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.
Born in New Delhi, Depinder Chhibber moved to Newcastle at the age of 11. Now based in Sydney, she still considers herself a Novocastrian, but her heart and soul remains in India.
Highly influenced by the women in her family, Depinder grew up watching her grandmother, mum and aunties cook, fascinating and inspiring her to cook from a very young age. This involvement has nurtured her style of cooking, learning many traditional recipes from her mother and her passion to cook from her father.
Her biggest supporter is her husband Gurkirat, who she married in 2018. Together they’ve had the opportunity to travel Australia and the world, bonding over good meals and new scenery, with dining experiences often dictating destinations.
Having followed in her father’s footsteps to become a pharmacist and currently studying for her Masters, Depinder enjoys her career. However, cooking is a passion that she can’t ignore, with much of her free time spent reading recipes and daydreaming about cooking experiments.
Depinder is inspired by Indian and South East Asian flavours. As a self-taught baker, she adores cooking pastry and desserts.
Counting Gordon Ramsay, Donna Hay, Kirsten Tibballs, Kunal Kapur and Gaggan Anand among her kitchen idols, it’s clear Depinder has taken inspiration from each of them.
This unflappable cook hopes her time in the MasterChef kitchen will make Indian food more accessible, with her ultimate dream to write a recipe book showcasing Indian fusion cuisine.
Depindar is so talented and can make varity of dishes but has to leave too early. But Kishwa always make same Bengali curry no innovation and still in the competition.
I know what u mean as i sId to my girls if they have to cook different dish not curry kishwa will be out, at leash Depindar can do anything else aside c
From curry