A home cook from Barking puts her culinary skills to the test on MasterChef this week.

Head of marketing Bhavina, 31, features in the fourth heats week of the BBC's amateur cooking competition, which continues at 8pm tonight (Tuesday, April 12).

The next batch of auditionees will be aiming to challenge the palettes and please the tastebuds of judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace by cooking their signature dish.

Bhavina, who lives in Barking with her best friend, said: “I grew up in a big family, with my mum cooking Gujarati (North West India) dishes.

"I like cooking traditional recipes that she cooked when we were little but also my own take on them - Indian food with a twist I guess you could say."

Barking and Dagenham Post: Bhavina, 31, says her cooking is inspired by the traditional Gujurati dishes her mum made for her growing upBhavina, 31, says her cooking is inspired by the traditional Gujurati dishes her mum made for her growing up (Image: Shine TV/BBC)

Born and raised in Birmingham, Bhavina said she has moved around after university with jobs but has now settled down in London, where she has lived for the past three years.

As for why she entered series 18 of MasterChef, she said: "I feel like I’ve found my path with my career and have become established in what I’m doing.

"I just want to push myself really, a little out of my comfort zone in some ways."

In tonight’s episode (April 12), nine contestants arrive for their first test: the audition round.

The judges won't watch the hopefuls cook – in a series 18 twist, they will taste each dish in the new tasting room.

Like diners in a restaurant, they will judge each contestant’s food solely on the plate that is put in front of them.

They will pick their three favourite dishes and give those cooks a MasterChef apron - and immunity from cooking in the next round.

The remaining six contestants will get another chance to impress the judges and win themselves an apron - cooking a sweet dish if their offering in the first round was savoury and vice versa.

But this time, John and Gregg are in the kitchen watching their every move.

Only four cooks will join the three already through to the next round of challenges, so the pressure and the stakes will be high.

MasterChef continues at 8pm tonight (Tuesday), Thursday and Friday on BBC One.