Original subtitles

ANNOUNCER: Previously on MasterChef Australia...

They went head-to-head

in an immunity cook off for the ages.

LAURA: The battle is on. She's going down.

She doesn't know it yet, but she's going down.

I thought we were friends!

(BOTH LAUGH)

And the winners battled it out...

(GRUNTS)

..to produce pressure test-worthy masterpieces.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow!

With spectacular wins...

Whoa!

..for Depinder and Callum.

SOFIA: Oh! Get out!

(JUDGES LAUGH HAPPILY) Then...

Dough Fest!

..Dough Fest delivered.

THEO: Oh, my God! Dough Fest! How good!

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: This bread is perfect.

SOFIA: It is so soft and pillowy.

ANDY: That is so good.

So good.

And the turquoise team won immunity from tonight's elimination.

AUDRA: Two, four, six, eight, nine.

BEAU: Nine? Not bad odds.

I'm actually quite looking forward to cooking today

and doing my thing.

Me, too. Every day's a bonus now. I know, right?

Yeah.

Black apron, elimination.

I hate it, and I love it.

It's a chance to really push yourself.

I get the best out of myself when there's pressure.

The reward is really big if you get through.

Thank you.

But also, I don't want to go home.

(APPLAUSE)

One, two, three, four benches. Four benches!

Interesting.

They're all counting to four.

Definitely two rounds.

Morning, all.

CONTESTANTS: Morning.

You are gonna need a lot of energy today

because this elimination is stretching across two monster rounds.

Declan. Morning, mate.

You're looking good. Oh! Stop it!

The blinds in your room, they're gone.

(LAUGHTER)

Are you excited to have a day off, mate, or what?

Yeah. Any opportunity to get a day off,

but looking forward to cheering these guys on today.

Snez, you've been in the most eliminations

out of everyone here today.

Really? Yeah.

Even Audra?

Do you think the more you're in, the easier it gets?

I think more you're in,

the more comfortable you get in this kitchen

and, you know, the more you cook and produce some good dishes,

you kind of start believing in yourself.

So I'm hoping I stay positive afterward.

Was I really in the most eliminations?

I'm afraid you have been, but you're still here.

Yeah! Still here.

Means you're a survivor. Yeah.

Theo, where is your head at today?

My head's good.

I got up this morning, saw the sunrise.

I'm excited to get to the next step. I don't want to go home yet, so...

Righto, let's get into it.

What better way to do that than with a very special guest?

Oh!

He left the corporate world to chase his food dreams in 2010

and hasn't looked back since.

Today, he's one of the most groundbreaking Malaysian chefs

in the country.

I know who he is.

Whether it's street food or fine dining,

this chef can do it all.

Please welcome from Ho Jiak...

Whoo! ..it's Junda Khoo.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

AUDRA: Junda Khoo.

What he brings to Malaysian cuisine, to Australia, is so refreshing.

Excellent.

I'm from Singapore, but there's so much similarity,

and he's actually shared with everybody the complexities

of how these dishes are made.

It's bomb. Yeah?

In winter, they do this truffle mi goreng.

Girl! Hell yes. Yum.

AUDRA: I'm guessing underneath that cloche

is something that I will be familiar with.

POH: Junda. Yes.

I see you come bearing gifts.

I do.

Can I tell you what it is now? No, no, no.

(ALL LAUGH)

We'll get to that in a moment.

So, as someone who was sent here

by their parents to get a good education...

..how did you manage that whole situation of, like,

essentially hugely disappointing your parents?

I'm not a doctor, let's just put it that way.

I was, I think, 24

and I just said, "You know what, Dad? Let me try this."

It was actually MasterChef that made me decide

to, uh, leave the banking industry and pursue my passion in cooking.

2009, my final year of uni, the first MasterChef,

I was watching it, every single episode,

because a fellow Malaysian came runner-up that season.

That was you.

And the second season,

another fellow Malaysian actually went and won it.

He goes by the name of Adam Liaw.

And that was pretty much when this whole MasterChef program

incepted the idea into my head that,

you know, cooks can actually become great chefs, too.

Listening to Junda's story, it's really inspiring.

He's shifted out of the finance world

and he's followed his passion, and that's what I want to do.

I want to move out of the world that I'm in now,

and it's exactly why I'm in this competition.

Right, Junda,

obviously you've brought something with you today.

Yep, I did.

Is it finally time? It's time.

OK. Alright, guys.

This is my...

..laksa bombs.

Ooh!

Yum!

It's pretty much a ball of laksa in a dumpling.

Laksa. Yummy!

Laksa bomb dumplings. That's right up my alley.

South-East Asian food.

I can't imagine, like, the explosion of flavour in your mouth

when you bite into one of those dumplings.

Now, I bet you guys are itching to taste this.

Well, you're in luck. Ooh!

What?

Because round one is a taste test.

Each of you will be given your own bowl of laksa

with three bombs inside.

One by one, you'll taste Junda's dish

and take it in turns to guess the ingredients within.

There are more than 40 ingredients in that bowl.

You heard that right.

40.

The first four cooks to guess an ingredient incorrectly

will be cooking in round two,

where someone will be eliminated.

Now we're going to get you into guessing order,

so grab a token from the bag.

