It’s been a big month for Jhané Gibson. The 29-year-old emerged victorious, winning the 22nd series of MasterChef after cooking a menu filled with dishes inspired by her family and British-Jamaican heritage.
She said after her achievement: “I am a MasterChef champion! Those words feel so funny coming out of my mouth, but I am ecstatic, and I honestly don’t think I’ve ever been happier.
“I can’t wait for all the exciting things that are coming next. I hope this trophy shows that if you go after your dreams, it might just pay off.”
Now, the star is sharing some of the recipes she cooked while on the show, including her Grandmother’s final-winning cake…
Thai green curry fried chicken
Serves 4
600g chicken thighs
2 litres vegetable oil
150ml coconut milk
For the green curry paste
2 stalks lemongrass
25g ginger
20g galangal
4 cloves of garlic
3 spring onions (green tops)
2 medium banana shallots
20g coriander
20g Thai basil
10 lime leaves
1 pandan leaf
4 green birdseye chillies
Juice of ¼ of a lime
1 tsp Thai shrimp paste
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp palm sugar
For the dredging flour mix
100g rice flour
200g corn flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp chilli flakes
Jhané Gibson, 29, after winning the 22nd series of the famed competition (Photo: Graeme Hunter PIctures/Shine Tv Productions 2025)
Use a blender to combine all of the green curry paste ingredients. It should be thick and chunky. Chop the chicken into halves and place in a large bowl. Pour over half the paste and stir so that the chicken is covered. Allow to marinate for as long as possible (if overnight, even better).
In another bowl, add the rice flour, corn flour, salt and chilli flakes and stir. Coat the marinated thighs in the flour mix and set aside.
Heat the vegetable oil in a pan to 180°C or set your deep fryer to 180°C. You’ll need enough oil to make sure that your chicken is completely covered when frying.
Deep-fry the chicken. Fry a few pieces at a time so that you don’t overcrowd the pan (this will help it stay crispy).
Once the chicken has turned a deep, dark golden colour, rest it on a rack or plate. It should be cooked but the best way to know is to cut a little bit off and taste it. It should take around 10-15 minutes to fry.
To make a green curry sauce, add a splash of vegetable oil to a pan and pour in the rest of the paste.
Fry on a medium heat for five minutes. Add the coconut milk and leave to simmer for 10 minutes. Serve with the chicken.
Sri Lankan-inspired prawn curry
Serves 4
For the curry sauce
2 large brown onions
20g ginger
6 cloves garlic
3 large tomatoes
6 stalks of fresh curry leaves
3 green birdseye chillies
1 tsp turmeric powder
½ tsp chilli powder
1 tbsp cumin powder
1 tsp mustard seeds
½ tsp cinnamon powder
1 tbsp coriander powder
1 tsp black pepper
1 vegetable stock cube
1 tsp brown sugar
200ml coconut milk
Neutral frying oil such as vegetable oil
200ml water
170g-250g king prawns (preferably with heads on for extra flavour)
Sri Lankan prawn curry (Photo: Provided)
Rough chop the onions, ginger and tomatoes and set aside. Pierce a hole in the birdseye chillies to get some of the chilli flavour out without releasing too much of the heat.
Cut off the heads of the prawns, and remove the shells.
Pour some vegetable oil into a pot and fry the onions, ginger, garlic and tomatoes. Add 100ml of water to help the onions soften quicker and place a lid on top. This should take around 10 minutes. Taking your time in this step will make sure you really build flavour and texture.
Once your onions are really soft, add another splash of oil to the pot. Add the dry spices and stir for around three minutes.
Once the onions, garlic, ginger, tomatoes and spices have come together like a paste in your pot, add the vegetable stock cube and brown sugar. Add the coconut milk and 100ml of water. It should be starting to come together like a sauce. Add a generous pinch of salt. Add the prawns so that they can simmer in the coconut curry sauce. Simmer over a low heat with the lid on for around five minutes or until the prawns are cooked.
If you’re using prawns that had heads on, add in three of the leftover heads to add a more intense prawn flavour to the sauce.
Add the pierced chillies and curry leaves. Simmer for a further six minutes without the lid on or until your curry sauce has thickened up.
Grandma’s vegan rum and ginger loaf
Serves 8
For the cake
100g Stork butter
80g golden caster sugar
80g black treacle
80g muscovado sugar
20g fresh ginger
100ml water
100ml barista oat milk
230g plain flour
1½ tsp bicarbonate soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp salt
30g crystallised stem ginger
For the syrup
50ml golden syrup
100ml spiced rum
50ml water
3 slices fresh ginger, cut thin
Preheat the oven to 180°C/ 160°C fan/350°F/gas mark 4.
Place the butter, caster sugar, treacle and muscovado into a pan and melt over a very low heat. Once melted, take off the heat and set aside to cool.
Blend the ginger with the water and strain with a sieve. Add the resulting ginger juice and the oat milk to the above butter mix once it has cooled.
In a separate bowl, add the flour, bicarb, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Chop the stem ginger to small bite-sized chunks. Slowly whisk the butter mix into the dry flour mixture until combined.
Line a loaf baking tin with baking paper. Pour in the cake mixture and place in the oven for 30-35 minutes.
For the rum syrup, add all the ingredients to a small pan. Simmer for five minutes until it starts bubbling.
Once your cake has finished baking, use a toothpick to make small holes in the top. Use a spoon to pour on the rum syrup. Place the cake back into the oven for 10 minutes on a low heat, then allow to cool before serving.