Mahlatse Mongatane (23), from Polokwane, entered the MasterChef South Africa kitchen with boundless energy, enthusiasm, and a burning desire to make his mother and the people of Limpopo proud. Little did this young baker and hospitality student know that the rest of the country would fall in love with him too.
But unfortunately, Mahlatse’s heartwarming run on MasterChef South Africa Season 6 ended abruptly this week – all because of an unsatisfactory rice dish and a failure to follow the judges’ challenge brief.
Still, Mahlatse didn’t leave the show empty-handed. A couple of weeks ago, during the chocolate challenge, R50,000 was up for grabs for the winning dish. Thanks to his impeccable pastry skills, he scooped up the cash with a heavenly chocolate éclair.
However, this week’s episode revolved around an ingredient miles away from Mahlatse’s forte. With South Africa’s “queen of rice”, Chef Zanele van Zyl, as guest judge, the contestants had to prove their worth grain by grain.
First, they were subjected to a taste test in which they had to identify six different types of rice from bowls at their workstations. The five contestants with the most correct answers earned a spot on the gantry, safe from elimination, while the others entered another rice battle, fighting to keep their place in the competition.
Incidentally, five men made it to the gantry, but that, of course, didn’t include Mahlatse. As he explained, he couldn’t remember “the names of the rices” – arborio, black, wild, brown, basmati and jasmine rice.
For the dreaded elimination challenge, the judges’ instructions were clear and simple: create a dish, sweet or savoury, that features rice as the hero, not the accompaniment. The contestants could choose any variety of rice and had access to an open pantry, but they had a 60-minute time limit.
Mahlatse went with coconut rice as part of an intended pan-seared fish dish. However, he had never cooked coconut rice before, and in his words, “the fish didn’t fish”. It stuck to the pan, so he pivoted quickly and opted to serve beer-battered fish instead. It looked promising, but just two minutes before the clock ran out, disaster struck: as he added butter to the sauce, it split.
When tasting Mahlatse’s creation, the judges’ first observation was that he hadn’t followed the brief. He put the spotlight on the fish, while his coconut rice was a mere side dish. In addition to the split sauce, his serving was bland, underseasoned, and lacked salt. The show’s judges and guest judge Zanele concurred that Mahlatse’s presentation was disappointing.
So, it came as little surprise to him that, when he landed in the Bottom Two alongside fellow Limpopo contestant Lesego, he was eliminated from the competition.
In his parting words, Mahlatse raved about the opportunity to be part of the biggest cooking show on television. He also made a confession: Zola Nene has long been his role model, and simply being in her presence was a dream come true.
While the news wasn’t great for Mahlatse, Jeshen excelled again, with the judges raving about his brûléed rice pudding with raspberry coulis – a dish inspired by his mother’s cooking. With this win, he secured a hat-trick, despite another bout of self-doubt, as seen in his previous two victories. Guest judge Zanele commented that Jeshen’s rice pudding was like “fairies on her tongue” and that she wanted the recipe.
Next week, the remaining contestants will take on the challenge of reinventing popular street food rooted in township culture. Get set for sensational kotas!
MasterChef South Africa Season 6 airs in its new home on e.tv on Sundays at 18:00, with simultaneous streaming on eVOD Live TV. Episodes are rebroadcast on Saturdays at 17:00, with additional rebroadcasts on eExtra on Saturdays at 20:30 and eReality on Sundays at 17:00.
The series is produced by the multiple-award-winning production company Homebrew Films for Primedia Studios.