On a day when the judges sampled amazing dishes across the board, it was Depinder’s inability to hero indigenous ingredients that saw her farewell the competition.
Depinder, Tommy, Kishwar and Pete arrived at beautiful Simpson’s Gap in the Northern Territory. They were welcomed by the Arrernte people, traditional custodians of the land who conducted a smoking ceremony to keep the contestants safe and let the land guide them.
Melissa welcomed Rayleen Brown, an expert with a wealth of knowledge in indigenous ingredients. Rayleen presented various native ingredients that she had foraged, and the contestants had 75 minutes to cook a dish that featured one or more of these ingredients.
Kishwar cooked Aussie chicken hariali kebabs, wattleseed naans and bush tomato quandong chutney and Rayleen said she had done all the ingredients justice, and that there was a beautiful taste of the dessert.
Pete’s grilled kangaroo with various indigenous ingredients was a big hit. Jock was impressed that Pete had featured so many indigenous flavours.
Tommy was emotional at the conclusion of the cook, thinking of his young son Miles. He was worried about his dish but Andy said his kangaroo tartare with smoked egg yolk completely hit the brief.
Depinder was out of her comfort zone and nervous to present her Italian style tomato salad with a tomato gazpacho and warrigal greens damper. Andy said it was delicious but questioned whether the indigenous ingredients were at the forefront, and it was this that saw her time on MasterChef Australia draw to a close.
