Welcoming Junda Khoo of Ho Jiak to the kitchen, the judges revealed that, to avoid elimination, the chefs would be heading into a taste test where they would guess the 40 ingredients in his Laksa bomb dish.
The first four chefs to incorrectly guess an ingredient would find themselves in the second round, and one dish closer to elimination.
"Laksa is something I absolutely love, and I make at home as well, so I was pretty confident with the ingredients that are in a Laksa," Samira told 10 Play. "I was quite shocked to be put into the second round with the mistake that I made, to be honest."
Guessing fresh shallots, Samira was stunned when Junda revealed that only crispy, fried shallots were used in his dish. "Every recipe I've used or researched has always used shallots, so to make a simple mistake where I had to identify what sort of onion it was... I was taken aback, but I was ready for the next challenge.
"That's what it's like being in MasterChef, and I seemed to be in every elimination," she laughed, 'so I just had to take it on board and see what was coming next."
Standing alongside Jamie, Theo and Beau in the second round, Samira was tasked with creating a MasterChef-worthy dish using the 40 ingredients from Junda's Laksa bomb.
"I think being put on the spot, in general, is difficult. Especially when you don't have time to sit and process and think of what you're going to make," she said.
"The one bonus I had is that I do love to do recipe development, and it's something I've done over the past year. Sometimes I'm restricted to working with certain ingredients to create something, so that didn't shock me.
"Would I love a broader range of ingredients? Of course I would! Who wouldn't? But I took it on as a challenge, and it really got my brain working," Samira continued.
Though the ingredients on offer were tailored to South East Asian flavours, Samira wanted to bring her Middle Eastern flair to the dish and opted to make a Turkish chicken and eggplant Kofta.
"I felt like I had done really well with the ingredients that I had to utilise," Samira admitted. "Was I a little bit shocked in the end? Yes. But at the end of the day, somebody does have to go home, and I accepted it with grace.
Samira's one issue with her dish should be no surprise to anyone who saw her bring feasts up to the judges in most of the challenges: her plate of kofta was too small.
"Putting something smaller was the one thing that kept me paranoid because that's not exactly my thing," she laughed.
"I was quite proud of my dish, and even going home on it, I was still happy because I took ingredients to a different country, fused the two together, and created something beautiful that tasted great. Unfortunately, if my time is up, then my time is up and there’s not much I can do about it."
Samira's elimination also coincidentally landed on her husband's birthday, so she also admitted that she felt a slight sense of relief when the judges revealed her time in the competition had come to an end and she could be with her family to celebrate.
"I went straight from the competition to Woolies and bought that $7 mud cake, came straight home and am like, 'Happy Birthday!' My kids were expecting to see this sad, distraught person; they didn't know how to take it," she laughed.
Looking back at her time in the competition, Samira has a lot to celebrate as well. Typified by her generosity in the kitchen and her celebration of Middle Eastern cuisine, she also finished Viral Week by... going viral!
Posting a clip of her serving Makloubeh to the judges during viral week, Samira's video hit 1 million views in just 14 hours.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKotXimzW1y/
"To be honest, going viral during viral week was overwhelming. It was so beautiful and I was so, so happy to see the whole audience -- and the world -- react to this dish that I made. It was just so humbling," she said.
"This dish means a lot to me in general, so to be able to put it up there... it was meant to be," Samira continued. "To have that reaction from the judges, and then to have that reaction from the audience watching was just beautiful in itself, and I think it promoted cultural foods, multiculturalism in a different way, and I believe that's what food is.
"Food is about history, culture, and bringing people together. For the dish to do that was just amazing."
Over a decade had passed since Samira first walked through the MasterChef doors, and she admitted that it wasn't an easy decision to return. Having to put her life, job, and family duties on hold was not a decision she took lightly.
With the encouragement of her husband and kids, Samira wanted to use the opportunity to showcase everything she had learned and how she had evolved in that time.
"The first time I was on MasterChef , it was completely different. I wanted to be able to learn how to refine my foods and turn them into something more 'fine dining'... after all these years of being in the food industry, I realised one of the reasons why I love our food is because it's so inviting, the hospitality and moreishness, the love and effort that's put into everything," she said.
With the cost of living at the forefront of many people's minds, Samira also wanted to use the opportunity to show what can be done with secondary cuts of meat, opting to use affordable cuts in many of her dishes.
"By cooking this way on MasterChef, it shows people sustainability, generosity, and at the same time saving costs and something they can replicate at home by me using everyday ingredients people can get their hands on," she explained.
"It's sad knowing my time is up because there were so many other dishes I wanted to showcase, and I didn't have the chance to. I wanted the world to see them, but thank God for social media, I'll get to show them on my socials."
Samira also hopes to use her huge audience on social media for her future plans.
"I'm taking food travel seriously, I'm planning my next destination and journey, and I want to be able to showcase history, culture, and food all through my socials," she revealed.
"I want people to enjoy, explore and understand what happens in other countries, and hopefully promote tourism and diversity, to get people to travel to other countries -- and to get people to come here to Australia as well!"
MasterChef Australia: Back to Win continues Sundays at 7pm and Monday - Wednesday at 7.30pm on 10 and 10 Play