I do make laksa at home.

I like to cheat through my laksa.

I buy a red Thai curry paste and take it from there.

ANDY: OK. You've each got a complete dish behind you

for you to taste before your guess.

You can move behind your plinths now.

Andre,

you're first up.

Mm. I'm tasting salt.

(ALL LAUGH)

Yes, Andre. Salt is correct.

Brilliant. Alright, Beau-y, it's your turn.

BEAU: This dish smells amazing, but tastes even better.

It's got so much flavour in there.

And it is a different take on laksa.

But to me, there's some real obvious ingredients

in a lot of South-East Asian dishes.

Coconut milk.

Coconut milk is correct.

Good job. Thank you.

Alana, you can taste your dish now.

Bean shoots.

Bean shoots are correct. Yes!

JAMIE: I'm definitely more nervous

about having to cook in the second round

against only three other people.

Um, oil.

You are correct.

Every time I've cooked for my spot in this competition so far,

there's always been eight, nine, 10, 11 people.

Garlic. Garlic is correct.

OK.

My strategy going into this taste test

is just say what you see.

Crispy shallot.

Fried shallots are in this dish.

I'm hoping that my knowledge is enough to get me through.

I really don't want to be cooking in that second round.

Dried shrimp.

Audra...

..dried shrimp is correct.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Ben, it's your turn.

I'm trying to look if I can see ingredients.

There's this beautiful aroma.

It's just extraordinary

how much flavour has gone into this dish.

Wow. That's good.

I'm gonna say chilli.

Chilli is correct.

I pick up a little bit of greenery that I see.

I put it in my mouth.

What are you thinking, mate?

Um...

Mint.

Theo...

..mint is correct.

Hopefully it doesn't come around to me again.

That's one complete round of guessing.

We're moving on to round two.

Lemongrass.

Correct. Ah. (LAUGHS)

There's so many ingredients.

You've got to make the actual paste,

which is where you use the lemongrass, the shrimp paste.

Shrimp paste. And that's correct.

Thank you.

I'm going to go water. And that's correct.

Thank you. You've got to make these dumplings.

So I'll go for flour.

Flour is correct.

Samira, it's your turn.

I'm feeling really confident at this point.

Um...shallots?

Is that what we call them? The little red onions? Yeah.

Fresh, not fried.

Every recipe I've ever seen in the past,

they've always used shallots.

Samira...

..there's only fried shallots,

not fresh shallots in this dish.

OK. I'm sorry, Samira.

Your answer is incorrect.

I am really frustrated right now.

I still have at least another five, six ingredients

I could mention.

Jamie, it's your turn to guess.

JAMIE: At the end of cooking nearly all South-East Asian cuisine,

you balance it out using generally three things.

Sugar, probably in there.

We'll leave that for next time in case someone doesn't think of it.

Lime, probably in there.

We'll leave that for next time

because someone might not think of it.

The last one that I think is probably the first thing

on a lot of people's minds,

'cause you can actually taste this

intense umami fishiness...

I'm gonna go fish sauce.

It's got to be there, right?

Jamie...

..I'm sorry, there's no fish sauce in this dish.

Oh...

Bad luck, mate. Whoa!

Jamie, of all people.

I mean, I think Jamie's got such a strong palate as well.

And he's so familiar with South-East Asian flavours.

I could potentially get it wrong, too.

As you can see, it's getting harder.

Audra, it's your guess.

It's killing me to have to dissect the dumplings

and analyse it to the T,

when all I really want to do

is just eat those dumplings and enjoy it.

Because this is Junda's special,

you have no idea what other elements

he's packed into that dumpling.

I'm not sure.

What could he have put into that dumpling next?

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Audra, we need your guess, please.

Junda's pulled this together so incredibly well.

Laksa in a dumpling, I mean, beautiful.

But the first four that gets it wrong

will go into round two.

Audra, we need a guess, please.

I'm gonna go, um...

..laksa leaves. Vietnamese...Vietnamese mint.

Audra, laksa mint,

also known as Vietnamese mint,

is correct.

There are apparently 40 ingredients in it.

Uh, chicken? Chicken is correct.

Theo, it's time for your guess.

Galangal. Correct.

Round three.

Nearly halfway through the ingredients.

Lime. Correct.

We're all, like, quite well-rounded cooks and chefs.

Ginger. Ginger is correct.

But it's getting intense now.

Coriander.

You are correct. Thank you.

Cumin. Snez...

..cumin is in this dish.

So you are correct.

I'm sitting up here,

I can't believe how many's inside.

Audra, it's your guess.

AUDRA: Round three,

it's really getting harder to identify the ingredients.

All the obvious ones are gone.

But one that no one has said anything about...

It's all in the colour of the broth.

I'm going with turmeric.

Turmeric is correct.

Got a feeling that was what you were going to go with, Ben?

One of them. One of the one.

Sorry. That's alright.

Ben...

..it's time for your guess.

I'm going to say rice noodles.

Rice noodles is correct.

Oh, Jesus.

I've guessed correctly twice. I just need to hold tight now.

I'm tasting the sambal on top.

I know that tamarind goes into a lot of sambals,

but it's hard to taste now.

Everything's hot,

it's quite spicy,

and there's not many ingredients left.

