Mad About Masterchef Australia S5 - Cooking Tip-Off Challenge

Despite my busy schedule as a mother, one TV show that I never miss is Masterchef Australia S5. It gives me the best quality 'me' time, at the same time every cooking challenge inspires me to improve my own cooking for the hubby and kids. During the times that hubby and I watch it together, he gets excited with anticipation of what I might churn out next.

In case you are wondering, Masterchef Australia S5 airs on Lifetime, Astro channel 709, weekdays at 7pm and 11pm. Which is perfect for me as I get to catch it once the kids are in their slumber land. Masterchef time is ME time. 

This season has by far been the most interesting as there are the most number of Asian contestants ever, coming from different ethnic backgrounds. This means there is a vast variety of possible dishes and food presentations by contestants on the whole. At the same time as an Asian it is a proud moment to see our local dishes being in the center of attention, with our local Asian dishes being a household name in the show.  

Back home in my own kitchen, I get the Masterchef contestant feel when I try new or improvise existing recipes for my kids and hubby. It is especially rewarding when my effort gets well appreciated and gobbled down by my lovely audience. It is almost like having all three judges Gary, Matt and George give me finger licking reviews! All the more I get excited to perform better the next time.

For the Cooking Tip-Off Challenge, I would like to share a very special cooking tip of mine. I always prepare chicken stocks and freeze them for later use. And I am always on the lookout to multitask in any work that I do. Therefore whenever I am boiling chicken soup for my kids, I save some of the stock first, and then go ahead adding on seasonings for the soup of the day.

This is truly a life saver because it can sometimes be time consuming when making stock. The stockpot would hog the hob just to boil stock for two hours. With this tip, at the end of the stock boiling, you have yourself both flavourful and nutritious stock and soup. This is especially important for mothers like me who have picky eaters and choose not to chew on chicken meat, no matter how tender. Most of the times I cook pasta sauces, curries, and even dhal with chicken stock. Therefore all the goodness of chicken and vegetables from the stock are in the dish.

Here are the pictorial testaments by my kids, enjoying their dhal and various other gravies made from chicken stock:

I totally love this tip, and from the looks of it, my kids love it too!

If you are Malaysian and a fan of Masterchef Australia you can also participate in this Cooking Tip-Off Challenge by sharing your cooking tip on Lifetime Malaysia's Facebook page and tag #MCATipOff.