"Honestly, I was testing just how high I can fly with my passion for the art of cooking. My dish is chicken and rosemary cooked as a traditional South African potjiekos served with parsley dumplings . It's from heaven," said Masuge.

"I love the rosemary aroma and bacon flavour. What is special about this dish is the dumplings cook together inside the potjie and they soak up all the vegetable, chicken, bacon and herb taste," she added.

Kia Cook-Off SA 2012 is a new local cooking show on the television menu with a difference - bringing together 27 South Africans to compete for the honour of cooking the best one-pot dish in the country. What's more special is they are not trained chefs but unsung heroes and heroines making the best home cooked meal. Contestants hail from townships and suburbs throughout the country bringing curry recipes handed down from generation to generation, potjie recipes that were developed in the "bush" and have been improvised with ingredients that whet the tastebuds of South Africa.

Masuge, who matriculated at Semetsa High and studied at the Academy of Learning and Damelin, said she was inspired in the kitchen by her mom but her modern day hero chefs include Gordon Ramsay, Eric Lanlard and Jamie Oliver.

She said there is no secret ingredient to tasting success in the kitchen. "Trust me there is no secret ingredient, it's the love and passion that I bring along when I cook," she said.

Masuge said she entered Kia Cook-Off to win. And if she wins the competition she would invest in a small kitchen and hopefully one day host her own cooking show on television.

Catch all the drama, all the action, and all the delicious recipes in Kia Cook-Off SA 2012 on The Home Channel, channel 182 on DStv on Thursday nights at 20:30.