Nadia Lim does not mind being compared to British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver. In fact, she gives him credit for inspiring her food crusade.
''Jamie Oliver, he's my idol,'' she said.
Watching his Naked Chef cooking programme when she was 12, inspired her own goal of one day writing her own cookbook and having a television programme called Food in the Nude.
''I was quite upset when he married Jules. I was only 14.''
It was not a passing phase. Ms Lim was quite serious about her goals. She studied home science throughout school and nutrition and dietetics at the University of Otago.
''I've still got some of the recipes I wrote when I was 12.''
Her MasterChef win had helped her ''leapfrog'' a couple of stages in her long-held plan.
The similarities between the pair become apparent when Ms Lim is asked about her career plans relating to food.
With three cookbooks under her belt already, including the recently released Easy Weeknight Meals, and the successful food business My Food Bag, which she has co-partnered in, and various food promotion commitments, you wonder what could come next.
''I want to go bigger than New Zealand to spread the message.''
After three years working in the health system as a dietitian for the Auckland Health Board, she had formed ideas on what needed to be done to tackle health issues such as obesity and diabetes.
''The big impact will be made in the long term.''
She believed getting children learning about what healthy food is at a very young age and becoming interested in food and knowledgeable about the wide variety on offer was the key.
''Then they won't fall into the traps of food marketers.''
If children learnt 10 dishes they could make from scratch, then in ''20 to 30 years time'' she ''wholeheartedly believed'' people's diets would have changed.
Celebrity chef Nadia Lim has a soft spot for Dunedin, calling it her second New Zealand home. Rebecca Fox finds out where the Dunedin-trained nutritionist sees herself in the future.
''People would not have to rely on processed food and takeaways. It's a small idea which could grow into something huge.''
She believed people had become too confused about competing food claims and diets.
''I want to liberate them, free their minds, change mindsets so they know how easy it is to eat well.''
That was as easy as following some basic principles, such as making sure their dinner plate was half full of vegetables and had only a fistful of carbohydrates, and that it came from ''real'' food not processed food.
''If everyone did that they would be much healthier for it.''
While sugar was the ''bad guy'' of the moment it was all right to have some sugar in your diet, she said.
''If you have two teaspoons of sugar in your coffee and you have five cups of coffee in a day you might need to cut back, but if you have one coffee with one teaspoon of sugar, then that's fine. You need to put it in context.''
But does she practise what she preaches?
She and her husband Carlos Bagrie, who is from Invercargill, take the My Food Bag gourmet bag each week when they are at home.
''I eat everything. I'll occasionally have a piece of pavlova and the other night for tea we had nachos for dinner ... we'd been travelling and there wasn't much else in the pantry.''
Her husband cooks most nights, as she spent her days in the test kitchen coming up with eight to 10 new dishes which the chefs needed to taste-test.
''I'm often not that hungry when I get home.''
People needed to be realistic and liberate themselves from feeling guilty about their food choices.
''Everything in moderation, including moderation.''
She was also concerned about the future of farming practices, especially in the United Kingdom and North America where she believed farming methods were becoming unsustainable.
''It's opening a can of worms but we don't want New Zealand to get there.''
In the meantime she is working hard in the test kitchen at My Food Bag, coming up with recipes for the thousands of people who pay for their weekly menus and produce.
In only two years, My Food Bag, in which Ms Lim and her husband have a shareholding, along with former Telecom boss Theresa Gattung and founder Cecilia Robinson, has already expanded into Australia with markets in Melbourne and Sydney, and revenue has grown to more than $40 million annually. From a staff of five in the beginning there were now more than 50.
For many time-challenged Otago residents, the big question is when it would come to Dunedin.
''I really hope it comes to Dunedin soon. I really want it to. I love Dunedin, having lived there for three years.''
The concept was available in Christchurch so the next step was Dunedin but it required enough expressions of interest for it to expand here, she said.
''I definitely think it would be the right decision. I think it would take off there, even with students.
''It's really economical: a classic bag for five people, which would be perfect for a student flat, is $189 that's $8 per meal [each], possibly with leftovers.''
The business used local producers for its meat and vegetables wherever possible.
As the business had grown, so had some of its suppliers which had been on board since the beginning, such as Franks Sausages in Te Aroha, which provides fully free-range goods.
''They were perfect for us. Their philosophy matched ours and they have completely grown up with us.''
Grilled salmon with fried noodles and cabbage and apple salad
Serves 4-5
Ready in: 25 minutes
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Grilled salmon
¼ cup soy sauce
3cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and cut into thin matchsticks or grated
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tsp runny honey
600g salmon fillet (skin on), cut into 4-5 pieces
Salad
3 cups finely shredded cabbage
1 green apple, thinly sliced and cut into matchsticks
1 small shallot, very finely sliced
¼ to ½ cup chopped roasted peanuts
1 cup total roughly chopped
coriander and mint leaves
Fried noodles
300g dried rice stick noodles
2 tsp sesame oil
2-3 handfuls mung bean sprouts
Dressing
½ to 1 red chilli, finely sliced
1 Tbsp palm sugar or brown sugar
2 Tbsp fish sauce or soy sauce
2 Tbsp lime juice
Method
Preheat oven to 220degC. Line a small oven tray with baking paper. Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil.
