In the year 1855, exactly 11,493 Chinese men and women landed upon Australian shores. The objective was simple: find gold, get rich, go home.
The first two came to fruition… the latter, not so much. The Chinese stayed on Aussie shores and gave us one massive gift, a different approach to food that had some serious flavour. This bright, floral and herbaceous cooking has morphed into a whole lot more than Chinese takeout shops and sweet and sour chicken.
To this day, some of the best food found in Australia is Chinese, and when executed correctly, sung choi bao is simply one of the best.
Duck Sung Choi Bao: Makes 6 or 2 per person
Total prep time: 45 minutes
The day before, make the carrot and ginger pickle. It will only take 15 minutes.
500g carrot, sliced on a mandolin
1 ½ cup sugar
1cup apple cider vinegar
1cup rice vinegar 
15g salt
2 cups water
3 red chillis
100g ginger
10 cloves garlic, crushed
2star anise
2 cloves
In a saucepan, add the vinegars, water, spices, sugar and salt and bring to the boil. Add the rest of the ingredients and remove from the heat. Leave to rest for 3 minutes. Pour into a sealable glass jar or airtight container and close the lid. Leave to cool for 12 hours.
The next day, make the bao.
240g Duck mince
1 shallot, peeled and cut into a fine dice
1 garlic clove, crushed and chopped
Small knob of ginger, minced
2 large shitake mushrooms, refreshed and sliced thinly
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sesame oil
In a large frying pan or wok on high heat, add the olive oil and add the ginger, garlic and shallot and sautee until translucent. Add the duck mince and the mushrooms and fry for 2 minutes. Add the fish sauce, sesame oil and oyster sauce and cook for a further 2 minutes. Set aside.
To finish:
1 iceberg lettuce cut in half and leaves pulled apart to form cups
1 cucumber, deseeded and cut into batons
1 bunch of coriander, picked and washed
1 bunch of mint, picked and washed
100g bean shoots, washed
Spring onions, sliced
Green or red chillies, sliced (if desired)
On a large dinner plate, place 2 lettuce cups and fill with a large spoonful of the duck mince. Top with a few slices of the carrot and ginger pickle, 4 cucumber batons, some picked mint and coriander, bean shoots and spring onions. If you want a little spice in your life, go crazy on the sliced chillies.