Celebrate Mother’s Day the MasterChef way!

Mother’s Day gives you an excuse to pamper the most important woman in your life. It’s a time to make her feel special and loved and to show her how much she means to you. And they do say, ‘Actions speak louder than words.’ So, why not trade places with a MasterChef Australia contestant? You may not be able to get behind the Masterchef kitchen counter, but you can definitely try and replicate some of their most cherished recipes.

Coriander rolls with date and tamarind sauce

Ingredients

1 cup Besan/chickpea flour
2 cups Butter milk
1 cup Freshly grated coconut
1 cup Chopped coriander
3 tbsp Vegetable oil
1 tsp turmeric
1 green chilli
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp sugar
1 lemon
Salt to taste

Method

Keep two clean baking trays or steel dinner plates handy before starting the cooking process. In a saucepan, mix butter milk, besan, sugar, salt, turmeric and cook on medium heat while whisking constantly. Avoid forming lumps and break any lumps that you spot. Keep whisking until the dough starts coming to the sides of the saucepan and when there is a lot of resistance while whisking. Test the consistency of the dough by spreading a small amount on a baking tray. Let it cool down and using your fingertips try rolling it up. The sheet should come off the baking tray clean, if it doesn’t, cook the dough a bit more. Once the dough is cooked, divide it on the back of the baking trays and spread evenly using a spatula, pastry scrapper or a flat bottom cup. Ensure you form a thin film about two to three mm thick. Leave it to cool completely and once cooled make serrations using a knife about three to four cms apart. Meanwhile, finely chop coriander and green chillies. In a bowl mix the coriander and chillies with freshly grated coconut, salt and sugar. Squeeze half a lemon into the mixture and mix well. In a small pan heat the oil, sauté the mustard seeds until they pop. Turn off the heat and set aside for the oil to cool. Spread the cooled oil over the baking trays and sprinkle the coconut mixture over the baking tray generously. Start rolling the roulade from one end and carefully make into a roll. Roll it as tight as possible so the stuffing does not fall out. Serve on a bed of coconut mixture and drizzle date and tamarind sauce on top.

Chef Rishi Desai

“Suralichiwadi or what I call it in my book Modern Indian, Coconut and Coriander rolls with date and tamarind chutney is one recipe that no one but my mother could have taught me. It is a very technical dish to cook yet looks very simple. However, if you follow the recipe and serve this with a hot chai to your mother on Mother’s Day she will keep raving about it for years to come. And if you are keen to earn some brownie points, you will earn an entire cake if you can replicate this for your mum. Happy Mother’s Day!”

Beans on toast

Ingredients

1 Chorizo cut into rounds
1 Red chili cut into rounds
2 Shallots diced
1 Tin of red kidney beans
2 Cloves of garlic
4 Sprigs of Thyme
1 Roast red capsicum
1 Tin of crushed tomatoes
1 tbsp Chopped parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
Sourdough bread

Method

Rub the capsicum with olive oil and roast in the oven at 180 degrees until the skin blisters. Take it out of the oven and place it in a bowl and cover with cling wrap for five minutes. Then peel the skin off and deseed and set aside. Place the chorizo in a cold pan and bring the heat up to medium, as you do this some oil will leach out of the chorizo, once you get heat into the pan add the shallots, garlic, chili and use the oil to gently fry for five minutes or until the onion softens. Add the beans, tomatoes and thyme and bring to the simmer. Season with salt and pepper and serve with some toasted sourdough.

Chef Ben Milbourne

“It is a favourite recipe that I cook for my mum and my wife. This Mother’s Day I’m looking forward to cooking my wife breakfast in bed with my two children and spending the day with family including my mother and mother- 
in-law.”

