Some of the most distinctive and surprising flavours can be found within our own flora. Not to mention the vibrant colours and textures of native Australian ingredients, including finger lime, saltbush, wattleseed, pepperberry, lemon myrtle and macadamia.
These recipes celebrate the flavours of Australia, with native Australian ingredients as the heroes. While First Nations communities have used these Indigenous ingredients for tens of thousands of years, it’s only in recent years that using native Australian ingredients has become popular in restaurants around the country – so much so, in fact, that some native ingredients are more easily sourced and used in home cooking.
From blood lime and chilli mud crab and roasted lemon myrtle-stuffed pork racks to Davidson’s plum cocktails and sticky date puddings with cinnamon myrtle and macadamia brittle, here are our best recipes that hero native Australian ingredients.
How to make damper made with wattleseed and bush tomato
Cinnamon myrtle-spiced sticky date pudding with macadamia brittle
Roast pork rack with lemon myrtle and cranberry stuffing
Kap mauri oxtail ragù with native thyme and warrigal greens
Lemon myrtle brown butter madeleines
Salt-baked chicken in pepperberry and wild fennel
Barbecued butterflied lamb leg with saltbush rub
Warrigal greens Rockefeller
Kylie Kwong’s sweet and sour pork with Davidson’s plum
Jock Zonfrillo’s roast turkey with native herbs and spices
Kylie Kwong’s stir-fried Australian native greens with garlic
Poly’s potato scallops
Sesame kingfish sashimi with ponzu and finger lime
Kylie Kwong’s deep-fried duck with Davidson’s plum sauce
Kylie Kwong’s deep-fried chicken with finger-lime sauce
Flounder fried in fubá with finger lime and young ginger
Jacqui Challinor’s kingfish ceviche with avocado and finger lime
Barbecued oysters with finger-lime mignonette
Sean Moran’s parsley salad with finger lime
Grilled kingfish belly, fennel and grilled finger lime
Davidson’s Plum Sour by Raes on Wategos
Grilled cucumber and lemon myrtle soda
Salted fish with macadamia and native pepper
Salad of succulents with sea urchin and quinoa
Chinese mushrooms with warrigal greens and jerusalem artichokes
Carpaccio of kangaroo with beetroot and native fruits
Onglet pepper steak
Suckling pig with roast fennel and warrigal greens
Raspberries with eucalyptus meringue
Almond-milk chia with berries and watermelon in eucalyptus-hibiscus syrup
Barramundi with cavolo nero and capers
Escabeche of Murray cod with saffron and currants
Barramundi
Mud-crab curry
Chocolate and macadamia brownie
Sautéed mud crab with ginger and spring onion (Keong chung hai)
Crisp barramundi fillets with roasted chilli, mint and coriander
Shane Osborn’s grilled marron with fennel salad and green olive and vanilla velouté
Tony Bilson’s trout mousseline with yabby sauce
Yabby jaffles
Black marron with green peppercorn and martini sauce
Chilled corn soup with yabbies
Automata’s kingfish with crème fraîche yuzukosho, shiso and finger lime
Helly Raichura’s stir-fried warrigal greens and vegetables (shak bhaja)
Photo: Parker Blain