Minoli de Silva is the Sri Lankan-born home cook who wowed Australia (and MasterChef Australia judges) with her tried and tested Sri Lankan recipes on the 13th series of the hit Australian cooking game show.
Born in Sri Lanka, Minoli was six when her family moved to Melbourne, but the culinary delights of her homeland infused her childhood. Growing up, Minoli’s mother would use seasonal produce to prepare delicious Sri Lankan curries, often cooked with lesser-known ingredients including chicken giblets, bitter gourd, jackfruit, and dried fish.
While Minloli’s stint on MasterChef Australia is sadly over, with her being eliminated from the competition earlier this month, she is now hard at work on a YouTube channel designed to teach and inspire children and adults with classic recipes and easy techniques.
Brunch chatted with Minoli on her MasterChef Australia experience, how she got into cooking, and what she’s going to be doing next.
Following are excerpts of the interview.
[caption id="attachment_137738" align="alignright" width="254"]
"I cooked and learnt by asking questions from other people, so if anyone ever wants to ask me anything, I’m more than happy to respond to any questions anyone has. No question is a dumb question" Sri Lanka-born MasterChef Australia contestant Minoli de Silva[/caption]
What got you into cooking, especially professionally?
I’m not a professional cook, I’m a home cook, and on MasterChef, too, everyone is a home cook. But I’m obsessed with cooking – my love for cooking started with watching my mom cook when I was young. Then, my family migrated to Australia, and Australia had food from everywhere which was amazing. I just like to eat everything.
What’s it like getting Australians to take to Sri Lankan food? What are the most common misconceptions they have about Sri Lankan food, and what are the most common reactions they have when tasting it for the first time?
I don’t think a lot of Australian people know how to cook Sri Lankan food. A lot of them have travelled to Sri Lanka and eaten Sri Lankan, but some, even some of my friends, have never tried or eaten it. I want everyone to know how easy it is to cook Sri Lankan dishes and to put it on the culinary map.
With Australians who haven’t eaten Sri Lankan food before, they assume it’s the same as Indian food – I would say that’s the most common misconception. When they do eat it, the response I get is that the flavours are complex and the food is more refined and lighter and more flavour packed. They’re very surprised by Sri Lankan food, generally, which is cool.
In terms of favourites, the people I’ve cooked for tend to like the veggie curries, and, of course, my amma’s chicken curry. It’s the best and is always a crowd-pleaser. It would definitely be the nexi of vegetable curries, I think, and the kiwi fruit curry. I’ve made it for a lot of my friends and they just die everytime they eat it. It’s a bit strange, because it’s such a simple curry and is so easy to make too.
How did MasterChef happen? What made you decide to enter?
I’d worked previously in my career in engineering and consulting for many years, but it just didn’t have the creative outlet I needed and I would just spend my days thinking about food. I just thought why not see if I can make MasterChef a reality, and it’s so crazy, but it happened.
At the audition, I cooked an array of Sri Lankan curries, eggplant, chicken, kiwi, pol sambol, and tomato and onion salad. The judges hadn’t really seen anything similar before, but they all loved Sri Lankan food, so I felt like I had a lot of pressure to get it right. All the dishes that I’d put up complemented each other very well, and it was a thorough decision of what to make. When they tasted it, they didn’t say a word but just kept eating, and in the end they loved it.
What was the MasterChef experience like? Take us behind the scenes.
What I can say. Well, the time pressure is real. People think it isn’t, but it is. Everyone really is cooking up until the very last second and going crazy. The team behind MasterChef is phenomenal. There are so many amazing crew members who work tirelessly to make everything happen and are so supportive.
You never really get used to it because the challenges just get harder and harder as you go along, and the time pressure is always there. It never stops being a competition and you’re always in that competition, and the further you go, the harder it gets because the possibility of winning becomes more and more realistic. There’s never just a “let’s cook for fun” moment.
With making it happen and cooking so quickly – for me, it comes with practice, and understanding how to kind of utilise similar ingredients in different dishes, so you can be efficient with your meal prep. Even my Sri Lankan friends are all like how do you do it so quickly.
I’m working on a YouTube channel that’s going to teach people how to cook quickly and easily, so keep a lookout for that.
