01x06 - Paddock to Plate

[bunniefuu]

I'm Jimmy Shu.

My parents were Chinese
but I grew up in Sri Lanka,

working in my dad's restaurant,
and I've been a foodie ever since.

Nearly 30 years ago,

I moved to Darwin in
the Northern Territory,

in the top end of Australia,
to open my restaurant, Hanuman.

And this tropical city has
had my heart ever since.

Closer to Asia than any other
Australian capital city,

the Top End is a rich melting pot

of Indigenous culture,
the flavours of Asian migration,

and incredible
tropical produce, creating

a vibrant, dynamic food scene
that's one of Australia's

best kept secrets.

Wow, wow.

Welcome to my Taste of the Territory.

Indigenous people have been
sustained by the animals of the land

for tens of thousands of years,
passing on traditional hunting

and cooking methods
from generation to generation.

And the many cultures that
have come here since,

have added the techniques
and influences of their own

heritage, making meat an important
and varied part of modern Australian

cuisine - from the age-old
traditional methods,

the Bininj people use
to cook magpie goose,

to the smoked perfection
of a Hong Kong-style roast duck.

In this episode,

I explore how different
cultures across the Top End,

have created an incredible
spectrum of flavours,

from paddock to plate.

I'm spending a few days
in the stunning Yellow Waters Region

of Kakadu National Park,
about 3 hours east of Darwin.

A world heritage site,
Kakadu National Park is a living

cultural landscape, home to vast
ecosystems of flora and fauna that

have nourished the Bininj people
for over 60 thousand years.

I'm meeting my friend, Mandy Muir,
who's been a Senior Cultural Guide

for this area for over 20 years
and is going to tell me a little bit

more about this incredible landscape
and its rich multitude

of food sources.

And welcome to Walungurru country,
Jimmy.

This is my mother's country.

In my language we say...
[SPEAKS INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE]

- It mean 'Mother Country'.
- Thank you.

I'm what you call a Jungai,
which is like a caretaker.

My mum's the senior traditional
owner for the area.

The wetland system provides a lot
of the bush food sources.

A lot of which, like,
my family have lived

on for generations, including
the ginga.

- The ginga?
- The saltwater crocodile.

What is the most sought
after bush food here?

Well, the most sought after bush
food has got to be the Bamurru,

which is the word of the day.

Bamurru is magpie geese.

When, uh, the time is right,
usually about August,

September, our wetlands
fill up with about, oh,

over a million magpie geese.

This country right here has got
the best magpie geese

in the Northern Territory.

Because our wetland system
is so rich and we've got plenty

of food source for the magpie geese.

Bush tucker and culture,
they are like husband and wife.

They go together.

And all of our cultures are based
around food, basically.

The landscape helps to tell us
what foods are at what time.

That's incredible.

Mandy, what a beautiful way
to finish a stunning day.

In my hands here, freshly
picked lotus flowers.

I'm gonna use this as my garnish
for tomorrow's cooking -

the magpie goose dumplings.

It's making my mouth water now.

After Mandy's wonderful
introduction to the Bamurru,

or the magpie goose,

I've come to Patonga Homestead
about 20 minutes from Yellow Waters,

to meet Mandy's brother, Ben Tyler.

Ben is a young Indigenous chef who's
passionate about combining his deep

cultural knowledge with
contemporary cuisine.

Today, he's going to show me how
to traditionally cook magpie goose.

I can't wait to finally taste
this famous delicacy.

- Hello, Mandy.
- Good morning, Jimmy.

- I went hunting this morning.
- Wow.

And I got you nice fat Bamurru.

You promised me a feed.

So I'll come back later and hopefully
it'll be cooked by then.

I'll do my best.

- I'll see you later then.
- What a beautiful specimen this is.

- Look at the colours, huh?
- It's beautiful, yeah.

I learnt how to pluck goose and
cook goose from my family, my mum.

My uncles.

Like, growing up in Kakadu,
always out hunting or camping.

Bamurru is a very
favourite bush tucker.

And it's seasonal, which is now.

I think there's going to be
an added bonus to this meat.

It's going to have that
little smoky taste.