I'm going to take a strategic guess.

Tamarind.

Theo...

..tamarind is incorrect.

(SIGHS) Damn.

You'll be cooking in round two alongside Jamie and Samira.

(GRUNTS) Can't believe it.

Ah, I'm devastated.

Like, I do not want to go home. This is so hard.

There's only gonna be four of us in this elimination now,

and the odds are against me, so, yeah, it's scary.

We're in the fourth round of guessing,

and we're looking for one more spot in round two.

Sugar.

And that is correct. (LAUGHS)

SOFIA: You're up, Beau.

I have a great palate.

I think that's what's helped me in this competition.

And I'm feeling pretty confident

'cause I've still got quite a few solid ones in my bank.

Chicken stock.

Beau, unfortunately...

..chicken stock is incorrect.

So, unfortunately,

you will be cooking in round two next to Theo, Jamie and Samira.

Sorry, mate. Roger that.

It's a tough one 'cause you are facing elimination.

This is my first time in the bottom four.

Disappointing.

But, you know, I need to deal with it

and cook my heart out in the next round.

Samira, Jamie, Theo and Beau,

your place in this competition

now comes down to what you cook in this round.

You need to bring us your own flavourful dish

using any of the ingredients in Junda's laksa bomb.

We're giving you 75 minutes.

The dish that impresses us the least

will mean the end of the road for one of you.

We know that this is getting harder and harder

in every single challenge,

but think outside the box.

Clear that head.

You saw what Junda was capable of doing with these ingredients.

Now it's up to you

to create something absolutely dynamite.

There's plenty of good stuff to play with.

It's your time to shine.

Junda, do you want to kick them off?

Guys, your time starts now. Come on.

WOMAN: Yes! Go, guys!

Like a ginormous mystery box. It is.

THEO: This challenge,

there's a lot of flavours that I can use.

I see some flour up there.

Yeah, really nice choice of ingredients, Theo.

Thank you very much.

Junda's really inspire me

to make something amazing from his culture,

but also with my passion, with bread.

LAURA: What are you making, Theo?

Ah, it's called, um, murtabak...murtabak.

Oh, yes!

Murtabak, it's a traditional Malaysian dish,

like a spanakopita-type vibe,

where it's a folded sort of dough and it's got a beautiful filling,

and you've got a dipping sauce.

A bit stressed out because it's the second round,

but I'm really excited to be cooking for Junda

because he's made the career change that I want to make,

from being in a different industry to being a chef.

I want to make my move from the trade world

into being a baker.

So this just lends itself so well to me.

Hopefully I can impress him as he impressed me.

Junda, so good to have you here. Thank you.

What are you hoping to see?

Seeing whether they can actually use as many of the ingredients.

They're all different, right, if you see a whole range.

I feel like there's a lot to work with here.

Huge. Eight or 10 different spices.

You can easily make a curry paste or a laksa paste,

or even a sambal paste

where you could just grill the prawns.

Jean-Christophe, like, it's not screaming French,

but what would you kind of do

if you found yourself in round two with this pantry?

Funnily enough, I was thinking of doing a pot-au-feu,

but instead of using the ingredients for pot-au-feu,

I would be using coconut initially.

There is so much. We're talking about 40 other ingredients.

Yeah. SOFIA: Yeah.

Easy. The big, like, elephant in the room

that is not here is the fish sauce. Yeah.

Like, I think everyone thought that there would be fish sauce.

It's going to be interesting to see where they go

and then where they end up.

Can you chuck me some ginger? Yeah, mate. What do you need?

Yeah. Just one. Thanks.

LAURA: Jamie, you've got tongs in your basket you could use.

Just saying. It's alright. Thank you, though.

What are you making? Khao soi.

Ooh, nice.

Northern Thai coconut curry,

beautiful broth,

lots of roasty flavours.

Egg noodles. Crunchy egg noodles.

Yum. You know, I think khao soi,

for those of us that know it, really do love it.

Um, so with the ingredients that we've got on offer...

My strategy today is to really showcase South-East Asian cuisine.

But even though this isn't the first time I've made khao soi,

there are key ingredients missing.

And when it's a dish that people know really well...

..expectations go up.

Jamie. Hello.

Hey, mate. How are you? Hello. How are you?

Looks very Asian on this bench. Absolutely.

Um, I'm doing a little play on khao soi.

Ah-ha! It's my favourite.

That beautiful warming spice from being so far to the north.

Yep, yep.

We don't have every ingredient that I need.

All... So much of South-East Asian,

it's just about getting all the...all that balance.

Yeah. I'd love some fish sauce.

But I'm going to roast off a little bit of belacan,

mix that with a little bit of water. Yep.

Try and get some of that fish-sauce reminiscence.

I guess it's a different kind of saltiness.

Alright. Good luck, Jamie. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Good luck.

The one thing that is probably going

to be ideal to balancing this dish is fish sauce.

I brought it up first.

Maybe I shouldn't have.

If it doesn't taste the way it's supposed to...

..I'm going home.

OK, guys, one hour to go!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

BEN: Go, Samira!

Round two challenge - we need to create our own dish

using the ingredients that are in Junda's laksa bomb.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Tiger prawns.

