Want some added culture in your Christmas spread? Add some First Nations flavour and style. From holiday favourites like mince pies and pavlova with a native twist, to a bush food flavoured take on a classic prawn cocktail, we have put together a selection of recipes to get you inspired to add bushfood flavours to your Christmas dinner this year.
1. Quandong and Finger Lime Prawn Cocktail by Warndu
This the perfect dish for the summer festive season. It’s a 14 ingredient invention that heroes the rarest of flavours: bush tomato (ground and powdered).
The recipe is simple. In just a few steps, you'll be serving up a taste-bud tingling twist on a classic. First, whip together the sauce. Next, layer in a few leaves of freshly washed cos and radicchio to your best serving glasses. Then hold the shell of the tail and dunk the prawns into your sauce. coating generously. Next, gently place onto your crisp bed of lettuce and radicchio.
Finish off the prawns by sprinkling a pinch of bush tomato or Davidson plum, and tossing some chopped chives to complete the garnish. Place in the fridge until ready to be demolished.
Ingredients
| Main | Sauce | Garnish |
| 600g cooked prawns with tail | 4 tablespoons of aioli |
Davidson plum |
| 1 baby cos lettuce | 3 tablespoons of quandong chutney | Bush tomato |
| Tabasco to taste | 1 teaspoon bush tomato, ground | Small handful of chives, chopped |
| A squeeze of lemon juice | 3 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce | |
| Aalt and pepper to taste | 2 teaspoons of creamy horseradish | |
| 3 finger limes, the caviar pearls |
2. Wattleseed Pavlova with Strawberry Gum Cream by Mabu Mabu
Sorry but it's not actually Christmas until the Pavlova shows up for dessert. To make it one to remember, take note of this ingenious Mabu Mabu twist on this famous classic, with wattle seed and strawberry gum.
This dessert is all about whisking and folding the egg whites until fluffy and silky and then folding in the other ingredients until combined. It’s easy to create with just an 1hr and 15mins in the oven to set. Don’t forget to pair with your favourite seasonal fruit.
Ingredients
| Pavlova mixture | Strawberry gum cream |
| 6 egg whites | 600mls whipped cream |
| 1 ½ cups caster sugar | 60g icing sugar, sifted |
| 80g chopped chocolate | 1 tsp strawberry gum |
| 1 teaspoon white vinegar | |
| 2 teaspoons wattleseed |
3. Native Spiced Fruit Mince Pies by Warndu
This recipe has a few very special native spices that will be a smash hit at the next Christmas lunch; native apples (muntries), ground cinnamon myrtle, anise myrtle, lemon myrtle powder, wattle seed powder and Applewood Okar (native liquor).
The prep time for the mince takes a while so be sure to allow a few hours to set and then 3-4 hours to bake.
Serve them with a confident suggestion of icing sugar and a generous dollop of cream, ice cream or brandy custard. They will keep for three to four days in an airtight container if you want to hide them away for later.
Ingredients
| Native spiced fruit mixture | Pastry | |
| 400g raisins | 1 cup muntries | 225g cold butter, grated |
| 400g dried muscatels | 2 lemons | 350g plain flour |
| 100g candied orange rind | 2 oranges | 100g raw caster sugar |
| 100g candied ginger | 4 finger limes |
1 tablespoon wattleseed powder |
| 3 Granny Smith apples | 1 tsp ground cloves |
280g 'mincemeat' |
| 200g riberries | 1 tspn cinnamon myrtle | 1 small egg |
| 500g brown sugar | 1 tspn anise myrtle | Icing sugar, to dust |
| 150g macadamias | 2 tspn lemon myrtle powder | |
| 1 tblspn wattleseed powder | 1 tspn ground nutmeg | |
| 100ml Applewood Okar | 125ml brandy |
To find the full recipes and discover more ways you can add First Nations flavours to your Christmas holidays or even gift of delicious Indigenous inspired recipes why not pick up Mabu Mabu - An Australian Kitchen Cookbook or Warndu Mai (Good Food) Cookbook both available now at Welcome to Country.
Welcome to Country also stocks all the essential bush food ingredients from ground wattle seed to dried bush tomatoes and finger limes.
This piece was made in partnership with Welcome to Country, your guide to experiencing Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Australia.