Yeah, so it's really
important, Jimmy, that

we don't waste any of the food,
you know, that we get

from the country.

This is how our old people
have always done it.

In a way that honours
the animals, you know.

We don't waste.
We use pretty much all of it.

And a lot more people are foraging.

Getting to know Australian
ingredients, you know, from the bush.

Which, Aboriginal
people have been using

for a very long time.

Recently, archaeologists have found,
you know, archaeological evidence

that now confirmed that, uh,
Bininj people have been living

in Kakadu for more than 65 thousand
years, looking after the country,

passing on the traditions
of cooking, sharing.

A smorgasbord of Bamurru.

That's a beautiful
piece of breast meat.

The first taste I'm getting
is like a very good steak

because it's perfectly cooked,
no salt, no seasoning,

pure meat, full of flavour.

Now this one, I'm not sure if you're
game enough to try the brain.

Now that stood out.

It's almost like a pate.

Very similar texture.
Taste as well.

Which is a big surprise.
I do love my pate.

I wanna give you a cuddle.
This is fabulous. Oh.

I'm so glad you can
enjoy this with me.

I've discovered something today.

Ben, I've been so inspired

by the surroundings
and the abundance of food.

I'm going to be cooking
a magpie goose dumpling.

It's going to be a combination
of your culture and my culture.

This is such a beautiful
piece of fillet here.

Cutting it all fine?

Yes, I need to because
it's going into a dumpling.

Others would put it into a mincer,
but I always like my mince diced

because that'll hold the moisture.

- Beautiful. It's so good.
- In it goes.

Now, we're going to put all these
ingredients into this.

And I'm going to get
you to help me, Ben.

- Celery first?
- Then carrots.

Now spring onions or
you could use chives.

- And then a bit of the raw sugar?
- The ginger, yes.

There's 2 teaspoons of it.

- Now this is the mandarin peel.
- It smells beautiful.

And that will take away
a bit of the gaminess.

Yes. Yeah, so instead of using fat,
I'm using some egg white.

And that's a bit of oyster sauce
there, just the one teaspoon.

- Salt?
- There is another ingredient

that is missing, the sesame oil.

It's very distinct.

And I'm now going to put
a little bit more pepper.

And finally, it's going
to be the cornflour.

Now, I think we're all ready
to make the dumplings.

Now, I'm going to give you one
and you're going to try it.

So we've got a wrapper here.

We wet the sides so that
it's going to stick.

And then we bring it forward
and we give the first pinch.

And I'm having a little -
what do you call, a pleat.

This is my mum and dad's
comfort food back in China.

And we used to cook this.

Especially during the festival.

You've got the idea.
You've got it.

- I've got it.
- My mum would say, "It's not bad."

So we put some oil here.

And then we're going to half-fill
that with some water.

So we're first steaming it and then
as the water evaporates,

it's going to be lightly fried.

I'm going to quickly make a salad
with some water lilies that we've

got from the billabong.

I just love it, it
looks like a noodle.

- Yeah.
- And is this all edible?

Yes. And some starfruit,
from the homestead.

And I'm just gonna cut these
sideways so we can see the beautiful

seeds and textures.

That is so pretty.

Water lilies are abundant in Kakadu.

It's an important
food resource for us.

Have a look at that.

The water is all evaporating,
so it's been cooked,

poached, and then we're
going to give it that lovely...

..hopefully that crust.

So we're going to now plate up.

So a little bit of
that, not too much.

And I love balsamic vinegar,
it adds a little bit of east/west.

It looks beautiful, Jimmy.

Lovely colours and
textures and shapes.

There you have it.

The lotus flowers, your lilies,
your starfruit

and the magpie goose dumplings.

It's been great watching you develop
the flavours with these ingredients.

And you've brought
Kakadu into this dish

that draws on your culture as well.

- It's beautiful.
- Good?

- Hello, Jimmy.
- Mandy.

I'm here to collect up.

You promised me my dumplings
and I actually brought a fork.

I see, she's got her
own fork as well.

- Do I still get a job?
- Oh, lovely.

Thank you so much for having me
on your beautiful land.

- It's been a privilege, an honour.
- No worries.

You can cook in my kitchen any day.

Right, oh, good.

