MasterChef winner Larissa Takchi to host Dural cooking class
MasterChef fans will have the chance to meet 2019 winner Larissa Takchi when the rising star imparts her culinary tips at Dural.
Hills Shire
Don't miss out on the headlines from Hills Shire. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Larissa Takchi’s plans for The Hills
- Why Larissa loves Dural
- Campaign to make Hills a global food bowl
MasterChef winner and proud Dural dweller Larissa Takchi is hatching plans to showcase The Hills’ thriving produce farms for a documentary before she flies to Lebanon to debunk misconceptions about her ancestral homeland.
Takchi grew up on peach farm in Glenorie and aims to eventually own a paddock-to-plate restaurant near Dural, where she has spent time over the past eight years at her family’s cafe, Wild Pear Cafe.
“I think it’s easy for us to be going down to Woolworths but we don’t consider going to our local farms and local producers,’’ she said.
Before her burgeoning television career goes into overdrive, the 23 year old, who became the youngest ever MasterChef winner in July, her teaching foray will start at The Cooks Workshop, Dural, next weekend.
“I’m stoked, it’s my first cooking class,’’ she said.
“I think it’s going to be fun, it’s small and intimate, there’s only about 10 of us.”
Takchi will demonstrate four dishes — two sweet and two savoury — during the MasterChef favourites-themed session that include chicken yakitori and szechuan pavlova, also known as her grand finale dish.
Though some of the dishes might sound advanced, there are no pretensions with Takchi’s approach to cooking to use simple ingredients.
“I don’t think you need to be an advanced chef to do these things,’’ she said.
“I don’t come from a background of cheffing skills. I still consider myself a home cook.
“If you love food and love to learn, this class will be perfect. It will be interactive, it might give you an insight into what happens on MasterChef.
“I think with cooking, no matter what or where you are, the most important thing is to put in as much love as possible.
“I’ve been at family functions and you can taste the difference for people who put the effort into something or someone who whips up something because they’re lazy.’’
Takchi, a former Mount St Benedict College Pennant Hills student, grew up in a big Lebanese clan and hopes to collaborate with SBS to explore Lebanon’s culinary landscape in the northern spring or summer.
“Everybody says ‘Oh, it’s tabouleh, it’s hummus and kebabs,’’ she said.
‘That’s a very Westernised view of our cuisine. We have this food but we’re so much more than that. In the Western culture there’s only one way to make hummus but in Lebanon, in different regions, they do it different ways with different ingredients.’’
She also wants to bury some stigmas attached to the Lebanese.
“Even the language sounds harsh but you go to Lebanon and it’s a peaceful language,’’ she said.
“There’s a lot of love in the food and the culture.’’
Takchi will also be at the Hills Food and Wine Festival at Bella Vista on October 13 and a pop-up at Wild Pear Dural on November 15.
● To book The Cooks Worskhop on September 21 or 22 visit thecooksworkshop.com.au