What was your favourite dish to cook on MasterChef?
In the MasterChef kitchens, you have access to the best produce. Everything is fresh. It’s like the best pantry where you can pick anything in the world and cook with it. It’s literally a food lover’s dream, but I still love cooking Sri Lankan food, and my bench was always filled with a hundred different spices.
When you’re cooking food, you want to feed people food that you love, and when you feed the judges, you want them to try a bit of your life – you want it to be the best they’ve had. Like any Sri Lankan auntie would, really.
[caption id="attachment_137737" align="alignleft" width="435"]
The 24 contestants of MasterChef Australia Season 13[/caption]
You love travelling and have travelled to many places. What was one place and cuisine that really knocked your socks off?
I absolutely loved Japan. I lived there for a month when I was in school, as part of an exchange programme when I was in Year 10 and I lived with a host family. The culture, the food was all very, very different to Sri Lankan cuisine and culture. The flavours are so clean and tasty. It’s a very special cuisine and I loved everything about it. Everything was so tasty.
For me, travelling is about learning about other cultures and food, and if I like the taste of it, I will try cooking it at home. I love cooking Japanese food, Thai food, and Italian food (I LOVE Italy). I think learning about other cultures helps you become more creative with the food you cook as well.
What are your plans now? What do you want to do?
I want to do something in Darwin, and I’m working with one of my mentors up here. I’m also working on the YouTube channel with instructional videos on Sri Lankan food and different types of cuisine. It’s also a dream to do a pop-up in Sri Lanka once the borders open up again.
I also just want to be able to show people how to cook easily like I do, because time is very valuable and everyone is very busy. It’s very, very satisfying to cook for yourself, and cooking brings confidence; I want to bring that to people, especially to kids.
I cooked and learnt by asking questions from other people, so if anyone ever wants to ask me anything, I’m more than happy to respond to any questions anyone has. No question is a dumb question, and if anyone wants to ask me about food, they’re welcome to reach out to me on Instagram.
Do you want to cook professionally? Or do you want to go back to engineering?
Cooking professionally is something I would love to do as a pop-up or restaurant, or to work with someone in a restaurant, get my ideas in a menu, work in a kitchen, and understand how all aspects of the food industry works.
Engineering taught me a lot of valuable skills and I dont think I’ll ever lose that side of myself, but for now I want to put my time and effort into food, and I would like to just have food be the rest of my life. Food is life!
Follow Minoli on Instagram (@minoli.desilva) for more updates on her work and to ask her for food and cooking tips.
PHOTOS © MasterChef Australia
"I cooked and learnt by asking questions from other people, so if anyone ever wants to ask me anything, I’m more than happy to respond to any questions anyone has. No question is a dumb question" Sri Lanka-born MasterChef Australia contestant Minoli de Silva[/caption]
What got you into cooking, especially professionally?
I’m not a professional cook, I’m a home cook, and on MasterChef, too, everyone is a home cook. But I’m obsessed with cooking – my love for cooking started with watching my mom cook when I was young. Then, my family migrated to Australia, and Australia had food from everywhere which was amazing. I just like to eat everything.
What’s it like getting Australians to take to Sri Lankan food? What are the most common misconceptions they have about Sri Lankan food, and what are the most common reactions they have when tasting it for the first time?
I don’t think a lot of Australian people know how to cook Sri Lankan food. A lot of them have travelled to Sri Lanka and eaten Sri Lankan, but some, even some of my friends, have never tried or eaten it. I want everyone to know how easy it is to cook Sri Lankan dishes and to put it on the culinary map.
With Australians who haven’t eaten Sri Lankan food before, they assume it’s the same as Indian food – I would say that’s the most common misconception. When they do eat it, the response I get is that the flavours are complex and the food is more refined and lighter and more flavour packed. They’re very surprised by Sri Lankan food, generally, which is cool.
In terms of favourites, the people I’ve cooked for tend to like the veggie curries, and, of course, my amma’s chicken curry. It’s the best and is always a crowd-pleaser. It would definitely be the nexi of vegetable curries, I think, and the kiwi fruit curry. I’ve made it for a lot of my friends and they just die everytime they eat it. It’s a bit strange, because it’s such a simple curry and is so easy to make too.