Combine soy sauce, ginger, garlic and honey in a dish. Pat salmon dry with paper towels and remove any remaining scales or bones. Place salmon, flesh-side down, in soy marinade. Set aside to marinate for about 10 minutes, while you prepare the vegetables. Toss cabbage, apple, shallot, peanuts and fresh herbs in a large bowl.
Lift salmon fillets from marinade (reserving the marinade) and place on prepared baking tray, skin-side down, so that the flesh is facing up. Roast salmon for 6-8 minutes or until just cooked through (salmon is best ever so slightly underdone).
Add noodles to pot of boiling water and stir briskly with a fork to prevent them sticking together. Cook for 3-4 minutes or until al dente (just cooked). Drain and rinse under cold water to prevent noodles sticking together. Snip in a few places with scissors.
Heat a drizzle of oil in a wok or large frypan on medium to high heat and stir-fry noodles, sesame oil, bean sprouts and reserved marinade for 2-3 minutes or so, tossing to combine well.
Mix dressing ingredients together until sugar is dissolved and toss through the salad.
To serve
Place some noodles on each plate and top with salad and a piece of salmon.
To make gluten free, use a gluten-free soy sauce.
Quick chicken, potato and broccoli curry
Serves 4-5
Ready in: 35-40min
Prep time: 20min
Cook time: 30min
Curry
1 Tbsp oil
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2.5cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and cut into thin matchsticks
2-3 tablespoons store-bought curry paste or ¼ cup home-made curry paste*
400ml can coconut milk
1 kaffir lime leaf, torn
1 large red chilli, cut in half lengthways (optional)
400g can crushed tomatoes
¼ to ½ cup water
400g Agria potatoes, (skin on) cut into 2cm cubes
600g boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 3cm pieces
1 head broccoli, cut into small florets
3-4 teaspoons fish or soy sauce, to taste
juice of 1 lime
To serve
steamed brown or white rice
½ cup chopped coriander
1 lime, cut into wedges
Method
Start by cooking the rice to serve with the meal. While rice is cooking, make curry. Heat oil in a large pot on medium heat. Cook onion for 3min-4min until soft. Add garlic, ginger, curry paste and ¼ cup of the coconut milk. Cook, stirring constantly, for 1min-2min until mixture is smooth and fragrant.
Add remaining coconut milk, kaffir lime leaf, chilli (if using), crushed tomatoes, water and potatoes and bring to the boil. Reduce heat, cover partially and simmer for 8min-10min or until potatoes are almost cooked through.
Pat chicken dry with paper towels. Stir chicken and broccoli into curry, replace lid, and continue cooking until chicken and potatoes are cooked through, 10min-15min. Season to taste with fish or soy sauce and lime juice.
To serve
Garnish curry with coriander and serve with steamed rice and a lime wedge to squeeze over just before serving.
To make gluten free use a gluten-free soy sauce.
*Different brands of curry paste vary in their strength so check the labels to see how much they recommend you use.
Pork belly with caramelised chilli sauce and bok choy
Serves 4-5
Ready in: 60min
Prep time: 20min
Cook time: 45min
Pork belly
800g free-range pork belly, skin scored
2 tsp Chinese five-spice
2 tsp oil
¾ tsp salt
Caramelised chilli sauce
1 Tbsp oil
1 shallot, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1-2 red chillies, thinly sliced (deseed if you want a milder sauce)
2.5cm piece fresh ginger, grated
½ cup white wine (riesling, pinot gris or chardonnay)
2 Tbsp hoisin sauce
1 Tbsp light soy sauce
¼ cup water or chicken stock
2 Tbsp brown sugar
To serve
6-8 baby bok choy, cut in half lengthways
soy sauce, to drizzle
sesame oil, to drizzle
steamed rice
Method
Preheat oven to 220degC.
Put pork in a colander and pour boiling water over the skin. Dry pork well with paper towels. Slash a few shallow cuts into the meat side. Mix five-spice and oil together and rub into the meat side only. Rub salt into the skin, getting into the score marks. Place pork on a rack in a roasting tray, skin-side down, and put in hot oven. Pour about 1 cup of water into the tray (top this up throughout cooking as it prevents smoking).
After 15min turn pork over so that it is skin-side up and continue to roast for 30min-40min. The skin should be golden and starting to crackle.
Cook rice to serve with the meal. While rice is cooking switch the oven to grill for 5min-10min to give the crackling a final blast, watching carefully so it doesn't burn. Rest pork in a warm place for 10min. To make the sauce, heat oil in a medium frypan on medium heat. Cook shallot, garlic, chilli and ginger for 2min-3min, then add wine and allow to bubble rapidly before adding remaining sauce ingredients. Stir together and simmer for about 5min until sauce is slightly sticky.
Steam or boil bok choy for 1min-2min until wilted, and drizzle with a little soy sauce and sesame oil. Cut pork belly into slices.
To serve
Spoon some rice on to each plate and top with bok choy and a piece of pork belly. Spoon over the caramelised chilli sauce.
