After 20 episodes, MasterChef SA Finalist Kamini Pather, believed by many to win Season 2 of the reality TV show, landed in a Pressure Test for the first time, and experienced what each of her fellow Finalists have sweated through more than once .already

The Finalists were still in Ethiopia, and last night’s episode was filmed at the Yaya Village long distance athletics training centre, especially built at high altitude (2700 meters above sea level) for long distance runners to practice for world events, located 11 km outside of Addis Ababa.

The episode (unusual for Season 2, but the norm for Season 1) had a challenge as well as the Pressure Test in the same episode.  The challenge was making Ethiopian injera flatbread, which is made from teff flour, and the challenge was to make it perfectly round, and to get it out of the pan and onto a grass mat, and then to roll it.  Contestants were provided with the batter and a stove.  Water had been added to the teff flour, allowing it to ferment, which gives the flatbread its sour taste.  It is smooth in texture at the bottom and is patterned on top.  The Finalists thought it seemed too easy a challenge, but they didn’t know that pouring the mixture from the outside inwards of the pan would give them the roundness they were looking for.  Jason Steel was the first Finalist to work this out, most of them burning their fingers in trying to get it out of the pan, or trying to use sticks to get it out, without success.  A number of injera attempts had to be thrown away.  Quickly Ozzy Osman, and the sisters Leandri and Seline van der Wat (talking to her injera as one would with a plant, which worked!) made it into the top four, being saved from the Pressure Test.

The second part of the episode was the Pressure Test, and the three Finalists Kamini, Karen Els, and Tiron Eloff had to prepare a perfect vegetarian dish in 75 minutes for the long distance runners at the Yaya Village, and especially Ethiopia’s two best known athletes Haile Gebrselassie and Joseph Kibur.  The latter emigrated to Canada with his parents and he won the Canadian cross-country championships in 1993.  He went on to co-found NetNation Communications Inc in Canada, which he sold a few years later, using the money in part to invest in establishing Yaya Village in 2011 with Gebrselassie and two other partners.  The pantry was well stocked, and Kamini noted that everything was locally sourced.   Each of the three Finalists had to prepare five portions of his/her dish.   Chef Pete Goffe-Wood said the dishes should be ‘nutritious yet delicious‘.   He expressed concern about the wind picking up and how this could affect their heat sources, but no further mention was made of it.

Kamini appeared angry to be in a Pressure Test for the first time, saying ‘I’m here to win it’!   She decided to focus on her Indian heritage, seeing it being similar to that of Ethiopia, and chose to make a trio of curries, of squash with cashew nuts, spinach, and beans, the latter providing protein and the two former being high in carbohydrates, which Chef Andrew Atkinson said was important, in seeking a balance on the dish.  She said that their Pressure Test was like a long-distance race, all three of them being on the run!  She expressed concern about what the other two Finalists were doing, and Chef Benny Masekwameng advised her to concentrate on what she was preparing instead of worrying about the other two.  She said that her family would ridicule her if she was eliminated on the basis of a curry dish.  Joseph praised her dish for its ‘flavour explosion‘, even though the creativity was not visible, and the spinach was a little too strong.  Haile said it had an excellent taste, and it was so delicious that he asked if he could finish his plate before leaving!

Karen seemed a little jealous of Kamini and Tiron for having had a MasterClass in the Jemma Valley, which included a traditional Ethiopian vegetarian dish Shiro, which she did not have the privilege of experiencing.  She made a bean stew, and Chef Pete was worried if it would be cooked soft enough.  She brought the Ethiopian colours of green, red, and yellow into her dish.  She wanted to top her dish with a dumpling, but was not happy with the final result, so replaced it with a chickpea crostini.   While she was preparing the dish she was thinking of her husband, who is also an athlete.  Twitter viewers were horrified that Karen tasted her dish and then used the same spoon to stir the dish, given that she was serving it to the judges and the guests!  Chef Andrew said her dish had a good combination of ingredients, but the sweetness in the dish was ‘out of place‘, and that the beans had not been cooked through enough.  Haile liked the dish, saying ‘what you see, you eat and taste‘, and he felt that the dish lacked carbohydrates.  Joseph said it had too many carbohydrates and too little protein for long-distance runners.

Tiron decided to make the dish he had seen on the MasterClass demonstration, being Shiro Wat (vegetarian stew), which he served with injera and salsa.  He had once been a vegetarian, and his late grandmother had been vegetarian for 35 years, so he made the dish in honour of her.  However, his first attempt burnt in the pressure cooker, his second disaster with this cooking method, so he started from scratch with chick peas, almonds and spinach, his Plan B!   The salsa was prepared in the Ethiopian colours.  He said that the pineapple was sweet, its natural fructose sugar being good for the athletes.  Chef Andrew described his dish as colourful.  Joseph said the spinach was a little undercooked, but was a good Ethiopian dish to serve.  Hailie was surprised to be served Shiro, and liked that it was all in one, and for being a ‘wonderful combination‘.  Chef Benny praised it for its ‘sweet sour spicy’ nature.   Chef Pete’s earlier concern that Tiron may be overconfident in having done so well in the last few episodes, with negative consequences, was unfounded.

In the end one could predict that Karen would be sent home due to her dish not having the correct balance, being low on protein.  While she was sad to leave MasterChef SA, she was excited to be able to attend the second birthday party of her child, having been tearful and homesick earlier in the episode.  Chef Benny said that ‘the world is yours to take’.  She was also praised for having come out of her shell, and that she was living her dream.  Some of her fellow Finalists cried too, calling her the ‘mother of the house‘.   Episode 21 was the last to be filmed in Ethiopia, and a restaurant in Chinatown in Johannesburg will be the scene for tonight’s episode, with Chef Pete becoming very angry with the Finalists, the preview showed last night.

For an overview of what is lying ahead for the rest of Season 2 read here. For behind the scenes information on the filming of Season 2 in January read here.  For an overview of episode 1 of Season 2 read here. For an overview of episode 2 of Season 2 read here, for episode 3 read here, for episode 4 here, episode 5 here,  episode 6 here,  episode 7,  episode 8, episode 9, and episode 10,  episode 11,  episode 12,  episode 13,  episode 14, episode 15, episode 16, episode 17, episode 18,  episode 19, and episode 20 read here.  Enter our competition to predict which Finalist will win MasterChef SA Season 2.

MasterChef SA, Season 2. Tuesdays and Wednesdays 19h30 – 20h30.  www.masterchefsa.dstv.co  Twitter: @MasterChef_SA.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage