Garlic Sauce

Where there is dancing, there is music.

On our block, there is a young man who plays the didgeridoo: a one-and-half meter, hollowed-by-termite tree trunk that produces a low-pitched resonant sound – a sound of earth that has long been buried. This ancient, aboriginal instrument requires circular breathing to sustain continuity of sound. The rhythm is determined by the player’s pattern and power of breathing.

Western settlers named the instrument nearly a century ago. The correct names vary between aboriginal tribes: ngarrriralkpwina, ilpirra, yiḏaki, garnbak, yiraka, artawirr, gunbarrk, mako, martba, kurmur, ngaribi, paampu, bambu, mandapul.

Melbourne's nightlife is intertwined with street music and food. There is sushi by the piece, pizza by the slice and Asian noodles by the bowl, all available well past midnight.

More than any food, however, kebab wraps are a staple in Melbourne. It comes in different sizes, styles, recipes and packages. Everyone thinks their shop serves it best but you're never far from one anywhere.

What makes a kebab wrap different than any other food in Melbourne? The garlic sauce.

It’s the garlic sauce that sets the tone and leads the orchestra, until the very last bite. Dramatic but true. It's juicy, it's not overly garlicy and it's light. Here's how:

Ingredients (serves 2)

2 Cups of Plain Yogurt

3 Large Cloves of Garlic

One Table Spoon of Mayonnaise

Salt & Pepper As Needed

Method

Mince the three cloves of garlic and with mayonnaise, salt and pepper add to the yogurt and stir until the texture is soft and creamy.

At the shop we use minced garlic from the jar, which doesn’t produce the same immediate tang and doesn’t intensify with time. Which one you use is purely a matter of preference and logistics.

The beauty of garlic sauce, beside its simple preparation, is its capacity to act as a base for your imaginative creation. My partner in life and in crime recently made the sauce with the addition of a quarter cup of finely chopped spring onions, a table spoon of olive oil and a teaspoon of Dijon mustard. We had it with halloumi Skewers and it was magnificent.

Prepare it how you’d want to eat it and dance with it until you fine-tune the rhythm to your will.

#ethnic #homecook #recipe #healthy #foodie