A DUNFERMLINE woman will be cooking up a storm on tonight's episode of MasterChef.
Vijaya Kunaparaju, 37, was born in Andhra Pradesh, South Indian, but moved to Scotland with her two children and her husband.
Tonight (Monday, May 8) she will be competing with eight other contestants to try to secure a place in the semi finals.
Vijaya, who's first memory of cooking was guessing the spices by their smell in her mother's kitchen, is "thrilled" to be in the competition.
"MasterChef is one of best platforms to showcase the dishes that are close to your heart," she said. "I want to challenge myself to push the boundaries with food and my own cooking. It was in my bucket list for a long time and I am so thrilled to be taking part."
Vijaya's mum, taught her how to cook and cooking is how she honours her and celebrates her Indian heritage.
She added: "I’m a home cook with lot of passion towards authentic Indian dishes and presenting them with a modern touch. My mum is my biggest inspiration for starting off my cooking journey.
“I remember helping my mum when I was four years old and trying to name each spice by smelling them, it was a fun game we liked to play.
"Now my daughter inspires me a lot to experiment and explore different cuisines depending on what she fancies eating."
The IT consultant dreams of opening her own restaurant where she can share authentic Southern Indian flavours and cuisine, and believes battling it out on MasterChef will get her closer to realising that dream.
Tune in to BBC One tonight at 8pm to find out how she gets on.
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