What about a kebab with the lemongrass?

Ooh!

Yeah. On the hibachi.

Yes.

SAMIRA: Big difference between Middle Eastern food

and Malaysian food.

Malaysian food uses lots of aromatics

that are really strong and powerful.

Like, you've got their lemongrass, their star-anise.

We use a lot of spices, yes, but lots of vegetables,

lots of rice.

I'm just going to have to focus on what's in front of me.

I love to create recipes.

Samira. Hello.

Are you going with your heritage... No.

..or are you leaning into the South-East Asian?

I'm going with Turkish instead. Yeah? Amazing.

So, not even my own heritage, You know kofta?

Yes. Yes?

So it's a Turkish version.

It's made out of chicken, herbs and spices.

Yep. So, I'm going to lightly pan-fry that.

And then, we're going to be rolling them out

in the eggplant and then barbecuing it.

So you've got quite a few ingredients missing.

Ah, I'm missing rice, I'm missing yeast,

I'm missing olive oil... I knew you'd be missing the rice.

..butter, ghee. I wish you the best of luck.

(LAUGHS)

I don't like to cook by the books.

I don't follow recipes. I like to just freestyle.

Kofta - traditionally, it's made with red meat,

parsley and onion.

Today, I'm using chicken.

The Turkish version has caul fat,

the fat that sits around the stomach area.

It protects the food

but then pretty much disappears as you barbecue it.

But there's no caul fat, so...

Only thing I'm worried about the chicken is

that it becomes a bit too dry.

So that's why I mixed thighs plus breast together

to help keep it moist.

I'll be using all the spices available.

Lots of aromats and flavours.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Good flavours.

When I'm doing large serving sizes,

I like to have rice as my base, or breads.

With these ingredients, I could make bread,

but to be honest,

I don't want to go in this crazy frame of trying

to do too much in such little time.

Let's go with...

DEPINDER: Way to go, Beau-zy! What are you making, Beau?

Lemongrass chicken skewers on the hibachi.

Beautiful. A little bit of a sauce.

Roti. Fresh herbs. Yeah.

Nice. Yep.

This is a big dish to do in 75 minutes.

I mean, roti bread,

you probably want it to rest a little bit longer,

but hopefully it's still good.

I love anything on a skewer, to be honest,

and lemongrass chicken is one of those things.

I'd normally do it with beef...

..but I'm going to get a lot of flavour in this dish

by using as many spices as I can.

I'm very confident with Asian flavours.

I do understand how to balance different spices

and different elements,

so I think the judges might underestimate me

on this next round.

Beau-eee! Hello.

OK, so I've got some roti bread. JUNDA: Nice.

I can see. That's gonna be the carb.

Yeah. I'm going to do some, like, lemongrass chicken satay.

Yeah. Ooh.

And then I'll make, like, a spicy coconut...a thicker sauce.

Satay sauce? Almost like a peanut sauce,

but without the peanuts.

What are you thinking in terms of the base of the sauce?

Because if you don't have peanuts

to thicken it and give it that richness...

So I'm going to try and use a lot of onion and ginger,

and then I'll use some candlenuts to just thicken it up a little bit.

Junda, would you...would you make a satay sauce without peanuts?

Ah, yes.

He actually gave away the answer.

Candlenuts?

Can't say, right?

(ALL LAUGH)

It's a tough one 'cause you are facing elimination.

And no peanuts on the table,

and I'm making a satay sauce with candlenuts.

It is obvious to me because satay just relates

to, um, meat cooked on a stick.

Candlenuts are something that a lot of people aren't familiar with.

Candlenuts are not used in Australian cooking at all.

Our equivalent would be macadamia,

but it's still very different.

So, I think it's a chance for me to showcase it.

I do actually know a little bit about Asian food.

There is no time to 're-laksa'!

(LAUGHS)

40 minutes to go!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

Very clever.

Very clever. (LAUGHS)

With this abundance of ingredients,

I'm making khao soi -

coconut curry with chicken from the north of Thailand.

Yeah, yum. DECLAN: Nice.

My curry paste is now done.

That's going to be added into some broken coconut cream,

the basis for our curry broth.

It's all about braising this chicken

as slowly as we can to make sure all that flavour penetrates.

But I know in the back of my mind that I'm going to have

to balance this broth at the end...

..without using fish sauce.

Belacan is a fermented shrimp paste

that goes into a lot of South-East Asian cooking.

It's really earthy and rich and umami.

I'm making up this belacan and water mix to substitute.

It's just a little bit more intense than fish sauce,

so I'm not quite sure if that's going to work.

Yeah.

It's just concentrating on making sure the flavours are rich

and robust, and cooking myself out of this elimination.

DEPINDER: How are you going, Theo? Yeah, good.

Dough boy, he's back. Oh, I love that.

The dish I'm making is chicken murtabak.

This is a Malaysian dish.

Beautiful minced chicken filling with loads of aromats,

loads of spices.

It's encapsulated in a flaky dough.

And then you've got this incredible sambal to go with it.

Chilli, ginger, it's got garlic, it's punchy.

I'm inspired by Junda. I want the bakery.

I'm bringing in some bread in this cook.

Theo! Hello.

How are you going? It's a pleasure to meet you, Junda.

