Jimmy Shu's Taste of the Territory

Host and chef Jimmy Shu starts the series at the bustling Rapid Creek markets. Jimmy has been coming here every Sunday morning to collect produce for his restaurant, Hanuman. He shows off his favourite fresh produce growers and their amazing array of tropical and Asian produce. After the markets Jimmy heads south to Humpty Doo, 40km from Darwin to meet Muy Keav, one of his produce suppliers who has an interesting story to tell. Muy learnt to cook from her mother and grandmother and shows Jimmy how to make one of her traditional recipes – Cambodian green mango salad. Jimmy is back at the Rapid Creek Market where he meets home cook Karunika Pemaratne. Karunika is from Sri Lanka and shares stories about her childhood as she shows Jimmy how to cook her favourite Sri Lankan baby jackfruit curry. Finally, Jimmy heads down to watch the sunset on the spectacular Nightcliff foreshore where he grabs a bite to eat from the popular food truck Needle In A Haystack.

The Top End of Australia has some of the best, freshest seafood in the country and in this episode Jimmy will show you why. He goes to meet one of his closest friends, long time fisherman Billy Boustead who lives at Shoal Bay outside Darwin. The two friends go fishing, catch a barramundi which Jimmy turns into one of his favourite dishes, Barramundi Meen Moolie. At one of Darwin’s wharfs he meets self-taught chef Rachael Ciesolka. Rachael shows Jimmy how to cook her signature citrus mud crab dish. Next Jimmy meets Larrakia woman Leslie Gordon. Leslie takes Jimmy into the mangroves to collect traditional seafood and talks about the seafood that Larrakia people have been eating for generations. Leslie shows Jimmy how to collect and cook longbums, a traditional seafood, on an open fire. Finally, Jimmy hits one of the local pubs where he meets Justin Whitrow who runs Smokey J’s Brew and Que. Justin is an innovator and has found a unique way to smoke crocodile.

Jimmy Shu is at the busy Parap Saturday markets where he says that street food is one of the best ways to get to know a culture. In this episode he tastes some of Darwin’s most popular street food. Jimmy talks about Darwin’s Laksa obsession and goes to Mary’s Laksa stall to meet Mary who has been making Darwin’s most famous Laksa for over 20 years. Jimmy then meets Wayne who runs the famous Vietnamese stall. Jimmy says Wayne makes an amazing banh mi which, after finding out about Wayne’s secret recipes, he just has to try. Jimmy then visits the Sunday Rapid Creek Market and shows us his favourite breakfast street food, a regional Thai braised pork delicacy that’s cooked by master street food chef Kanchana. Jimmy then goes to meet Amye Un who runs a small eatery on the Stuart Highway in town, Warung Ibu Amye serving Balinese and Timorese dishes. As Amye shows Jimmy how to make her mother’s charcoal chicken, her signature dish, as she tells Jimmy about her colourful life.

Jimmy is off to meet Darwin’s only chocolatier Leo Cleanthous at his boutique chocolate cafe Bumble Bean Chocolates. He then goes to meet Petra, whose raw cakes have become almost a staple dessert in local Darwin homes. Petra and Jimmy then go to a local shoe shop in Nightcliff where Petra gets her lemons and limes from the owner of the shop who grows them in his backyard. Petra shows Jimmy how to make her lime and macadamia raw cheesecake. Jimmy meets Wana Sinclair, who’s a master Thai dessert maker at the Rapid Creek Market. Wana shows Jimmy how to make her signature Mung Bean Donut, something that is only available at her stall in Darwin. It’s a very traditional Thai recipe she has been perfected over many years. The episode ends with a bang at the Hanuman stall at Darwin Festival. One of their most popular items on the menu is Jimmy’s Sticky Black Rice Creme Brûlée. Jimmy talks about how he came up with this inventive dessert that fuses modern French cuisine with Asian flavours.