Five top chefs talk about the signature dish they have made their own

They cook for hundreds of people every week, but these chefs have one dish they make that always has their heart.

Sokyo's Chase Kojima has a ceviche sign off. Source: Jordan Munns

--- Season 3 of Cook like and Italian with Silvia Colloca airs Tuesdays at 8pm on SBS Food, or stream it free via SBS on Demand ---

 

Italian home cooks always have a signature dish that families just can't get enough of and for Silvia Colloca's friend Silvana Gigliotti, that dish is arancini.

It's a recipe that has been in her family for generations and when her kids were younger, she used to make them every week in big batches then freeze them. "Then as you want them, you take them out and you deep fry them," Gigliotti tells Colloca on Cook Like an Italian. "Straight from the freezer."

It's no wonder that an incredibly tasty snack with that kind of versatility became Giglotti's signature dish.

Which got us thinking: which dish would some of Australia's leading chefs call their 'signature dish'? It's a question that begs to be asked because with access to thousands of recipes and the expertise to pull every single one of them off with aplomb, which dish really has their heart?

Hun Loong: Handmade fishball soup

Head chef at Chatswood's popular Malaysian eatery Amah by Ho Jiak, Hun Loong says his signature dish would have to be fishball soup, which originated in the province of Shantou in Guangzhou, China. 

"It is a dish that is really close to my heart," he says. "When I was a kid, my grandmother used to make it for me and it was my favourite childhood dish. She would get up before sunrise to get the freshest fish from the markets. She would make this dish from scratch, labouring over it all day just to put a smile on everyone's faces at dinner."

As a kid, Loong would sit in the kitchen and watch his grandmother make the dish - sometimes she would even let him help her out. But it wasn't until the first Sydney (Warrang) lockdown that Loong ever made the dish entirely by himself.

"I had so much time at home to plan what to cook everyday, so I decided to recreate it," he explains. "All my favourite memories with my grandmother came back when I made and tasted it then...  Through this dish, my grandma taught me the meaning of cooking."

He has since added fishball soup to the menu at Amah and he makes it from scratch every single day. "I want to share my favourite childhood dish and the heart-warming memories that I have with every single person who comes through our doors."

Brendan Fong: Kokoda

Like Loong, Brendan Fong has only recently started making the dish he reckons defines him, Fijian kokoda.

Brendan Fong says kokoda is basically a Fijian-style ceviche eaten with boiled taro or cassava and plenty of chilli. Source: Supplied

"It's one of those dishes that I can never make better than my mum or even replicate so I have always been lucky to have her make it for me," says the Lily Mu executive head chef.

He recently added it to the Lily Mu menu where he made it his own by adding Thai and Vietnamese flavours like fish sauce and chilli and garlic paste. "I love to cook it for my parents to see if it's as good as they make it but it never is," he confesses.

"This dish always reminds me of family holidays in Fiji. It's a dish that is very close to my heart and has a lot of sentimental memories of family gatherings that I will never forget."

Chau Tran: Cơm hến

Cơm hến has long been a traditional dish of fishermen in the coastal Thua Thien Hue area of Vietnam. "Hến" are tiny clams that are abundant in Hue but are considered unsellable by local fishermen. Hence they're reserved to cook a meal for the fishermen themselves. 

"I'd never seen it in restaurants in Australia before we put in on the menu," says Chau Tran, owner of Cash Only Diner. "[I'd] only ever had it growing up when my mother made it or when I'd been in Hue."

Though it's fancied up at Cash Only Diner, cơm hến is a very humble dish, familiar to fishing villager who often live all year round on boats, floating and fishing on the river. Source: Supplied

The dish is full of texture from the clams or pippies, which go through a two-stage cooking process. It has a lovely puffed rice crisp and fresh herbs and chilli sitting as a crown. A small teapot full of a wonderfully aromatic, herby broth is served alongside. 

"It's wonderfully moreish, fresh and textural, but most of all it is such a great interactive dish," says Tran. "People can add as much or as little veg, herbs, clams or broth [as they like]."

Siddharth Kalyanaraman: Gosht nihari

"This dish is one of my favourite foods to eat, period," says Siddharth Kalyanaraman, head chef at Sebel Pinnacle Valley Resort. "It is one of the first complex dishes I learnt how to make and it opened up my mind to the beauty of Indian food, the use of spices and their subtle role in complementing the main ingredient to make the dish spectacular."

Kalyanaraman first encountered gosht nihari on the streets of Old Delhi when he found himself eating at a hole in the wall after all the more popular restaurants were crowded. An elderly cook served the dish up with a simple side of griddled bread.

Siddharth Kalyanaraman's signature dish, Old Delhi nihari gosht. Source: Adam Liaw

Get Kalyanaraman's recipe here.

"To date it is one of the tastiest things I have ever eaten," Kalyanaraman says. "I bombarded him with questions which he gracefully answered. To this day the spice blend I use is the one I have learnt from him.

"I would call this my signature dish because it has travelled with me across India and now from India to Australia, constantly evolving with my learning and pursuit of new culinary skill and knowledge."

Chase Kojima: Hiramasa kingfish miso ceviche

When he first opened Sokyo, Chase Kojima had worked for Nobu since he was 19  years old. It was a pretty big deal to open his own place and he was looking to create a dish that would rival Nobu's signature yellowtail jalapeño sashimi.

Kojima first made hiramasa kingfish miso ceviche when he opened Sokyo. Source: Jordan K Munns

The dish he landed on was the punchy hiramasa kingfish miso ceviche and it's been his best seller at both Sokyo and Kiyomi ever since.

"This one is my customers' favourite," says Kojima. "It shows what type of fun and playful flavours and taste they can expect when they get this early in their meal."