Mod Oz

What constitutes modern Australian cuisine?

We all know that Australian cuisine has changed dramatically over the last three decades. When I was a kid in the 50s and 60s(all too long ago), Australian food was pretty boring - meat (and lots of it) and a couple of veg (spuds, beans and peas and not much else). Going out to restaurants was a rare event. And these were either pretty formal dreary affairs, the local Chinese that sold something that definitely was not from the middle Kingdom, or pubs of varying degrees of quality, but mostly at the lower end of the spectrum.

Something happened in the 70s.

There are lots of theories as to why. Rising incomes certainly increased demand. Then there was the crucial influx of migrants, at first from Northern Europe, and then from glorious Greece and Italy and later from Asia. And we travelled overseas in numbers not possible before the introduction of cheap airfares. Perhaps the experience of wandering the highways and byways of Asia and Europe, tasting the wonderful cuisines along the way, brought back influences and the demand for a more cosmopolitan cuisine at home.

Whatever the reasons, it is certainly true that modern Australia offers a huge range of cuisines, ingredients and produce which allow us to prepare dishes unconstrained by tradition or lack of resources.

It is not always obvious how lucky we are in this respect. It was brought home to me when I cooked in Italy. Naturally, I wanted to include coriander and lemon grass and other Aussie staples into some of my dishes. This was exceedingly difficult. To find such exotic ingredients in central Tuscany required a 30k trip to Florence where one (note ONE) shop sold Asian ingredients.

So what is Modern Australian food? Well, just about anything! But it has to have balance and harmony to be good. It is not just a matter of throwing in some Asian ingredients into what otherwise might be an Italian or French derived dish. It takes some skill.

When looking for recipes for the modern Australian class this week, I came across a lovely Tuna dish by Melbourne cookery teacher, Tony Tan. I thought it captured the essence of modern Australian food - light, colourful with some Asian influences, but these not dominating in any way. However, his dish was not quite what I wanted to do - I did not want to do a seafood dish for a start, as I already had a good seafood dish for the class. And given the summer season and the abundance of mangoes and avocados this year, I wanted to feature these. I also wanted to use some beautiful Mt Barker chicken. So here is what I came up with:

Chicken Tian with Avocado, Mango and Pickled Cucumber
(Serves 4)

You Need
1 tomato
1 small cucumber, about 10 cm long
1-2 spring onions
160 g poached chicken breast, diced into 1 cm pieces
1 avocado, peeled and diced
1 lime, zest and juice
4 tsp chives, finely chopped
2 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp deseeded and minced fresh red chilli
1 fresh kaffir lime leaf, finely shredded (alternatively use the tender new leaves of lime, lemon or grapefruit)
½ tsp dried ground lemon myrtle
a pinch of sugar
4 heaped tsp diced mango
salt and freshly ground white pepper
1 Tbls black sesame seeds, lightly toasted
Mint, shredded, for garnish

For The Vinaigrette
1 tsp sushi rice vinegar
1 tsp sherry vinegar
½ tsp sugar
80 ml (⅓ cup) grapeseed oil
a dash of light soy sauce
salt and pepper

Method
Peel and finely dice the tomato. You want about 3 tablespoons of diced tomato. Set aside. Peel and dice the mango and set aside. Zest and juice the lime and put into a medium-sized bowl. Peel the avocado and dice and gently mix through the lime juice. Set aside.

Peel the cucumber. Then, using a vegetable peeler, cut the flesh into thin ribbons. Whisk together the ingredients for the vinaigrette in a small mixing bowl. Add the cucumber ribbons and set aside for 10 minutes. Cut the spring onions into fine julienne strips, enough to give 2½ tablespoons. Set aside to use as a garnish.

In the mixing bowl containing the avocado, combine the diced chicken, three quarters of the diced tomato, the chives, fish sauce, the chilli, the shredded kaffir lime leaf and the lemon myrtle. Add the sugar and a little salt and freshly ground white pepper. Gently stir, being careful not to over-mix or the dish will be mushy.

Put a 5 cm diameter stainless steel or PVC ring on a serving plate. Half-fill the ring with the chicken mixture and cover with 1 heaped teaspoon of diced mango and a little shredded mint. Remove the ring carefully. Repeat with the remaining chicken mixture and mango to give 4 servings. Arrange the cucumber ribbons around the tian. Garnish with the remaining diced tomato, spring onion julienne and toasted black sesame seeds and serve.