Meat is cooked in Southeast Asian
cuisine in many ways,

one of the most popular
being fragrant curries.

Asian influences are
an intrinsic flavour of

Darwin's local food scene,
and if you know where to look,

some of the region's best chefs
can be found at Darwin's weekend

markets, serving up ladles of rich,
spicy meat curries -

rivalling those found
at the bustling hawker

stalls across Asia.

Today, I'm spending the day with
mother and daughter power duo,

Samiah and Siti, who run
the very popular food stall,

Malaysian Taste, at
the Nightcliff Sunday Market -

one of the few places in Darwin
were you can savour the complex

flavours of authentic
Malaysian food, which is one

of my favourite cuisines.

I come to Darwin 1986,
to follow my husband.

I don't like it in the beginning
because I miss my family.

I can't speak English,
and then after 2, 3 months,

someone told me "Go to learn
how to speak this."

It's free at that time.
Yes, I'm going there every night.

I've been in the market
around 20 years.

My daughter said, "Oh, come on, Mum.
We try."

Oh, I say, "OK, why not?"
That's the beginning until now.

I never learnt from
a school or nothing.

I just learnt from my mum.

I like to cook, I like to try
something, you know.

I learn myself and then I go.
I go to my...give to my kid.

It's like making more
memories with my mum, like.

And then I could just like,
you know, pass it on to

my kids when I grow older.

You know, not much people know
about the Malaysian culture

or the food.

I've got lots of customer, they say,
"Oh, your food is really nice."

This make you happy
too, you know that?

People appreciate what you're doing.

Uh, what we plan to cook
is a beef rendang.

There's many versions in, like,
different countries.

But mostly the rendang
is coming from Malaysia.

And then from there, all the
neighbouring countries adopted it.

After Ramadan, which is like,

goes for 30 days, so it's like,
after fasting, it's called...

..a celebration called Hari Raya.

It's where we have, we all gather
as a family to eat together.

We always cook beef rendang.

- So it sounds very traditional.
- Yes, it is traditional.

That's from my mum, teach me that.
That's all I use.

So today, we are going
to use the beef rendang

into a roti wrap which is famous
for the Nightcliff Markets.

Every week, we make 12 kilos.
It's gone, like, 12:30 it's finished.

So you're starting off
with the lemongrass.

In the blender.
Three-quarter onion.

That's nice, this onion
is like a sweet, you know.

You've got about a thumb-sized piece
of ginger and about six pieces of...

Six pieces of garlic,
enough for 2 kilo of beef.

Pour a little bit water.

The chilli, we just put
a little bit water on that -

make like a chilli paste.

This chilli really is
from a dried chilli.

So you insist on the Malaysian.
Yes.

- Chilli powder.
- That's called Malaysian food.

- No fire as yet?
- Not yet.

Put all the stuff together
and then we put fire.

And then the blended ingredients.
The blended ones.

- And the chilli.
- Chilli.

When does the coconut milk go in?

Yes, we wait until the meat is soft.

- Oh, OK.
- And then put the coconut in.

We have to leave it, like, one hour.

- On a medium heat?
- Yes.

That lemongrass flavour
and the ginger is so good.

Well, I have a little
connection with Malaysia.

This is going back about 20 years
ago, when I opened the first

sushi restaurant there.

This was in Kuala Lumpur.

I loved the Malaysian food.

We have the Malay food,
we have Chinese food.

- The mix, yeah.
- Indian food.

- Yep, Indian food, yeah.
- And it was fantastic.

- Coconut now?
- Yeah. All of it.

Yep. All of it.

And then you gonna put, uh, salt,
little bit of sugar,

and I've got a little
bit of chicken stock.

It's perfect.
It's got everything in it.

- How do you say it? Sedap.
- Sedap.

While the rendang slow-cooks,
it's time to make the roti.

So how I make roti is from my dad.

So you just grab, uh,
flour and you just put oil on top.

Make sure, like, it's all moist.

And you just start flipping.

And you have to spread it out.

You just want to have that crunchy
taste to it and not just

floury and doughy.

And then you just fold
it from each end.

- And that's it.
- Beautiful.

If we know that it's going to be
busy at the markets,

then we do about 12.

