Starter

“We’re not quite done yet with Ethiopia.”

The theme was champion food. The location was the athletes’ training village of Yaya, where, at high altitude, Ethiopia’s renowned runners are trained.

Back in Wednesday’s elimination round in Addis Ababa, Amanda and Leandri frantically cooked off against each other in a real restaurant kitchen, that of Ristorante Castelli, turning out lobster raviolo in a mere 45 minutes. Amanda, the Joburg recruitment consultant, was the one bid a very encouraging farewell by MasterChef judges Andrew Atkinson, Benny Masekwameng and Pete Goffe-Wood.

In contrast with the fiery city kitchen was the mountain terrace overlooking Ethiopia’s Jimma valley, where a table-kitchen had been set up in that serene glory. A local chef took Masterclass winners Kamini and Tiron through producing the perfect chicken-and-egg doro wot and chickpea shiro wot.

Mains

“You’re 2700 meters above sea level. Take a big breath!”

Tuesday night’s first sport was the challenge of producing Ethiopia’s staple, injera, the fermented flatbread. The first four good examples would place the remaining three into a pressure elimination test, where they had to cook five nutritious and delicious meals worthy of Ethiopia’s champion long-distance runners – to be tasted and judged by two of the most famous Ethiopian sports stars.

Deceptively tricky, every injera stuck to the metal cooking plates like clumsy, messy rags. Jason first thought of pouring the batter from an outer circle in, using the grass mat provided to gather up his great, smooth-backed, bubble-topped beauty. Ozzy was next, followed by Leandri and then Seline.

Thus Kamini, Karen and Tiron found themselves cooking for the impressive founders of the Yaya Club: cross-country Canadian champion Joseph Kibur and multi-gold medallist Hayle Gebrselassie. Kamini and Tiron had advantages from their Masterclass, but Karen, initially homesick and evidently elevation-sick, decided to “do it” for her own sportsman husband.

Ethiopian pennants fluttered prettily and runners loped gracefully past the frowning, hurried contestants in the foreground.

Dessert

“We’ll taste that meal with our prestigious guests…”

After burning his first pot, Tiron turned out a clever shiro wot and injera, featuring spinach, almonds, chickpeas and a fresh, pineapple salsa in the national colours. “I want to eat this!” came Gebrselassi’s compliment.

The beans of Karen’s vegetable stew with pasta were a little too chewy. “This is more for the middle distance runner,” pronounced Kibur.

Kamini, harking to Indian family roots with her three vegetable curries, made a compelling case for them in her introduction. The sportsmen thought her plate presentation poor but, as they finished judging, Gebrselassie, clearly relishing his forkful, pleaded, “Am I allowed to finish it before I leave?”

So Karen was the one to fall away, back to Howick. She was both happy and sad – as emotional as her erstwhile team mates.

Like six green bottles, the last ones hanging on the wall will be back in South Africa for Wednesday night’s episode in Chinatown.

By Maris-Lais Emond

Tune in on Thursday morning for a run-down of Wednesday’s episode, and check out our MasterChef SA page, sponsored by Nederburg, for weekly updates.