Tucker tricks

USING professional know-how, wit and imagination, chef Mathew Cribb and Beryl Van-Oploo are infusing contemporary cooking with Australian indigenous ingredients. They are combining crocodile ravioli with a lemon myrtle bisque; drunken kangaroo pie with mushy peas; twice-cooked wild boar shoulder with an Illawarra plum and chilli sauce; chargrilled saltbush lamb rump with a warrigal green and bunya nut pesto; and a native finger lime tart with wild berry coulis.

"It's always been a passion of mine to introduce native food to everybody," says Aboriginal elder Van-Oploo, known as Aunty Beryl. "We've always protected the food, because we've survived off the land for thousands of years; we never destroyed it, we just took what we needed. Our diets were healthy. [Previously] it just didn't feel right but now is the time to put it out there."

She started Yaama Dhiyaan, a catering service, function centre and hospitality training school for Aboriginal youngsters, in October 2006, in partnership with the Redfern-Waterloo Authority. "We do it with an Aboriginal focus and we're very proud of what we do," she says. "When we talk about the food, we talk about it with our heart. And now people are starting to appreciate it."

Yaama Dhiyaan means "welcome friends and family" in the Yuwaalaraay language of Van-Oploo's Gammillaroi people of north-west NSW. The emu, her mother's totem, features on Yaama's logo - as well as on many of its plates, brought in from indigenous emu farmers in Queensland.

"Some people won't eat the national emblem, so they won't eat kangaroo or emu," Cribb says. "But emu's nice, it's very mild. It's not as gamey as something like pheasant. Some people think it's beef, because the meat's quite red and very lean."

Also appearing on his innovative menus, which carefully bridge contemporary tastes and the complex flavours of indigenous produce, are ingredients such as native limes, quandongs (an indigenous peach), native yams, pepperberry, bush mint, aniseed myrtle and home-made jams from indigenous berries.

"Bush mint is hard to describe," he says. "It smells strongly like a mouthwash or something, that medicinal quality - so that's used very lightly. Aniseed myrtle is really nice; it has a strong aniseed flavour. It's something you can use a lot or a little, as a replacement for Thai basil or fennel, so that can go into anything from Mediterranean cooking to Asian and Thai cooking. Illawarra plums are a little native plum, very strong, almost spicy or peppery flavour."

To prepare crocodile, which he says can be a relatively bland meat despite its high price, Cribb likes to serve it fried in wontons, or first tenderised by marinating it in kiwi fruit.

"These posh dos they've been doing, people just love the food," says Denny Hall of the Redfern-Waterloo Authority. "The return clientele is very high. They get very excited because Mathew is a great chef and the food tastes fantastic and is very different."

The functions, often held daily in Yaama's long, light-filled room next to the Carriageworks and railyards buildings in Darlington, give Yaama's students solid experience in a professional environment. They've successfully placed many young graduates, including some in the city's top hotels.

There are plans to build traditional Koori cooking pits, plant an indigenous garden and open a cafe later in the year, so everyone can try Yaama's food.

The Slow Food Sydney group is host to a dinner at Yaama Dhiyaan on Thursday, with a menu using local, seasonal and indigenous produce. Funds raised will help send Van-Oploo and Cribb to Slow Food's 2008 Terre Madre in Italy, where they hope to present their unique food.

Tickets for the Slow Food indigenous dinner on Thursday: $120 for non-members. See info@slowfoodsydney.com or 9960 8598.

A smithy gets a market makeover

Earthmovers are levelling the ground in the old blacksmiths' workshop at the Darlington railyards in preparation for the new Eveleigh Markets. Next to the vast Carriageworks performing arts centre, the undercover markets are set to open in spring at the refurbished heritage site. They will sell fresh local produce, gourmet foods and arts and crafts at weekends. In summer, there are plans for a Thursday night hot food and noodle market. A new pedestrian bridge over the rail line will link the precinct with Alexandria. In the longer term, the markets may become a permanent daily produce market, Sydney's answer to Melbourne's long-established Queen Victoria Market.

Eveleigh Markets, 235 Wilson Street, Darlington. Contact Denny Hall, Redfern Waterloo Authority, on 9202 9100, or denny.hall@rwa.nsw.gov.au.

Photo: Sahlan Hayes- Clever combinations ... from left, Aunty Beryl Van-Oploo, chef Mathew Cribb and Denny Hall at Yaama Dhiyaan.

Source: www.smh.com.au/news/good-living/tucker-tricks/2008/06/30/1214677920334.html