook, Karen. It seems Ivana’s playful threats didn’t quite hit the mark, as Karen told her, “Ma’am, buo pa rin sahod ha? Sa true lang tayo, Ma’am. Alam mo na, hindi ako sinungaling.” Haha! Karen honestly thought Mona and Hash’s recipes were tastier, and Ariane, who tried to stay unbiased, also gave her vote to the same team.Even the queen of the house, Mama Fatima, voted for Hash and Mona. So, their team earned three points, while Ivana and Amira received none.Hash and Mona clinched the cook-off victory! As a result, Amira and Ivana are stuck with washing the dishes and cleaning up.Check out Ivana’s vlog for the sizzling kitchen battle!