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Island Echoes With Nornie Bero
series • cooking
PG
series • cooking
PG
"Your natural supermarket comes from the oceans and gardens and what gets picked from the trees," says Nornie Bero in Island Echoes, the series where she revisits her island home. The , served at her Melbourne restaurant Big Esso and showcased in her Mabu Mabu cookbook, makes glorious use of Indigenous Australian ingredients and features some of the island dishes she grew up with, along with influences from other parts of Australia and around the world.
Here, from a pretty hibiscus cake to glorious seafood dishes that reflect the key role seafood plays in island food, are a selection of the great recipes Nornie Bero has shared with us.
This dish is prepared in a similar style to ceviche. "It’s always best to make it with fresh fish straight out of the ocean. The raw fish will cure in the citrus and coconut to create a smooth, fragrant and refreshing starter that is perfect on a warm spring or summer day," Bero says about this dish, shared in her book Mabo Mabo.
Nornie Bero's Mabu Mabu cookbook features plenty of Indigenous Australian recipes that you can try at home. Source: Supplied
How strikingly pretty! And a showcase for Indigenous ingredients: this is made with ground pepperberry and dried hibiscus in the cake, and decorated with strawberry gum cream and hibiscus in syrup.
Credit: Jiwon Kim
A recipe shared in Island Echoes, these lemon myrtle fish puffs take inspiration from a Vietnamese dish, chạo tôm – a deep-fried fish cake served on a sugar cane stick. The inclusion of lemon myrtle and samphire add a modern Indigenous twist.
Credit: Island Echoes
"This is my dad’s favourite recipe. When money was tight, we lived in one bedroom and shared the kitchen with four other adults. My first taste of beef came from a tin of corned beef – it’s a staple for every Island kitchen. My dad used to make it five different ways, including with raw onions in a sandwich, in a curry paste, or in a broth," Bero says.
Credit: Armelle Habib
The vibrant combination of native Indigenous karkalla and samphire make for a delicious and unique pickle, elevated by a spiced red wine pickling liquid, in a recipe Bero share on The Cook Up. Great with bread and cheese.
Pickled pepperberries and succulents Credit: Jiwon Kim
Another taste of the Torres Strait Islands with arcul (pippies), brought to life with flavour from garlic, saltbush, chillies and warrigal greens. The cassava chips offer a great texture contrast.
Credit: Island Echoes
Egyptian dukkah gets a modern-day Indigenous Australian twist with macadamias, pepperberries and ground bush tomatoes with this recipe, where the mix is sprinkled over charred figs.
Figs with macadamia and bush tomato dukkah Credit: Jiwon Kim
This easy-to-make rice salad brims with native Aussie flavours, including macadamias, river mint, finger limes and karkalla, a succulent that adds a salty pop to dishes.
Wild rice salad with macadamia cream and karkalla Credit: Adam Liaw
"This always reminds me of home," says Bero of this coconut, pumpkin, taro, cassava and sweet potato stew, a Torres Strait Island favourite.
Sop sop. Credit: Freshly Picked with Simon Toohey
Another recipe shared in Island Echoes, this seafood plate boasts punchy flavours.
Credit: Island Echoes
Wattleseed is one of Nornie's favourite ingredients and in she uses it to prepare a childhood staple, damper. Delicious slathered with sweet, syrupy butter!
Credit: Frank Yang
A delicate native herb that is related to peppermint and spearmint, river mint – also known as rambling mint bush or mentha Australis – has long been used in teas, but can also be used to flavour seafood.
Credit: Island Echoes
"It’s super simple: you boil everything down, and the native ingredients add so much punch. This is the cake I make every year and people love it. It celebrates our Australian nuts, muntries, quandongs and spices such as pepperberries. It’s really got everything, and it’s the easiest Christmas cake you’re ever going to make," Nornie says of this fantastic fruit cake.
Credit: Armelle Habib