- 12 kilos?
- Yeah.

And you get like around 200 pieces.

And how long does it
take you to make those 200?

An hour-and-a-half, maybe two hours.

Gee, that's, wow.

- So, every 30 seconds.
- Yes.

So, the rendang is dry already.

And ready to eat.

- Done.
- Beautiful.

That's it.

So this is how you
make the roti wrap.

Just grab a roti and you put
the rendang in the middle.

- Mm-hm.
- And then you put salad.

- Now is the salad pickled?
- Yeah.

- And the peanut sauce is homemade?
- Yes. Everything is homemade.

Mm. This is one of your innovations.

Yep.

I never thought peanut dressing
would go very well with rendang.

That's a first for me.

And it was magic.

- Terima kasih.
- Sama-sama.

You know, I independent.
I do everything myself.

We enjoy it.

It is, uh, hard work.

Mum's been waking up every
single Sunday morning.

Like 2 o'clock in the morning.
Just cooking fresh food.

And people don't realise that it's
so much hard work to put in.

The business and the recipes.
You know, have to keep going.

I'm getting really
confident in myself cooking.

With mum as well, because
she's been teaching me a lot.

If mum wants to retire,
then I'll probably

take over her business.

Why we do it is to,
like, make mum's food wide,

you know, like,
just making the world know

that her food's amazing.

I don't know what else to say.
It just makes me proud.

The art of roasting and barbecuing
meat is as old as fire itself,

and the different cuisines
of the world have perfected

different ways to do this.

Tucked away in Darwin's Smith Street
Mall, is a master of this art.

I'm going to take you to this
amazing lunch spot.

Danny Yuem's Roast & Noodles 328.

He cooks the best roast duck
I've ever eaten in my entire life.

And not only he's an amazing chef,
but he's also a great friend.

Danny grew up in Hong Kong,
and is one of the best Chinese chefs

I've ever met.

He's lived in the Territory for over


for his Hong Kong-style roast meats,
especially his roast duck.

In Hong Kong, we don't have very
rich family background,

so basically, when my mother
in a good mood, or celebrate someone

birthday or something,
my mother used to go then and buy

some Char Siu, which is a barbecue
pork, and that time,

we all sit together.

Looking at that food,
my mouth's watering.

What inspire me about my food, it's
all the food actually remind you

how you...young used to be.

How, how precious all this
food then used to be.

It's a memory?
Yes, I call it remembering.

My father is a chef.

Actually, when he first come
to Australia, in Sydney,

actually, do a dish-
washer, and then he learning these

things, and then after,
when we got here, first thing

is I go in the kitchen.

So that was my first day
and my experience in Australia

is Chinese kitchen.

And every chef I do that,
they taught me something.

So it's a roast technique
actually I learned

by probably five different
chefs, who tell me

different way to cook food.

So in a way,
I'm creating my own.

Well, you'd be my assistant.

Well, I'd love to, Danny.
I'd love to.

So, basically, a cup of sugar.

This is not Colonel Kentucky.

- This is Colonel Danny's.
- No, no, that's not.

- Colonel Danny's 51-spice mix.
- Yeah.

Oh, it smells magic here.

How many spices are in that mix?

The recipe says, starting, only six.

And then I fine-tune everything.

Now it become exactly what I like.

Yeah, I only need
a couple of pieces in there.

- Because it's very strong, Danny?
- Very strong, yeah.

So, spring onion,
then do like my mother do,

sewing the clothes.

Oh, I've been doing
that for 20 years now.

Basically, this is part of my life.
Sewing the duck.

The Chinese came here
how many years ago?

Far as I know, some in fact
are already fifth generation

in Darwin already.

So majority, I think,
is come in for the Gold Rush time.

And at least some of them
be fifth generation,

might be over a hundred
years, you know?

So Chinese food, I think,
been around here for a long time.

So what I see here,
he's pumping air into it.

Yeah.

The air is separating
the skin from the meat.

Separate the, skin and the meat,
so when you're cooking

all the skin actually stay crispy.

He will do the, the toasting around
the duck

and then put it in the dipper.

- It's red vinegar.
- Red vinegar?

