Amina Elshafei

Amina Elshafei is a Sydney local, who is a mum of two young children, wife, paediatric nurse and home cook. Born in Saudi Arabia to a South Korean mother and Egyptian father, Amina and her family immigrated to Australia in 1989 to start a new life. Amina’s parents ensured to educate their children about each of their cultures through food. Over the years, Amina’s love for her cultural food grew as well as her interest in learning about the evolving food culture in Australia.

In 2012, Amina’s passion for food was the motivator to apply to be a contestant on Masterchef Australia. Recently, Amina has reappeared on Masterchef Australia in 2020 as a returning contestant and remained a fan favourite by the audience and the new judges. The exposure on Masterchef Australia then paved the way for Amina to cook, promote food travels and provide food education not only locally in Australia, but in other countries such as South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, United Arab Emirates, Pakistan and England.

Without doubt, the most memorable achievement for Amina is the publication of her cookbook ‘Amina’s Home Cooking’ in 2015, under Penguin Books (Lantern imprint). The cookbook was an homage to her Egyptian and Korean cultural cooking, including a number of modernised recipes.

She currently produces recipes for food products and will recommence cooking classes in Sydney teaching Arabic and Korean cuisines. Furthermore, she maintains a social media platform on Instagram of which she also uses to promote her cultural cooking and love for food.

Guest Recipes