Who would have expected that a hardened cop from Singapore could be a champion chef in Australia? Sasha Cheliah, who migrated to Adelaide six years ago, just scored the top prize in the 2018 season of MasterChef Australia.
Described by news.com.au as “the most one-sided finale” in the history of the reality TV cooking show, the 39-year-old prison officer thrashed his fellow finalist with a score of 93 out of 100. Sashi’s competitor, Queensland builder Ben Borsht, finished with 77 out of 100.
Congratulations to @sashi_cheliah for taking out the #MasterChefAU 2018 title! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/4olK1zNtjo
— #MasterChefAU (@masterchefau) July 31, 2018
From the first round, Sasha impressed the judges with his starter of sambal prawns and snapper fish curry with cumin rice as his main dish —described as beautifully cooked with a complex sauce. Borsht, on the other hand, went with a blue swimmer crab starter with lime, coriander and avocado cream as his starter, but it was criticised as being too creamy, news.com.au reported. Judges were also let down by Borsht’s simple main: deep-fried whiting with peas.
But it was the final pressure test that really challenged the contestants. British celebrity chef and renowned molecular gastronomy devotee Heston Blumenthal gave them the difficult task of recreating “Counting Sheep”, a dessert consisting of meringues made from coconut ice cream with steamed sponge and pana cotta. It took over 15 years for Blumenthal to perfect the dish, but Sashi and Borsht only had hours to craft it.
In the end, both contestants scored 36 out of 40. Adding to his points in the earlier round, Sashi was crowned the winner, scoring the A$250,000 (S$252,800) prize.
A new life overseas
In an interview with The Straits Times back in June, Sashi revealed that he only started cooking regularly after he moved to Adelaide — he missed the food in Singapore.
The former officer in the Singapore Police Force for 12 years only decided to try his luck in season 10 of MasterChef Australia after advertisements about the show’s auditions started popping up on his Facebook page.
Sasha also revealed to ST that his dream is to open a restaurant serving Indian and Southeast Asian cuisine. Being familiar with life in jail as a prison officer, he indicated interest in hiring ex-convicts in his restaurant.
