Sans Souci resident, Yossra Abouelfadl is in the running for a coveted apron in the 2019 series of MasterChef Australia which starts next week.
When Yossra moved from Egypt to Sydney she was thrilled by multicultural melting pot of her new home.
The middle of three children, Yossra studied Pharmacy at Suez Canal University in eastern Egypt, graduating in 2003 when, together with her husband, she made the move to Sydney.
A year later their daughter Labiba was born and six years later they welcomed son Malek.
Inspired by her culture, Yossra likes to give her traditional recipes a twist, enjoying making stuffed vegetables and vine leaves.
Yossra started cooking 15 years ago and it soon developed into a passion.
She has always wanted to open her own restaurant and to travel the world, learning and teaching people more about food.
"I love cooking Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food," Yossra said.
Her signature dish is Egyptian Kofta Pockets with Tahini and Eggplant.
"Growing up around this type of food makes me more comfortable cooking it. I'm currently exploring the Asian cuisine and would love to be able to perfect the balance of flavours in this cuisine.
"I love making bread, especially the Egyptian bread which is pita bread made out of wholemeal flour and wheat bran," she said.
"I love the smell of bread at home, and the smile on my kids faces when they see me baking bread is priceless. I have a good old recipe for Egyptian bread which I would never change because it works every single time. "
"I have always watched my mum cook in the kitchen, I was always curious and wanted to cook from a very young age, but I started exploring food and cooking when I moved to Australia and had my own kitchen.
"I was 20-years-old at the time. Cook books and cooking programs on TV were my real guide and inspiration for cooking. I absolutely loved and watched all Nigella Lawson's cooking episodes. She was my number one inspiration, then comes Jamie Oliver and recently Yotam Ottolenghi."
Yossra said she loves using Australian produce in her cooking.
"It's fresh and colourful and adds a lot to my dishes. The food I cook is usually inspired by my Egyptian roots but not necessarily made the traditional way, which sometimes I get criticised for, especially by the old generations, but I believe adding fresh Australian produce to traditional dishes, takes my cooking to another level and makes it more exciting for me and the people I cook for."
Yossra applied to MasterChef to learn more and challenge herself.
She said her children are "exploding from excitement" about her appearance on MasterChef.
"I know it's a very tough competition but I'm willing to give it all I can and I know I will do my best to make my dreams come true."
MasterChef Australia premieres on Network 10 on Monday, April 29 at 7.30pm.
In the first few episodes, Yossra will find out whether or not she will receive a MasterChef apron and go on to compete in the main competition.
