2013 Masterchef favourite Rishi here for some Indian fusion fare
On Masterchef with host Matt Preston
In 2013, Rishi Desai was the hot favourite to win the fifth season of Masterchef Australia. The Indian-born home cook became an audience favourite with his quick smile, relentless drive and passion for Indian cuisine. Rishi would only make it to the top five, eventually, but he now travels the world in his spare time-with pop up stores, cooking demonstrations, a cookbook and even a TV show to his name.
In Colombo with Trekurious, Rishi will host guests to a three course modern Indian fusion dinner on Wednesday night at the Havelock Place Bungalow. The menu sounds promising; coconut milk poached salmon, Bombay Bhujing and Gulab Jamun have been promised, alongside vegetarian options for entrée and main.
Rishi was born in Maharashtra, India, where he grew up behind the counter of a spice shop, helping his mother and learning about balance from a young age. He moved to Australia in 2008; just in time for Season One of Masterchef in 2009. His wife, having watched him critique each contestant and try out their dishes at home, suggested that he apply. Rishi took six months off his job in the public sector (he works with IP Australia as Director-Performance Analysis, Planning and Reporting) and applied. He got in and took what he calls “a crash course in food. For six months we lived and breathed and thought of very little besides food.” It was, he says, one of the most intense experiences of his life.
Today, Rishi is popular in Australia and India in particular. His cookbook Modern Indian, and TV show Stay Home Chef on TLC India expands on his love for the cuisine he grew up with. But it’s French cuisine that the chef finds himself thoroughly fascinated by. He loves (“I know this is cliché”) Duck a l’Orange and describes French cooking as incredibly creative and clever. “In Indian cooking we’re so used to throwing ingredients into a pot and finding the balance with spices-I love that, of course, but French is more challenging because you have to find that balance without spice, using sweet and sour notes.”
To work with French cuisine though, Rishi first had to refine his palate from the masala spice-heavy cuisine he grew up with. His Masterchef training comes in handy when experimenting with these flavours; the show taught him a lot about technique, versatility with limited ingredients and thinking on his feet, he laughs- “so when it’s 6 p.m. after a long day at work and my son wants something to eat quickly, I can look at the fridge and work with whatever we have in there.”
Rishi Desai in Colombo. Pic by Athula Devapriya
We also touch upon modernising Indian cuisine – something he played around with quite a bit during that season of Masterchef. South Asian food is challenging to modernise, he admits, but it can be done by rethinking techniques and textures-but never the flavours. “For me, modernising is about breaking down the ingredients and recreating the dish with new techniques, but in a way that doesn’t compromise on the familiar flavours,” he notes. For this reason Rishi thinks biriyani should remain as it is- but dishes like curry can definitely be rethought. For example, he recreated the Karwari fish curry by poaching salmon in coconut milk for three hours at 43 degrees, then making a paste of onion, tamarind and spices for the flavour profile, and a velouté by thickening the coconut poaching liquid. He served wild rice puffed by frying on top. The flavours were still spot on, he says, but the salmon was elevated; perfectly soft, oily and pink from the poaching.
Rishi is cautious about picking favourites for this season (the 8th) of Masterchef Australia, but says he’s gunning for a few contestants who have proven themselves to be quick learners and versatile cooks in the kitchen. In Sri Lanka, he plans to carefully focus on not sharing any spoilers with those he meets (the show is a few episodes ahead in Australia). Instead, Rishi will take to the Southern belt for a spot of holidaying before he returns to Colombo to prep for the dinner.