Coconut and Banana Bread with Gula Melaka and Almond Crunch

Ingredients

300 gms (2 cups) Self-raising flour, sifted
260 gms (just over 1 cup) Caster sugar
Pinch of salt
135 gms(1 3/4 cups) Shredded dried coconut
400 ml (1 2/3 cups) Coconut milk
2 Eggs
3 tsp Vanilla extract
4 Small, ripe but not mushy bananas, thickly sliced
Topping
20 gms Gula melaka (coconut sugar), shaved
20 gms Slivered almonds

Method

Preheat your oven to 180°C (356°F). Butter and line the base and sides of a loaf tin 31 cm x 11 cm x 7.5 cm (2 lb capacity) with greaseproof paper. Mix together with the flour, sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl using a whisk. Toss it in the shredded coconut and mix well. In a separate bowl, whisk together the coconut milk, eggs and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture and fold until just combined. Fold in the sliced bananas and be careful not to break them up. Pour into the loaf tin and top with the gula melaka shavings and almonds. Bake for 11/2 hours or until the top is golden and a skewer inserted into the thickest part of the loaf comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack. Cool completely or serve slightly warm.

Chef Audra Morrice

“This brings together my love for banana bread, coconut milk and gula melaka (coconut sugar). They work so well together and, trust me, it’s so delectable that a single slice just isn’t enough. You’ll be coming back for more. Whenever I make this, the kids always want a slice in their lunch box. For me, lightly toasted, smothered with good butter and a cup of 
tea will do.”

Grandma’s Saint’s Cake with Lavender Cream

Ingredients

Chocolate cake
200 gms Dark chocolate 
200 gms Unsalted butter cut into cubes
100 gms Plain flour
300 gms Caster sugar
6 eggs

Lavender cream

1 cup Cream
1 1/2 tsp Dried lavender, crushed
1 tbsp Icing sugar

Method

Chocolate cake

Preheat your oven to about 180 degrees. Line the base of a round spring form tin. Grease sides well with butter. Melt the butter and chocolate in the microwave for three to five minutes, depending on your microwave. Mix together with a spatula. Also, beat eggs, sugar and flour until thick and pale. Fold in the melted chocolate mixture until evenly combined. Bake for about 70 minutes. Allow the cake to cool slightly before removing from the tin.

Lavender cream

In a small saucepan combine the cream and dried lavender, bring to a simmer. Strain the mixture discarding the lavender. Cover the mixture and place in the fridge until completely cooled. Once cool, beat the cream mixture and sugar with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Serve immediately. 
Tip If you are filing your cake with mousse or cream divide the mixture between two tins and cook for about 30 to 40 minutes at 160 degrees.

Chef Jessie Spiby 

“This little cake lies very close to my heart. My grandma used to bake it for me on my birthday, and later so did my mum. It may not be  be the prettiest of cakes, but don’t be fooled by its humble looks, what the Saint’s Cake lacks in beauty it makes up for in delicious rich chocolatey flavour!”

Green tea ice cream

Ingredients

400 ml Full cream milk
300 ml Pouring cream
6 egg yolks
½ cup Caster sugar
20 gms green tea (matcha) powder

Method

Place milk and cream together in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer, then remove from the heat. Beat the egg yolks with the caster sugar until pale and combined, then beat in the green tea powder. Slowly whisk the hot milk mixture into the eggs, then return everything back into the saucepan and stir over medium heat until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. Transfer to a bowl and cool first to room temperature and then in the fridge until chilled. Churn in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturers instructions, then set in the freezer for at least two hours.

Tip

You can make ice cream without an ice cream machine. Just place the mixture in the freezer and whisk it vigorously every 30 minutes until it sets too firm to whisk. It will take about four hours. Green tea powder is available from the Japanese section of Asian grocery stores. Don’t substitute ordinary leaf green tea. It’s not the same.

Chef Adam Liaw

 “My mother loves ice cream (doesn’t everyone?) and she loves Japanese food, so this green tea ice cream would be perfect for her for Mother’s Day. This is from my latest cookbook which I dedicated to her, so that’s a nice touch, too.”

—Compiled by Melissa D'Costa D'Silva