Uh, I've just been inspired by your story.

I want to change careers into the culinary world.

Beautiful.

So is that some belacan?

Yeah, it is. Whoa.

So that's going to be added to my sambal.

Yeah. Um, I'm making mur...murtabak.

BOTH: Ooh!

Motorbike? You're making a motorbike?

How do I say it? No.

Murtabak. Murtabak.

Murtabak.

So in a murtabak, obviously, first thing is flavour, right?

Then you have balance. You've got...you've got acidity.

You've got herbs to freshen it up.

But what I really like in a murtabak

is the different textures.

Bread is crispy.

Your chicken is like different sizes, different chunks.

Yeah.

How many murtabak have you eaten in your life?

Oh, no, don't tell me this! Oh, so many, so many.

Thousands of murtabak.

How many have you eaten, Theo?

Two or three, maybe. Yeah?

Yeah, yeah. So, Theo,

you are making a Malaysian dish...

..for one of Australia's best Malaysian chefs.

That is a very big risk and a statement.

Junda's had thousands of murtabak in his life.

I am second-guessing my dish now.

I don't cook Malaysian food, pretty much ever.

The flood of anxiety and, like, you could be going home,

1 in 4 chance -

what am I doing?

We've given you plenty of ingredients,

but you've only got 23 minutes to go!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

AUDRA: Go, Samira!

Jamie, just keep rolling.

Whoa! There is some good stuff going on.

Like, this is fierce, this second-round cook.

Theo is going the murtabak. Yes.

And I would fear making it for this gentleman over here.

Oh, my gosh.

How many murtabaks have you had in your life?

Easily thousands. Easily, right? (OTHERS LAUGH)

When we were younger, that wasn't like a full meal.

That used to be a snack.

You still have your lunch and your dinner.

Yeah. So that's why we've had so much. What makes a perfect one?

If it's simple, flakiness in the bread...

Yeah, yeah.

..and texture in the stuffing inside.

And of course, it's the spices, right?

Yes. Whether they got it right,

whether you got a balance where you can just taste it.

So, Samira is doing a kind of Middle Eastern skewer,

a bit of a take on an Adana kebab,

but she's using chicken thigh,

and then she's wrapping it in eggplant.

Chicken mince is known for being extremely lean, you know?

So I'm a little bit worried that we could

get some overcooked and dry chicken on the inside.

It's, like, Turkish food...

ANDY AND JUNDA: ..with Malaysian ingredients.

SOFIA AND JUNDA: Yeah. How's this gonna go?

LAURA: Come on, Jamie.

Jamie's making a khao soi for us today,

and he's obviously missing fish sauce.

Where could he possibly get, you know, like, the saltiness

and the funk from?

ANDY: It's ironic because, like, obviously, he went out thinking

there was fish sauce in your dish,

and now he's gone to a dish that is synonymous

for having fish sauce in it.

Beau-y down the front, he's doing a satay sauce.

Obviously, he wishes that he had peanuts on there,

but he's substituting candlenuts in.

Yeah, so that sauce better be bangin'. Yeah.

Right now, I can see him pressing out roti.

Oh. JUNDA: Ooh!

AUDRA: Come on, flip it, babe. Flip it.

This is where I fall apart, eh.

Do you know what I mean by 'make the bed'?

Like, you kind of, like, trap a bit of air under it.

Like, do you want a hospital corner, as well?

(OTHERS LAUGH)

ALANA: Hey, you should get Junda to show you how.

Oh, yeah! Do you want to show me?

Demo!

I'm not sure if it's stretchy enough.

(CHEERING, LAUGHTER)

It's a bit too soft, but... Yeah.

(EXCLAIMING)

So then, when you stretch it all out, it's a bit too soft.

And then once you've done that...

I'm gonna have to try it on my day off, eh?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Today's not the day.

I'm in an elimination.

I've got the king and queen of roti in front of me.

Um... (LAUGHS) ..I'm stressing out.

I know how to do this, I'm confident,

but I know they've got better techniques than me.

I'm going to stick to my tried and tested method

of just stretching the dough out by hand, inching it out,

and then cutting off any thick bits.

It needs to be tissue-thin.

This is, like, super pressure.

DECLAN: Come on, Beau!

Go, give him some love. Go, Beau! Woo!

(BOTH LAUGH)

SNEZ: Come on, Theo!

THEO: It's a massive risk, serving up murtabak,

the traditional Malaysian dish, to Junda.

But all the ingredients up there are what you put in this dish,

so it's perfect.

It's a folded dough.

Beautiful filling.

Nice, Theo. A bit of fat in there as well.

I've decided not to change anything.

I need to cook my chicken

and start filling these little parcels.

It's, like, a coarse grind of chicken,

keeping some skin on so it doesn't dry out.

I'm cooking this chicken loaded with aromats and spices.

Beautiful.

JUNDA: Oo-ah!

It smells good. Smells like my grandma's kitchen.

Yeah, that's what I want! Yummy, yummo!

That's what I want.

LAURA: Come on, Theo. Let's go.

Mmm.

That's good.

I just want to say to Junda, "I'm a huge fan."

Right?

"And I love your truffle mi goreng." Just tell him.

Junda. SNEZ: Junda!