Red wine vinegar, and also
white vinegar, and [INDISTINCT].

- Oh.
- Three things mixed.

Well, here you have it.
Danny's famous roast duck.

I cannot find words
to describe it, Danny.

Food is not just only food.

Food is all about love.

To me, I think my food
is touching people.

And every Saturday,
if you come in here,

you see family and
family and family.

And some of the family,
I know their father,

I know them, now I know their kid.

That's the three generations here
I serve.

Am I proud? Yes, I do.

This is definitely going to be
the last meal before

I kick the bucket.

I've seen Darwin's restaurant
culture greatly evolve,

from a cuisine based around
Australian pub food favourites,

to a varied and sophisticated
palette of global food trends.

One of the pioneers of fine dining
in Darwin is Marc Wagnon,

owner of Moorish Cafe,

Darwin's first tapas restaurant,
fusing local produce

with the flavours of
Spain and North Africa.

My wife and I, Gertrude,
we opened up in 2003,

having come back from
Europe and, you know,

discovered tapas over there.

And we just thought, "This
is a fabulous thing for Darwin."

I think, the style of eating,
trying lots of different things,

it's not going to fill you up and,
the climate of Darwin is perfect

for tapas and sharing and,

you know, we were pretty excited
about trying to do this

here in Darwin.

The first couple of years, people
didn't get it, you know?

They didn't understand a small
bowl of food.

They were like,
"What am I gonna do with that?

"That's not enough to eat."

You know, they didn't
understand they had to order,

like, five or six to share and,
and try lots of different things.

Obviously the food dining scene
here in Darwin's changed quite

a lot since then.

I think now it's the norm.

Everyone's doing the shared plates
and the shared tapas and,

and it's transformed to
all genres of food.

I, personally, certainly
like this style of eating.

It's a great way to try
different flavours.

Mark, what are you cooking tonight?

We've always tried to do as many
local ingredients as we could,

from the start.

So here I've just got,
this fabulous Eva Valley brisket.

Eva Valley Meats, amazing product.

Because it's one of the only
locally-sourced meats

here in Darwin where they actually
slaughter their own animals.

Literally 50 kilometres away.

Being Territory cattle,
it's different to your grain-fed

cattle or your grass-fed
cattle from down south.

You know, these are tough animals.

They're running
around in the bush.

The meat is a lot more
flavoursome because of that,

you know, because they're
working hard all the time.

Mm.

Straight on.

So this is the piquant
part of the dish.

So, piquant, in French,
means a little

bit spicy, or vinegary.

So what I've got in here,
Jimmy, is some brown

onion, crushed tomato,

balsamic vinegar, and some red wine.

When you cook it with the brisket
and it slow-braises,

you know, all those things
just meld into one.

Growing up with French parents,

I always felt that I was different
to, you know, to the average

Australian child
at school, you know?

Mum would always cook us a lot of

things that weren't very typical
of the Australian diet.

So, you know, mum used to cook
us tripe, ox tongue,

which was one of our
favourites, pigs' trotters.

So, we just grew up on all that sort
of lovely, different food, you know?

It was great.
Alright, I think that's done.

We just throw that in there
for about three to four hours.

When it comes to good
food, I'm very patient.

Excellent.

So what we have here, Jimmy,
is the brisket sitting on a small

bed of pumpkin puree,
the yellow squash, the okra,

and the baby zucchini
from the Rapid Creek Markets.

Local meat, with
the local vegetables.

Very well cooked.
Almost cuts like butter.

It still has a little bit
of texture, but still tender.

You've used some Asian ingredients -
that's typical Darwin, of course.

Things like the okra.

But I've never experienced
it done your Moorish way.

For us, what we try and do here is

bring those flavours from Spain,
North Africa, Middle Eastern

flavours together,
using as many of

the local ingredients as we can.

And that's what Darwin's renowned
for, is actually getting

ingredients from all over the world
and doing different things with them

because of our great,
multicultural society

that we have here.

Next time, I delve into the delicious
world of dessert,

all with a Top End twist.

Completely raw.
Highly, highly recommend it.

Good enough to serve
the king, I'm telling you.

I don't like blowing my trumpet,
but I think that's bloody good.