MasterChef South Africa judge Justine Drake broke down in tears this week when telling home cook Ketsia Malela (31) Kyalami, Johannesburg, that her food journey on the show had come to an end because of a bland flatbread and tuna salad dish.
An emotional Justine remarked that Ketsia had “cooked like a star” and that she would never forget Ketsia’s sterling interpretation of the challenging monochromatic garment in the food and fashion challenge. “It was a triumph of quite some import,” Justine said.
Unfortunately, Ketsia landed on the chopping board this week when only six MasterChef South Africa contestants had to fight it out in the kitchen. The other half a dozen home cooks were saved from elimination after winning the first team challenge at the world-famous Durbanville Hills Winery in the previous episode.
The home cooks who had to keep their cool when the heat reached boiling point with this week’s daunting challenge were Bridget Mangwandi, Ketsia Malela, Lona Rode, Nash Zambila, Penny Rider, and Refe Dimbaza.
Their task was to showcase their cooking prowess by transforming month-end fridge and pantry leftovers into gourmet pay-day next-overs. The twist: the leftovers in the Beko fridge at their workstations represented one of the judges’ typical personal leftovers. Furthermore, they only had access to 20 classic frugal South African food items, mainly canned food, and fish was compulsory for this do-or-die meal.
Justine’s “bougie” fridge leftovers included roast chicken, roasted vegetables, beetroot juice, a few condiments, and a gherkin. Meanwhile, Chef Katlego’s fridge shouted “bachelor” with leftover vegetable stir-fry, pizza, grilled fish, “slap tjips”, and a bottle of beer. MasterChef South Africa’s third judge, Chef Zola Nene, provided leftovers true to her personal food style, “seven colours”, namely mealie rice, sweet potato, carrot salad, beetroot, green beans, and ginger beer.
Still feeling miserable about not guiding his team to victory, Nash hoped to cook with Justine’s leftovers but had to conjure up magic with Chef Katlego’s fridge content. For Refe, though, the stars aligned, as she knew Chef Katlego was a fellow Cancerian.
Ketsia and Lorna, confessing that he has never made leftovers before, were allocated judge Justine’s fridge, while Bridget and Penny had Zola’s “seven colours” to play with.
Soon after the clock started ticking down the challenge’s 60-minute time limit, madness ensued in the MasterChef kitchen. Besides having to think on their feet whilst frantically raiding their fridges and finding the right canned food, the comments and advice from the winning team on the gantry added much noise and more pressure.
Although evictee Ketsia initially panicked when realizing that yoghurt was a missing ingredient for her intended yoghurt flatbread, the judges were more concerned about some other contestants during the cook-off.
Nash embarked on a super-innovative transformation of Chef Katlego’s offering, which Justine feared might turn into a schizophrenic meal. His first-ever attempt to make mayonnaise was also a potential disaster. In Nash’s words, “the mayonnaise was just not “mayo-ing”.
A familiar face in the previous challenge’s top three, Bridget, was entirely out of her comfort zone. Zola reckoned it was because the show’s youngest cook was unfamiliar with many items in her fridge. Bridget had never tasted mealie rice before and disliked Achar.
At Lona’s workstation, it was also an uphill battle. First, the dough for his potstickers was too soft, and after adding more flour, he burned the batch and had to start from scratch
However, it baffled the judges that Ketsia did not use Justine’s roasted chicken, the ingredient that had served her well in the past. Still, Ketsia’s flatbread and tuna salad dish looked exciting and appetizing.
After all the hustle and bustle in the kitchen and the six home cooks’ nerve-wracking final presentation to the judges, Penny and Refe’s dishes came out tops – a big feat and breakthrough moment for these ladies who had not received such recognition before.
The judges raved about Penny’s sweet potato and tuna croquettes with Saltirax crumbs, herbs and smoked mussels on a pea purée, whipped up from Chef Zola’s fridge. Zola particularly enjoyed the mussel surprise in the croquette and called Penny’s visually appealing meal a “symphony of flavours”.
But Refe trumped Penny in the final verdict. According to Chef Katlego, Refe “took Bully Beef to private school”. Her innovative modern take on “surf and turf” – a croquette stuffed with pickled onions, ham, and corned beef accompanied by tuna sauce – was a pleasant taste explosion.
The bottom two dishes belonged to Lona and Ketsia.
The judges’ harsh comments about Lona’s chicken potstickers with toasted sweet corn, pickled fish, and roasted vegetable puree were that it was too acidic and the dough too thick and stodgy. Still, his purée was commendable.
Finally, Ketsia’s smoked mussel oil flatbread and tuna salad with pesto mayo, celery, pickled spring onions and parsley sent her home. Justine was disappointed that Ketsia used very few items in the fridge. The promising meal also lacked flavour, and Justine could hardly taste the mussel because there was no salt in the bread. This “elevated tuna sandwich” was not MasterChef-worthy.
Before departing, Justine reminded Ketsia that she was a talented cook and encouraged her to continue pursuing her food dreams. And that’s when Justine started crying.
In her exit interview, Ketsia said she was happy about how far she progressed in the competition: “I thought I was out from the beginning, so I’m proud of myself. I know my friends and family will be proud of me too.”
MasterChef South Africa Season 5 is proudly sponsored by Pick n Pay. The premiere episode airs on S3 (formerly SABC3) on Saturdays at 19:30. There is also a rebroadcast on SABC2 on Sundays at 18:30 and another on S3 on Wednesdays at 18:00.