Mai Wauwa (Beach Food)

Goolwa cockles cooked in sea parsley and garlic butter on a bed of samphire, bower spinach and seablite with mayo and on a whole wheat johnnycake.
Picture
Recipe
Serves two people

Ingredients
• Goolwa cockles 4 hand fulls
• Dried seaweed sea lettuce 4 tsp
• Sea parley 1 tsp
• Garlic 1 clover
• Seablite  1 cup
• Samphire 1 cup
• Bowers spinach 1 cup
• Egg mayo 4 Tbs
• Sea salt 1/4 tsp
• Mountain pepper ground 1/2 tsp
• River mint 2 leaves
• Butter 1 Tbs
• Murdumurdu mai Qty 4

Equipment
• Kampa kuru Saucepan
• Kuru Bowl
• Tadli tadli frying pan
• Pakipakiti Knife
• Tarralyi Chopping board
• Karnkarnkati Spoon
• Pardupamamati Folk or strainer

Prepration
  1. Pre-make the Mara Murdumurdu Flatbread before making the filling. You can make the Mara Murdumurdu Flatbread 1 or 2 days before but it is always nicer fresh and warm.
  2. Pre cook the goolwa cockles in a large saucepan of boiling hot water until the cockle shells have opened fully. Strain the water off the cockles and remove the meat from the shell. The meat is now ready for the next step.

Cooking
  1. Prepare the coastal vegetables by picking the soft leaves and remove the hard woody stems from the seablite, samphire and bowers spinach.
  2. Take the soft coastal vegetable leaves and blanch them in boiling hot water for 20-30 seconds. Remove the coastal vegetable leaves from the boiling water with a strainer or a fork and place in ice cold water for 1 to 2 minutes. Blanching the vegetables will make them turn bright green and it will remove a slight irritant from the bower spinach. It is okay to under blanch the vegetables but don’t over blanch them because they become soft and soggy.
  3. Drain the coastal vegetable leaves to remove the water.
  4. Dice the fresh sea parsley and garlic finely.
  5. Heat the butter in a frying pan on a low heat. Place the diced sea parsley and garlic with the butter in the frying pan. Once the butter has melted and the parsley and garlic is mixed together well but make sure not to burn the butter or the garlic. Added the goolwa cockle meat, a pinch of sea salt and mountain pepper into the hot butter and fry until the cockles are heated in the hot buttery sauce. Once the cockle are heated and coated in the buttery sauce remove from the heat.
  6. Finally to serve. Take the warm Mara Murdumurdu Flatbread​ and fill them with the blanched coastal vegetables and goolwa cockles. Top the cockles with the mayonnaise and garnish with fresh sea parsley. Add some Australian lime juice or some salt to taste. Enjoy!