Profession: journalist, activist and news anchor

Speciality dish: Italian meatballs

Few can boast they've had a President around for dinner but Indira is one. A self-confessed MasterChef fan, Poh being her favourite past contestant, Indira is ready to get into the kitchen and impress the judges.

"When he was in Australia, the President of East Timor called me. I was expecting we'd go out for dinner but he said he hadn't had a home cooked meal in three months so I invited him around. It was so nerve-wracking. I did my research and found he liked Indian food which isn't my strength. My mum suggested a traditional fish curry with 37 herbs and spices. There was no time for a test run but he really enjoyed it, and asked for the recipe. I've never cooked it since though because the fear from the whole experience is still so strong!"

Journalistically trained to cope under pressure, Indira recognises that in order to keep control in the kitchen, she needs to cook to her strengths.

"Cooking in someone else's kitchen is difficult because there's a real unknown element there. I tend not to cook anything too fussy or too styled. With me it tends to be one pot or one platter and everyone helps themselves."

"My specialty dish is Italian meatballs. It's really rustic and simple, and I cook it a lot as it's my husband's favourite. I've tried to work on the dish a bit to make it a bit more televisual!"

"I'm my harshest critic however and even if I cook something the judges like, I will still find fault with it. With criticism, I do tend to cry! I'm a home cook though, and I can only do my best."

A largely self taught cook, Indira loves to experiment with her dishes but admits that her disasters have all been sweet related.

"My friends and family say I have an uncanny ability to create gourmet food from leftovers. I hate wasting stuff and so I like the challenge of opening the fridge and seeing what I can create."

"I'm not a cake baker but I did try to expand my repertoire by making biscuits once. I don't know what I did but they turned out like roof tiles!"

"Once, Andrew Hanson from The Chaser came over for dinner. He's really serious about his food and a home ice-cream maker extraordinaire - he loves to make all sorts of strange flavours and so I wanted to impress him. I made a chilli ice-cream for dessert, and lets just say I over did it with the chilli's."