Chef Sanjeev Kapoor appears as guest judge on MasterChef Australia Season 18
New Delhi, July 8
Celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor appeared as a guest judge on the latest episode of MasterChef Australia Season 18.
The episode that went live earlier this week, saw contestants prepare different dishes using a mystery box filled with Indian ingredients. Some of the dishes included a moong dal sweet dosa with lassi ice cream, a lamb tart with turmeric and coconut foam, lamb rack with dal, spiced lamb cutlets with sweet potato and coconut puree served with pickled guava, and a choux bhaji.
Casper Kenworthy won the challenge with his dish featuring sweet potato and spinach curry, pickled mussels, pickled guava, finger millet roti, and a moong dal curry-leaf coconut podi masala.
While tasting the dish, Kapoor first questioned Casper, saying, "You think this is Indian? You think you can do anything and call it Indian?" The contestant replied, "No."
Kapoor then asked if Casper thought that because it was MasterChef Australia, he could get away with doing whatever he wanted. Casper answered, "Yes," drawing laughter from the judges. After the light-hearted exchange, Kapoor praised the dish and called it "outstanding." He added, "This is what India is."
With the win, Casper earned immunity from Tuesday's elimination challenge and also secured a one-on-one cooking session with Kapoor.
MasterChef Australia is available for streaming in India on JioHotstar. The judging panel this season includes Andy Allen, Poh Ling Yeow, Sofia Levin and Jean-Christophe Novelli.
Kapoor is the second Indian chef to appear as a guest on the cooking competition. He has earlier served as a judge on MasterChef India and is widely known for hosting Khana Khazana, one of Asia's longest-running cooking shows. He also launched FoodFood, India's first 24-hour Hindi-language cooking channel.
— ANI
Reader Comments
Finally, Indian cuisine is getting the global recognition it deserves. But I'm a bit skeptical about dishes like "lamb tart with turmeric and coconut foam" and "choux bhaji" - fusion is great, but sometimes it loses the soul of our food. Still, proud of Kapoor sir for representing us so well! 😊
That moment when Kapoor asked "You think this is Indian?" - absolute gold! 😂 It's the kind of question every Indian would ask when someone claims to make "Indian food" abroad. But Casper's honesty and the way he turned it around with an outstanding dish shows true respect for our cuisine. Fusion at its best!
As someone who loves cooking Indian food, I love seeing our ingredients like moong dal, curry leaves, and finger millet roti being celebrated on an international platform. But I wish the show had featured a wider variety of regional Indian cuisines instead of just the usual north Indian dishes. Still, this is a great step forward! 🎉
I'm from the US and I've been following MasterChef Australia for years. Having Sanjeev Kapoor as a guest judge is fantastic! The way he balanced tough questioning with genuine praise shows great teaching. His comment "This is what India is" really resonated - Indian food is about evolving flavors, not just rigid recipes. Amazing episode!
Honestly, I have mixed feelings. While it's great to see an Indian chef on such a big platform, I feel the episode could have done more justice to Indian
We welcome thoughtful discussions from our readers. Please keep comments respectful and on-topic.