Junda, you have a big... You've got a big fan.

She loves you.

I went to Ho Jiak almost every week when I was pregnant.

Like, literally, every single week.

I know the menu off by heart.

SAMIRA: I was just praying there was an ingredient

that I mysteriously had missing. Maybe yoghurt.

A kofta is a mother's best friend

because it is the easiest thing to cook,

and you can get it ready within 15 minutes.

I've cooked my chicken patties 90% in the pan

to look like a little mini footy,

and then that way I'm able to roll it up into my eggplant.

SNEZ: Go, Samira!

And I'm skewering it, soaking it again in the marinade,

hoping all that moisture from the marinated eggplant

will go into the chicken patty.

And then I'll be finishing it off on the hibachi.

I don't like the colour on it, so that can go on.

SNEZ: I'm a bit worried about Samira.

She's missing a lot of ingredients,

doing a kind of Turkish-inspired dish.

But I'm also concerned

because she fried her chicken a lot before she wrapped it,

and then she's charring it again.

Could be charred too much.

Just a little bit overcooked, but I don't know.

It might not be.

I'm not sure.

You don't want to be bottom dish!

10 minutes to go!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

THEO: 10 minutes left - I'm cutting it fine,

but there's enough time to fry up these perfect murtabak.

LAURA: Ah, making the sign of the cross. Beautiful, beautiful.

Please help me. Please.

Yeah. Nice, Theo.

That's good.

The filling tastes bangin'.

Like, there's so much flavour in there.

Oof! Almost blew my head off, this sambal, but it's beautiful.

Hell, yeah.

I think the only thing missing from this dish now

is a little bit of freshness.

This dish needs lime dipping sauce to get that acidity.

If it's not perfect, he's going to know.

SAMIRA: For my barbecued eggplant-chicken kofta,

I've got my skewers marinated.

I have eggplants to make an eggplant dip

underneath the skewers,

something similar to a mutabal,

which is pretty much a chopped, roasted eggplant.

I'm just freestyling right now, so to be honest,

I've never made this whole dish before.

I'm hoping there's enough flavour in here

and that this will come together.

I can't wait to taste your dishes.

Three minutes to go!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) POH: Oh, brilliant!

SOFIA: Someone knows how to yell in the kitchen.

BEAU: Putting my chicken skewers on the plate with the satay sauce,

it is nice and thick with the candlenuts in there,

so I kind of want to almost glaze it over the top.

They look juicy and tasty. Yeah, they do.

I did my first two rotis, and I'm happy with them.

But I've got more time, and I think I can make some more with finesse,

a little bit thinner on some of the edges,

maybe season it a little bit more.

I need to make the best roti I've ever made,

and I'm actually excited to serve them

to the king and queen of roti.

JAMIE: Plating up my khao soi.

There's always some crunchy noodles on the top

to add that textural difference,

and then some noodles at the base.

I'm happy with the noodles.

All of the condiments -

the pickled mustard greens that add some beautiful sourness,

the freshness of some fresh red shallots,

and this roasted chilli that is just full of flavour.

I'm happy with the cook on the chicken.

The last thing I need to do

is make sure that that curry broth is balanced.

All of a sudden I'm starting to second-guess myself.

Does it need to be sweeter? Does it need to be more sour?

Is this going to work with the rest of my dish?

This cook's going out with a bang in 10...

JUDGES AND GANTRY: Nine, eight,

seven, six, five,

four, three, two,

one!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(WHOOPING)

Well done. Well done, mate.

Good work.

Come on, guys. Oh, that was good.

Good connection.

SAMIRA: I have gone all out in flavour.

I hope the chicken is still moist.

The eggplant is fully marinated and tasting delicious.

And especially for an elimination.

So, am I paranoid right now? Possibly, yes.

Junda, what a great challenge.

And I think the thing about your dish,

there were just so many ingredients packed in.

You can do so many things with all that kind of ingredients.

You can come up with so many different cuisines as well,

so can't wait to taste.

THEO: I've made a murtabak

for someone who knows murtabak like the back of his hand.

I'm so nervous to give it to him.

Hello, everyone. Theo.

POH: Hi, Theo. That looks yum.

JUNDA: Wow.

But this dish is 100% a representation of my passion

and why I'm here.

Theo, what have you made?

I've made chicken murtabak.

And why this dish?

Because it's obviously a bread-based dish,

and I want to open a bakery.

And then hearing your story

that you shifted into something that you do...that you love,

it really inspired me.

Why haven't you opened the bakery yet?

That's a great question. Um, and I don't know, really,

when I ask myself deep down and go, "Why haven't you done it yet?"

I think what I'm scared of

is that I'll get into it and I'll hate it.

Yeah.

Where am I then?

There's always doubt, right? Mm.

But I think if you actually get into your passion

and you love it so much,

you never, ever have to work another day in your life.

Yeah, yeah. Right?

You want to scratch that itch

'cause you'll spend the rest of your life regretting it.

Theo, we're going to taste your dish.

Thanks very much. ANDY: Thanks, mate.

See ya.

Yum.

Yeah!

Yeah, those folds and the crisp layers.

ANDY: The colour on that sambal too is, like, inviting!

For someone who eats a lot of murtabaks...

