Indian-origin participant Sumeet Saigal floored the judges in Episode 3 of MasterChef Australia 2024 by plating a dish of Panipuris. She ended up among the Top 5 contestants of the episode, thanks to the popular Indian street snack.

Sumeet had earlier impressed the judges with her Chilli Cashew Curry in the second episode of this season’s MasterChef Australia, streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.

In the latest episode, the contestants had to prepare a dish that could be eaten with hands, without the help of any utensils. Sumeet chose to serve up Panipuris.

The 46-year-old sales manager from New South Wales had the judges poring over her dish as she demonstrated how to add the ingredients one by one into the ball.

Sumeet began by delicately cracking the top of a puri and then filling it with a potato mix, a mint-coriander chutney and a date-tamarind chutney. The delectable dish garnered a round of applause from Sumeet’s fellow competitors as judge and former MasterChef contestant Poh Ling Yeow popped the first Panipuri into her mouth.

Celebrated British chef Jamie Oliver, the guest judge for the first two weeks, said, “Sumeet, you’re from Bangalore. And this dish is bangs galore.” A beaming Andy Allen, judge and former MasterChef Australia winner, asked Sumeet to make “hundreds of those” as they were “so good.” “It’s like a firework,” remarked judge Sofia Levin.

Sharing the video of the moment on Instagram, Sumeet wrote, “Pani puri lesson from the master! #MasterChefAU”.

Lourdes Leschen, Snezana Calic, Stephen Dennis and Savindri Perera cooked the other best dishes of the day.