Malaysia is standing tall!
A full-time mother, Ipoh-born Catherine Chin Wan Ping Coombes has proudly won MasterChef UK 2014 with wanton soup and nasi lemak.
Although based in the UK, Catherine is still deeply proud of the taste of home. Now, she’s made us all very proud by winning the reality show with decidedly classier versions of our Malaysian favourites.
The 33-year-old wowed the judges’ expectations with her starter of wanton soup, main course of nasi lemak, and dessert of vanilla and coconut panna cotta with charred pineapple, freeze-dried mango and ‘pineapple and lime air’.
Her Malaysian-inspired spread earned excellent comments from judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace. Torode says of her starter, “It’s truly delicious. I don’t know how you made it. I wouldn’t be able to replicate it. It’s absolutely stunning.”
The Australian chef added, “For me Ping is a cook’s cook, she gets her head down and she works really, really hard to make sure she reaches her goal. She is pretty amazing.” Meanwhile, host Wallace mentioned, “She inspires me, she excites me. And she cares so much. Rarely have I seen someone whose repertoire can span whole continents.”
Coombes compared her victory to the moment she gave birth to her daughter Alexa, “The last time I felt such emotion was when my daughter was born. Something that you don’t get to experience a lot. Pure joy and pure bliss that feels incredible. Epic.”
Although she’s won, Coombes wasn’t sure about her chances of being allowed to cook in her mother’s kitchen, “My mother will be really proud I’m sure. I say this a lot but she still won’t let me in her kitchen.”
Coombes, who attributes her cooking skills to her mother and grandmother, mentioned that she first began cooking while studying in Oxford, and learnt to replicate her mother’s dishes to satisfy her cravings.
She also said that she would like to learn more about East Asian cuisine and possibly venture into the restaurant business or open a cookery school.
Coombes won the final challenge of the tenth series of the annual reality cooking show, which aired on BBC One in the UK on the night of May 16, beating her co-finalists Jack Lucas and Luke Owen.
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