Thousands! Thousands!

..thousands of murtabaks,

I'll be honest, this one's really, really good.

Roti is not meant to be boring. This is not boring at all.

Like, this packs so much flavour.

The sambal gives you a kick, gives you a punch.

I'm already sweating.

The chicken, it's well spiced,

the right amount of lean and fat in it,

the right texture,

and then the crust and the crisps from the bread itself -

this is what Malaysian food is about.

ANDY: The pastry, like, that golden colour on top,

super crispy.

Love the sambal.

He's really hit the balance with the chilli.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: The lime dipping sauce

is just perfect, vibrant.

You can get that freshness.

The dish is super-well completed.

Guys, Theo's made a Malaysian spanakopita.

I think this could be one of the dishes

that people come and order when he opens his bakery.

JAMIE: My biggest concern is that khao soi is all about balance.

Hello. Wow.

Hello, mate. Hello.

I'm proud of what I've put up today.

I think that there's clearly a lot of work that's gone into it.

Why, Jimmy, can you finish your dish, please?

There's a mountain of flavour in that broth.

I hope it's balanced.

I set out to use my intuition.

It failed me in the first round.

I've used it again in the second,

and I'm hoping it's not going to do it again.

So, Jamie... Yes.

What did you make?

This is my play on a traditional khao soi.

Beautiful, rich coconut curry broth, braised chicken,

crispy noodles, egg noodles.

Variations of all the traditional sides.

So why did you go Thai without fish sauce?

Because I think that the richness and boldness

of that roasty flavour that you get from a khao soi

isn't necessarily just based around fish sauce.

I roasted off some belacan,

pressed that through water

to make this sort of funky dressing

that I could then balance out the dish with.

I really hope that I've done enough because I'm back to win.

I feel like you really want to make the most out of this opportunity. Yeah.

And for you, that's winning. Why is that?

To call it quits on something that I love, which was Alba,

my last venue...

..I'm putting probably a lot of pressure on myself

to almost treat this as a way to regain that bit of confidence

that was lost. Mm.

I put my best foot forward every time,

then, you know, who knows what the future's going to hold?

OK, Jamie, thank you very much. We're going to try your dish.

Thank you. Thanks, Jamie. Thank you.

OK, khao soi.

That's a lot of work.

For me, this dish just all comes down to the balance in that curry broth.

For me, the chicken was cooked perfectly.

It carried so much flavour as well.

The broth -

what I loved about it is it had

that beautiful kind of smokiness through it

from him charring those vegetables early.

I feel like he's pushed the limits on the acidity,

but I'm wondering if I'm missing the fish sauce

because I know it's not there.

It's a really tough one.

I'm feeling it misses the fish sauce.

And then what I thought would kind of make up for it

was that chilli number.

I thought he went a bit too far with the toasting in that chilli

and went into bitter territory.

It left this residual bitterness that felt like uncooked spice.

The roasted chilli was definitely roasted

a little bit too much,

but as a curry noodles, I really enjoyed it.

SOFIA: His broth is kind of more like a curry sauce,

and even those beautiful noodles

that he's made have kind of absorbed it.

I think it actually adds to the dish

because it's really, really heavy on those aromatics.

I think there's something to be said about, you know,

if you're missing ingredients, just not to call it that dish...

..because you set us up to be disappointed.

BEAU: Poh and Junda,

they're born and raised Malaysians,

so, for me, this is a big thing, coming from country Victoria,

cooking chicken satay skewers and roti bread with no peanut.

G'day. Hi, Beau. Hey, mate.

I mean, if I can make them happy and they enjoy my dish,

that would just mean the world to me.

Tell us what you made.

So I've made chicken satay with a sweet, sour, salty sauce

and roti bread.

Were you comfortable cooking with these ingredients today

and these flavours?

Yeah, I was. You were?

Ideally, I'd have a few more things that I'm used to using... Yeah.

..like some soy-based sauces and that type of thing to get balance.

Why haven't we seen many Asian dishes from you?

I think it's something I've been waiting

for the right challenge.

I've still got a few in my back pocket.

Is it a case of the longer you're here,

the longer you want to stay?

I think, for me, I didn't think I'd make it this far,

but now that I'm here, I want to go further. Yeah.

And it's kind of a win-win feeling

because I have done better than what I thought.

Top 10 is also not that far away now.

Yeah.

We'll taste it now. Alright. Thank you. Thank you.

I think he's done a really elegant job

of a dish that's quite rustic. Yeah.

JUNDA: Looking from the roti,

very, very good, smart idea to finish it off in the hibachi.

And I really, really can't wait to taste the sauce,

which is replace peanuts with candlenut.

Mm!

Yeah, right on.

I think Beau has pulled a rabbit out of a hat with this one.

I absolutely love it.

The satay sauce - do not miss the peanuts at all.

No. The marinade was really well done.

And the balance is what I'm really impressed with.

It's sweet enough.

People always underestimate

how much seasoning is required in Asian food.

So a fair bit of salt and a fair bit of sugar

because without it, those aromatics just don't knit together.

This was delicious.

I would happily serve that at my restaurant...

Yeah. ..anytime, any day, right.

The sauce was well balanced with the lemongrass,

and the freshness and the lime.

