How Dan's dorm dashed a dream

Share kitchens in university dorm houses are not known for their culinary excellence. But the modest kitchen in Cooinda Hut at the University of Canberra is a little different, thanks to second-year teaching student and MasterChef contestant Dan Tuddenham.

His housemates really lucked out when they got to share with him. Homemade gnocchi and chai cheesecake are just some of the delicacies that regularly come out of the kitchen, as well as a roast every Sunday.

''It's not two-minute noodles,'' Tuddenham, 20, says with a laugh. ''I cook for my mates all the time.''

The strapping lad from the southern highlands became the first contestant eliminated last night, Tuesday, from this fifth season of MasterChef, the show that promises home cooks a chance to have their ''food dreams'' made true.

But Queanbeyan public servant Rishi Desai, who works for IP Australia in Canberra, is still in the mix. More on him later.

It was his uni kitchen that contributed to Tuddenham's sudden exit. Producers of the show transported the fridge from his dorm to the MasterChef pantry. He was then asked to cook with whatever ingredients had been left in the fridge.

''I had no idea until I walked in there and my reaction was, well, I was freaking out,'' he says. ''When I left, there was heaps of stuff in there, but my mates had gone through a lot of it in the meantime.''

Tuddenham did his best, coming up with a salted-caramel and chocolate tart with Tim Tam ice cream.

''I had a few things go wrong, though,'' he says.

He is determined to take positives from the experience, saying his stint on MasterChef was ''great, so much fun''. To get on the show, he had to go through two auditions, making a flourless chocolate hazelnut cake with a hazelnut macaron and calamari al forno for the producers. He was one of 22 contestants chosen from around Australia to go straight to the on-air cooking before he was eliminated.

''I was a bit disappointed but I have to look at it like I got the experience and I'm cooking better than I was before,'' he says.

Tuddenham - who cited Matt Preston as his favourite judge (''he was really helpful and such a nice person, off camera as well'') - says he will still pursue his dream of combining teaching with cooking.

''I really want to finish my degree just so I have that and teach kids how to grow their own vegies and stuff and show them how to cook them,'' he says.

Still pursuing his dream on MasterChef is 35-year-old Rishi Desai from Queanbeyan via Kambah (and India, migrating five years ago).

Speaking from Sydney, where he is still in filming for MasterChef, Desai, who classes himself as ''very competitive'', says he's thriving on the challenge.

''It's an emotional roller coaster because you're cooking with your heart out,'' he says. ''If the dish is good, you're happy. If the dish is bad, you're sad. So every day in the kitchen, you're going through different emotions. And it's wonderful, actually; it makes you resilient, it makes you tough, because you have to accept the criticism from the judges.

''And everyone loves to cook, but when it comes to the pressure in the kitchen, anything can happen.''

For his auditions, Desai made a coconut and coriander savoury roll and a barramundi curry. On air, his cooking has included crispy-skinned chicken and the stock for a pumpkin soup for a family-friendly dish challenge at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

''The judges actually liked what I did,'' he says. ''The chicken skin was really crispy and they loved it.''

Desai says he likes all the judges but has had to accommodate George Calombaris' well-known low tolerance of chilli.

With a demanding job as an assistant director in patent examination, Desai says cooking is his way to relax.

''When I have to relieve my stress, I go into the kitchen and cook. That's my way of being happy,'' he says.

Before going on the show, he worked on his baking skills, bringing plenty of cakes to his workplace.

''They were my guinea pigs in the office,'' he says with a laugh.

And Desai, who wants to open his own Indian restaurant, has some strong views on the cuisine in Australia. ''I'm not particularly happy with Indian food in the restaurants. It just doesn't have enough flavours in it and I just don't like it. It's mostly basically tomato-based sauces and I haven't found a restaurant in Australia that has Indian food I actually like. I prefer to make my own.''

But he says he loves eating at Rama's Fiji Indian restaurant in Pearce. He and his wife Mitra and six-year-old son Sharang also make regular excursions to other restaurants in Canberra, favourites including Ottoman Cuisine in Barton, Ellacure in Bruce, and Onred on the Red Hill lookout.

Sharang, who is in year 1 at St Peter and Paul Primary School in Garran, is loving having his dad on television. He was able to use the MasterChef promo for show-and-tell.

''He was like, 'That's my dad! That's my dad!' So he was really happy and proud,'' Desai says.

MasterChef is on Channel Ten.