How to cook with Indigenous ingredients at home with Nornie Bero

Torres Strait Islander chef Nornie Bero's cookbook shows how easy and delicious it is to use ingredients like saltbush and warrigal greens every day.

Nornie Bero's Mabu Mabu cookbook features plenty of Indigenous Australian recipes that you can try at home. Source: Supplied

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"When I first opened up my cafe [Mabu Mabu Tuck Shop], a customer said to me, 'I didn't know that Indigenous people had a cuisine', and I thought that was weird. Well, we've got to eat, you know?" says chef Nornie Bero. 

At her Mabu Mabu Tuck Shop in Melbourne's inn-western suburb of Yarraville and Big Esso restaurant in the CBD, the chef has been showcasing Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal cuisine for years. Now, she's taking things further with a cookbook called Mabu Mabu: An Australian Kitchen Cookbook.

Mabu Mabu, which means 'help yourself’ in her first language, Meriam Mir, introduces us to Bero with colourful anecdotes of spearfishing octopus and preparing damper with her dad. She then presents ingredients of the native pantry, before she shares recipes.

She writes that she wants to take native ingredients out of fancy restaurants and bring them into home kitchens. "I got sick of the idea of people thinking that Indigenous flavours and ingredients are superfoods. I want to make sure that they are affordable for everyone, of all generations, whatever the income bracket they're in. We should be eating more of it," she says.

Torres Strait Islander chef Nornie Bero is sharing how to cook with Indigenous Australian food. Source: Supplied

Where to start?

Bero cooks with very little salt and prefers to use herbs, like saltbush, and succulents, like karkalla and samphire, as substitutes. When it comes to seeds, she can't go past the heat of pepperberry, which has a "clove-like flavour and numbing heat". That's what you'll find in the pepper shaker at her venues, as well as in her kitchen.

Emu is her native meat of choice. She recommends marinating it and barbecuing it until medium-rare and charred on the outside. The gamey flavour works a charm with her saltbush and warrigal-greens chimichurri. She's also known for her kangaroo-tail bourguignon, which is cooked slowly until the meat falls off the bone.

Making flavoured butter is an easy way to showcase native ingredients. Bero's wattleseed butter has a "hazelnutty coffee taste" that goes well with baked goods, and her saltbush and pepperberry butter will take a roast chicken to the next level.

"Sometimes we're stuck with eating bland food, and then everybody puts salt and pepper all over it. Why are we doing that when we could have more balance of flavours," she asks.

Bero suggests trying her semur chicken recipe, which is a reflection of Torres Strait multiculturalism. Her damper, the bread she grew up eating, is also a must. She has several versions, including one with pumpkin and another with wattleseed.

Like most of her recipes, she makes sure they're accessible. "I don't want to make something complicated. I want you to be able to enjoy native flavours without all the hard work," she explains.

Where to find native ingredients?

Lack of availability is one of the main reasons why Australians don't cook with more Indigenous ingredients. However, while it's true that they aren't widely available just yet, you only have to know where to look.

Food markets, like Melbourne's Prahran Market and Adelaide Central Market, stock native ingredients: from finger lime to emu. Farmers' markets, spice shops and speciality grocers are also a good bet. If you can't find what you're looking for, ask for it: the more we ask for native ingredients, the more chance we'll find them on the shelves next time.

You can also order some ingredients online, including from shops such as Indigiearth. When possible, prioritise Indigenous-owned businesses. 

Mabu Mabu and Big Esso carry in-store and online ingredients like strawberry gum and cinnamon myrtle, as well as teas, sauces and pickled succulents. Soon, they will even offer a range of fresh produce.

There are also plenty of native edible plants you can grow at home. Lemon myrtle is easy to grow in a pot, and so are warrigal greens (which have the added bonus of not shrinking as much as English spinach when cooked). Foraging is also possible, but you'll most likely need a license.

"We have something unique that comes out of our beautiful soil here and it is ours," says Bero. "And it's got so much flavour!"

 

The Mabu Mabu cookbook is published by Hardie Grant and is available from Mabu Mabu and bookstores.

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