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The winner of MasterChef Australia’s season 10 in 2018, Sashi Cheliah is a Singapore-born cooking enthusiast who moved to Adelaide in 2012. He signed up for MasterChef after seeing a Facebook post. After winning, he launched a pop-up restaurant called Gaja by Sashi in Melbourne and Adelaide, which specialised in Singaporean and Indian food. Cheliah is best known for his fusion dishes, which he executes with flair. While on the show, he wowed both judges and audiences with dishes like fish curry with cumin rice, sambal prawn with crispy prawn heads and herb salad and Malaysian pineapple tart with lime ice cream.
He returned to compete in MasterChef Australia: Fans & Favourites. For those who are fans, here are five tempting dishes the chef made in season 14:
Fish sandwich with chilli jam and pickled shallots, with coconut rice
Sashi recreated a thousand-year-old recipe which consisted of a spicy fish sandwich deep-fried in onion-flavoured oil. It was served with flavoursome chilli jam and a bowl of coconut rice that added a wholesome touch to the meal. Pickled shallots were served on the side for a different texture.
Chicken curry with roti
Cheliah’s chicken curry can transport the most stern of cooks back to their mothers’ kitchens. With piquant tomato and aromatic spices, this chicken curry was quick and easy, and served with a roti that’s different from what most of us are used to. The combination is unbeatable and worth trying in your own kitchen.
Crab and turmeric broth, pickled papaya and kohlrabi, grilled maryland
This good-looking dish was made by dousing poached crab meat reduced in turmeric broth in buttery chicken stock. The dish was then topped with pickled papaya and kohlrabi. Cheliah’s presentation added some charm to an otherwise simple dish, which is flavourful and very healthy.
Eggplant curry with cumin rice
With this dish, Cheliah gave the humble eggplant a gourmet upgrade. He made a tasty kathirikai, which is a spicy curry from Tamil Nadu. The dish had been a bestseller at his restaurant, and he served it with cumin rice and coriander chutney. One of the judges described it as “massive punches thrown in from individual garnishings”.
Pork and apple red curry with parsnip chips
Another good-looking dish, Cheliah’s pork and apple red curry was an amalgamation of sweet, sour and spicy flavours. For this dish, the pork is slow-cooked along with apple and fragrant spices. Parsnip chips worked well as a topping and added a different flavour and textural dimension.
