New Delhi: Indian ingredients took over the MasterChef Australia kitchen this week, with Chef Sanjeev Kapoor stepping in as a guest judge. Kapoor is the second Indian chef, after Chef Saransh Goila, to appear on the show, which is one of the most-watched cooking competitions in the world.
While Goila’s earlier appearance centred the challenge around his signature butter chicken, this marked the first time Indian ingredients themselves took centre stage in the mystery box.
Ever since Kapoor’s promo was released on MasterChef Australia’s Instagram handle, audiences have been eager to know what the chef would bring to the table.
He picked onions, tomatoes, mussels, raw turmeric, guava, palm jaggery, pickle, lamb rack, cold coconut, sweet potato, garam masala, spinach and curry leaves.
For the mystery box challenge, contestants worked with the show’s usual pantry basics: flour, milk, butter, sugar, etc. However, they were given some extra ingredients, which food writer and MasterChef judge Sofia Levin described as “essential for Indian cooking,” including ghee, basmati rice, moong dal, mustard oil and a small spice rack.
What followed was a string of dishes ambitious enough to leave Kapoor speechless: a moong dal sweet dosa paired with lassi ice cream, a lamb tart layered with turmeric and coconut foam, lamb rack served alongside dal, and a choux bhaji, among others.
While tasting 19-year-old Luke Harris’s samosa chaat, Kapoor pointed out that samosas traditionally come from North India, a region where coconut isn’t found, especially in cooking.
“Your combination of dal with samosa and coconut is something if you take to India, they would say no. But it works like magic,” the chef said.
Other standouts included Pedro Papathomas’s spiced lamb cutlets served with sweet potato and coconut puree alongside pickled guava, and Emily Sue’s moong dal dosa paired with a spiced lassi ice cream and guava chutney.
The winner of the challenge, though, was Casper Kenworthy, who presented a sweet potato and spinach curry with pickled mussels, pickled guava, finger millet roti, and a moong dal curry-leaf coconut podi masala.
Kapoor opened his critique with a question, “You think this is Indian? You think you can do anything and call it Indian?”
Kenworthy politely answered “no.” But when Kapoor followed up, asking whether he thought that, because this was MasterChef Australia, he could get away with doing whatever he wanted. Casper said “yes,” sending Kapoor and the rest of the judging panel into a fit of laughter.
Kapoor went on to call his spread “outstanding,” singling out the pickled mussels as an idea he thought Indian kitchens should borrow. Looking over Kenworthy’s full plate, its layers of spice, tang and robust flavour, Kapoor summed it up: “This is what India is.”
As his reward, Kenworthy was not only spared from Tuesday’s elimination but also earned a one-on-one cooking session with Kapoor.
Wrapping up the tasting, Kapoor was visibly impressed with the performance of the contestants.
“I was expecting the best, but they all exceeded my expectations. This is what makes MasterChef Australia the best food show in the world,” he added.
(Edited by Insha Jalil Waziri)