Secret to great sauce
NOT so long back, wandering through one of the busier and more colourful shopping precincts in southwestern Sydney, I saw a small clump of bright green leaves reaching sunwards through the concrete path, clinging to life in the face of considerable adversity.
It really is impressive where, and how, some plants can thrive.
Honestly, I was struck by its resilience and tenacity. This little plant was displaying a degree of selfbelief that many of us could mimic.
However, after a closer inspection, I did the only thing a responsible community member should — I stubbed it out with the heel of my size 14 boots.
You see, this little plant was garlic chives, allium tuberosum, a delicious element of so many fine Asian dishes, but also an invasive weed that has proven to be disastrous for many of our farmers in the eastern states.
For chefs, garlic chives are wonderful, richly perfumed and easily incorporated into a range of cooking styles. Their flavour is more distinctly garlicky and chive-like, yet is balanced with a gently tannic and astringent grassy aftertaste.
My best-loved use of garlic chives is in the smothering sauce that is served with traditional Vietnamese bun cha — a sensational salad made with rice noodles, vegetables, pickles and grilled meat.
BUN CHA
SERVES: 4
Ingredients
500g pork mince
1 free-range egg
5cm piece turmeric, grated 6 cloves garlic, minced 5cm piece fresh ginger, finely grated
2 eschalots, finely diced
1 bunch garlic chives ½ bunch mint, leaves picked
2 tbsp hoi sin sauce
2 tbsp palm sugar
2 tbsp fish sauce
Juice of 2 limes
2 cups mixed sprouts
1 cup mixed Asian herbs Cooked and cooled rice noodles and sliced green shallots, to serve
Method
1. Combine mince, egg, turmeric, half the garlic, half the ginger and eschalots in a bowl, then knead well, until sticky. Set aside for 15 minutes.
2. Put garlic chives and mint in a mortar and pound until smooth. Mix in remaining garlic and ginger, hoi sin, sugar, fish sauce and lime juice.
3. Form pork mixture into 16 balls, then thread two on to a pair of soaked bamboo skewers. Repeat with remaining pork. Cook over a barbecue or hot ribbed grill over medium heat, turning several times, for 10 minutes until just firm and lightly blackened.
4. Baste meatballs with some of the sauce, remove from the skewers, and place in bowls with sprouts and herbs, then serve with rice noodles, green shallots and the remaining sauce.