Secret to great sauce

TABLE TALK

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 prodigious self-belief 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.

The secret to making the bun cha sauce taste unforgettable is combining it with palm sugar, mint and fish sauce — a blend that will bring out the best of each ingredient, while overpowering none of them.

BUN CHA

SERVES: 4

Ingredients

500g pork mince 1 free-range egg

5cm piece turmeric, finely 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

1.