The cook on the chicken was perfect.

With the roti done on charcoal, gives it that char.

You put them all together...

..Ho Jiak! Delicious.

(ALL LAUGH)

Ho Jiak.

This without peanuts is just phenomenal.

I think this is his best dish yet.

I have used laksa ingredients to create a Turkish-inspired dish.

And also a mimic of a kofta.

Hey, Samira. Hello.

Hi, Samira. Ooh!

I have no idea how the judges are going to take this one.

But, creative? I'll give myself a big tick.

Adventurous? I'll give myself another tick.

Whether it keeps me here or not, I hope so.

Samira. What did you cook?

So I've made you chicken wrapped with eggplant.

I have taken inspo from using South-East Asian ingredients,

a Turkish technique.

And I kind of created my own dish.

Right. Talk about the inspiration.

With the Turkish kofta, sometimes they wrap it with caul fat,

and then they barbecue it with eggplant pieces in between.

And I really feel like eating that today.

So I thought I'll change it around

by doing chicken patties in the centre

and trying to keep them as moist as possible and flavoursome,

and then wrap it with the grilled, marinated eggplant.

I am happy with where it ended up.

I would have loved to have put bread,

but I knew I'd be pushing myself.

If this is the end of it, I go home with grace.

Absolutely love that

and we'll taste now. Samira, thank you.

Thank you, I hope you enjoy it. Thank you, Samira.

What do you reckon, guys?

It looks rustic, but inviting.

It all hinges around how that chicken patty is cooked...

Yeah. ..seasoned and the texture of it.

What I love is that roughly chopped eggplant mix to the side,

great smokiness to it.

It's like a baba ghanoush, but with spices and no tahini.

Beautiful fresh herbs folded through there.

What I'm a little bit worried about is this chicken patty situation.

The texture is really weird.

She's used a really fine mincer

and it's quite pasty and it's very lean.

Yeah, she's used a lot of lean meat, minced it way too finely,

and it just becomes very grainy and dry.

Samira actually blended her mixture with a stick blender,

so that's why it's lost that bite.

The idea of the dish actually works, right?

Using Malaysian spices and everything.

But the little simple things again.

When you wrap the meatball with the eggplant,

you cook it over charcoal.

I can't really taste the charred eggplant.

The eggplant is not quite cooked as well.

Put together, to me, it didn't work harmoniously.

To have someone who is a connoisseur of Arabic cooking

and using Malaysian ingredients

to turn out to do something well balanced, quite unique...

I think Samira is an exceptional cook.

I feel like we can kind of

split it down the middle. Yeah.

Two are safe and two are in trouble. Yeah.

We've got a big decision to make.

Junda, it's been really special for me to have you here.

And on behalf of all Malaysians... (ALL LAUGH)

..I want to say thank you so much

for putting Malaysian cuisine on the map in Australia.

And thank you for coming to MasterChef.

Thanks.

I was blown away, guys, to be honest

with what you could have done

with the ingredients that we use in Malaysia.

Putting your spin on it, your creativity on it -

that was exactly what I expected from MasterChef.

Alright. Even though this is an elimination,

we have to give props to one dish

that packed as much punch as Junda's laksa.

In fact...

..Junda said he'd happily serve it at his restaurant.

ALL: Ooh. Wow.

Congratulations...

..Beau!

Thank you.

Well done, buddy.

Make you proud there, Audra?.

Well done, Beau. You're safe. Cheers.

Theo, I've had thousands of murtabak.

And I loved yours.

THEO: Thank you.

I'd like to say this.

It's been a lifelong dream of mine to be on MasterChef.

And here I am today.

So, Theo, dreams do come true.

Go chase them. Thank you, mate, I will.

Theo, you're safe, well done. Thank you.

That obviously leaves Samira and Jamie.

For one of you, your flavours were spot on.

But unfortunately, the chicken let the dish down.

And it's for that reason...

..I'm sorry...

..Samira,

you're going home. Thank you.

No, this is good.

It's my husband's birthday today. (ALL LAUGH)

This will honestly make his night,

knowing I'm back to cook for him. (LAUGHTER)

Samira, we love that you just never give up.

And throughout this competition,

you've brought us so many dishes that we're never going to forget.

What have you learned about yourself the second time around?

I've learned just to keep going.

Don't stop.

Don't quit at anything.

And you know, the world is massive.

So there's just so much we can do.

I loved every moment of it. Thank you.

I am feeling so happy and so blessed

that I actually had this opportunity to come back.

POH: You'll be amazing. I appreciate everything.

Thank you.

I am super proud of myself.

To be a mum of four

and to pause work life to come join MasterChef again

for the second time.

It was so beautiful, so, yeah.

No, I'm super proud of how far I've come.

ANNOUNCER: This week on MasterChef Australia...

Oh, my God!

ALL: Oh, my God, oh, my God!

..they set their sights on Sweet Week.

DECLAN: I want to do something spectacular.

I'm gonna get a bit weird over here.

ANDRE: You can get as weird as you want.

It's the most delightful... Wow.

..delectable... ANDY: That hit another level.

..dazzling week in the MasterChef kitchen.

If Michelin Guide was in Australia, you'd deserve a Michelin star.

Captions by Red Bee Media