Darrsh Clarke is cooking up a storm on Season 16 of MasterChef Australia (streaming on Disney+ Hotstar). The son of Tamil immigrants from Sri Lanka, Darrsh works as a management consultant but cooking is his calling. Over a Zoom call, Darrsh chatted with t2 on his MasterChef Australia experience, his culinary influences and more.

How would you describe your MasterChef Australia experience so far?

Life changing, really. More than the opportunity and being on such a massive show, it has also been very big for me personally. I have discovered a lot about myself on the show. For me and my identity, the experience has been life changing.

Even outside the MasterChef Australia experience, would you count cooking as a therapeutic experience?

One hundred per cent. I am very sporty, so therapy for me is going to the gym and running, but it is also being in the kitchen. I am one of those people that needs to be alone in the kitchen, I need to have my space.

When I am cooking, I need to focus because one is creating things from scratch with all these raw materials and ingredients. It is very therapeutic. It is also primitive because as humans, we have always had to cook in some aspect. It is a beautiful thing.

Was being on MasterChef Australia always the dream?

I have been a huge fan of the MasterChef franchise since Season One. As a teenager watching the show, I never would have guessed that one day I would be on it. What triggered it was that my friend Ralph (Kahango) was on MasterChef Australia last year and I told myself that if Ralph could get on it, I could also get on it (laughs). He is a good cook but I think I am a better cook. I applied, one thing led to another and I ended up on the show.

What would you pick as your top moments so far on MasterChef Australia?

The number one moment would definitely be the brinjal curry I cooked. It was so much more than just cooking. It was about showcasing my Sri Lankan heritage, showcasing subcontinental cooking. This kind of a curry is very common in Sri Lankan and Indian cooking, but for the Australian audience it was something special. I would also pick walking into the MasterChef Australia kitchen on the first day as pretty special. It was so magical because I had seen it on TV for so long. Even now sometimes, I can’t believe I am on MasterChef.

I would also pick the ‘Service Challenge’ we did with Jamie Oliver. There were multiple times during that episode when I was cooking and Jamie would be right behind and tapping my shoulder and telling me how to cook... that was pretty amazing.

I know that he is one of your idols...

Yes. Jamie has made cooking accessible. He makes these 30-minute meals with five ingredients and it has made cooking easy for many. He is very down-to-earth and humble. Sometimes, cooking can be pretentious, some peole look at it as only fine dining and hence pretty intangible. But Jamie has made it tangible for the everyday person.

What do you think makes MasterChef Australia a huge phenomenon globally?

Australia is a young nation but we are very multicultural. Our identity has come from immigrants... people from Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, Vietnam, China and many other cultures. What makes MasterChef Australia quite unique is this multicultural aspect. A wide variety of cuisines are showcased on the show.

Your father was a chef in an Indian restaurant and your grandmother introduced you to Sri Lankan cooking. How have these early influences shaped you into the cook you are today?

When my dad first emigrated to Australia, he worked in an Indian restaurant which was then called Bombay Garden. My first experience with spices was watching him marinate chicken and do all the things in the kitchen before service. He was a very creative person. When I was hungry, he would go into the kitchen, see what was available and rustle up something unique, pretty much how we do it in the ‘Mystery Box Challenge’ in MasterChef Australia. That creativity has been a big inspiration for me.

My grandma brought in the family cooking aspect. Every Sunday, I would go to her house and she would be cooking curries, dals, rotis and string hoppers (idiyappam). All those things were a big inspiration for me.

What would be your most memorable food memory as a kid?

I never used to be a morning person but I would love going to the temple to have Pongal (a dish made with rice and milk). In our culture, food is just not food. Food is also a part of our religion. I remember being very excited about going to the temple because there was always good food at the temple (laughs). Growing up, I was a chubby boy and I was always well fed.

If food is your calling, what made you opt for a career in marketing and business management?

My parents always encouraged me to go to university and get a degree. As you will know, this is quite common for kids of the subcontinent — we have four options: doctor, lawyer, engineer or accountant. So I went to university and I got my mum the degree she wanted. I am thankful for that because it is always important to have an education. The drive to achieve something... I think that is what university teaches
you... to work hard and achieve something. I enjoy my job in consulting and management and I think this experience through MasterChef was an opportunity for me to build on that.

I am not giving up my job just yet but I want to be creative in the food scene, particularly in Australia, because I think there are many opportunities here to use the experience as well as my knowledge in the management space and combine the two into making something that could be successful.

How does being a sportsperson help you in the MasterChef Australia kitchen?

That is a really good point. I am very competitive... sometimes I wish I wasn’t as competitive. But I think it helps in MasterChef when the pressure is very high. I think the pressure that you put on yourself is more than what the judges or the environment puts on you. Having that experience through sport where I have been in high-pressure situations before, helps me know the way out.

How have you seen the love for and awareness of subcontinental cuisine in Australia evolve over the last few years?

It has been massive, particularly Indian food. The food scene aside, India is also growing massively globally. And anyway, everyone’s first experience with India is always food or cricket.

In Australia, the number of authentic Indian restaurants is growing. I am seeing proper Indian and Sri Lankan cuisines coming to Australia and people being really proud of it. My Australian friends are blown away by how much flavour you can pack into Indian and Sri Lankan cooking. Indian and Sri Lankan food is very plant-based and the growth of that aspect of cuisine here has been exponential.

What is your food dream?

In Perth, where I live, I see a massive gap. There is a big Indian and Sri Lankan community here and some nice restaurants. But I spent some time in Melbourne filming MasterChef Australia and I think there are some amazing Indian and Sri Lankan restaurants there as well as in Sydney. There are, in fact, many bars and cafes that also have a Sri Lankan and Indian influence. That is a big gap in Perth. I would love to have my own place.

Your comfort food?

A lot of people in the food industry, when they cook for themselves, they want something quick and easy. I love two-minute noodles! I also love my grandma’s cooking. She doesn’t have any recipes written down. So I sit with her, watch her cook and measure out the ingredients she uses while cooking. So the comfort food, in that aspect, has always been my grandma’s cooking.

Is there a Sri Lankan dish you would want to popularise in Australia?

Kottu Roti. Those familiar with Sri Lankan and south Indian cooking know it well but it hasn’t taken off here. Fried rice is massive in Australia and I think Kottu Roti is the subcontinental fried rice. The other day, I saw the very popular Australian food influencer Andy Hearndern make Kottu Roti on Instagram. That was heartening.

An Indian dish you love?

All the curries are amazing. I love the Kerala style fish curry. I am going to be controversial and say Butter Chicken because it is a very Australian thing to say Butter Chicken!

I know you have a massive sweet tooth. What is that one dessert you can have anytime?

A sticky date pudding with vanilla ice cream.