How did MasterChef happen? What made you decide to enter?
I’d worked previously in my career in engineering and consulting for many years, but it just didn’t have the creative outlet I needed and I would just spend my days thinking about food. I just thought why not see if I can make MasterChef a reality, and it’s so crazy, but it happened.
At the audition, I cooked an array of Sri Lankan curries, eggplant, chicken, kiwi, pol sambol, and tomato and onion salad. The judges hadn’t really seen anything similar before, but they all loved Sri Lankan food, so I felt like I had a lot of pressure to get it right. All the dishes that I’d put up complemented each other very well, and it was a thorough decision of what to make. When they tasted it, they didn’t say a word but just kept eating, and in the end they loved it.
What was the MasterChef experience like? Take us behind the scenes.
What I can say. Well, the time pressure is real. People think it isn’t, but it is. Everyone really is cooking up until the very last second and going crazy. The team behind MasterChef is phenomenal. There are so many amazing crew members who work tirelessly to make everything happen and are so supportive.
You never really get used to it because the challenges just get harder and harder as you go along, and the time pressure is always there. It never stops being a competition and you’re always in that competition, and the further you go, the harder it gets because the possibility of winning becomes more and more realistic. There’s never just a “let’s cook for fun” moment.
With making it happen and cooking so quickly – for me, it comes with practice, and understanding how to kind of utilise similar ingredients in different dishes, so you can be efficient with your meal prep. Even my Sri Lankan friends are all like how do you do it so quickly.
I’m working on a YouTube channel that’s going to teach people how to cook quickly and easily, so keep a lookout for that.
What was your favourite dish to cook on MasterChef?
In the MasterChef kitchens, you have access to the best produce. Everything is fresh. It’s like the best pantry where you can pick anything in the world and cook with it. It’s literally a food lover’s dream, but I still love cooking Sri Lankan food, and my bench was always filled with a hundred different spices.
When you’re cooking food, you want to feed people food that you love, and when you feed the judges, you want them to try a bit of your life – you want it to be the best they’ve had. Like any Sri Lankan auntie would, really.
[caption id="attachment_137737" align="alignleft" width="435"] The 24 contestants of MasterChef Australia Season 13[/caption]
You love travelling and have travelled to many places. What was one place and cuisine that really knocked your socks off?
I absolutely loved Japan. I lived there for a month when I was in school, as part of an exchange programme when I was in Year 10 and I lived with a host family. The culture, the food was all very, very different to Sri Lankan cuisine and culture. The flavours are so clean and tasty. It’s a very special cuisine and I loved everything about it. Everything was so tasty.
For me, travelling is about learning about other cultures and food, and if I like the taste of it, I will try cooking it at home. I love cooking Japanese food, Thai food, and Italian food (I LOVE Italy). I think learning about other cultures helps you become more creative with the food you cook as well.
What are your plans now? What do you want to do?
I want to do something in Darwin, and I’m working with one of my mentors up here. I’m also working on the YouTube channel with instructional videos on Sri Lankan food and different types of cuisine. It’s also a dream to do a pop-up in Sri Lanka once the borders open up again.
I also just want to be able to show people how to cook easily like I do, because time is very valuable and everyone is very busy. It’s very, very satisfying to cook for yourself, and cooking brings confidence; I want to bring that to people, especially to kids.
I cooked and learnt by asking questions from other people, so if anyone ever wants to ask me anything, I’m more than happy to respond to any questions anyone has. No question is a dumb question, and if anyone wants to ask me about food, they’re welcome to reach out to me on Instagram.
Do you want to cook professionally? Or do you want to go back to engineering?
Cooking professionally is something I would love to do as a pop-up or restaurant, or to work with someone in a restaurant, get my ideas in a menu, work in a kitchen, and understand how all aspects of the food industry works.
Engineering taught me a lot of valuable skills and I dont think I’ll ever lose that side of myself, but for now I want to put my time and effort into food, and I would like to just have food be the rest of my life. Food is life!
Follow Minoli on Instagram (@minoli.desilva) for more updates on her work and to ask her for food and cooking tips.
PHOTOS © MasterChef Australia