Tag: southeast asian
Sai Ua (Thai Sausage)
Sai Ua (Thai Sausage)
I was a butcher for 14 years. Sausage making was definitely my specialty. I’ve been wanting to make this recipe for quite sometime. I first had this Northern Thai sausage years ago at a local a Thai restaurant. Holy shit was it good! Super spicy. It was served with slices of cucumber and sticky rice. I’ve had it a few times since then, but have never made it at home. If you have the right equipment, it’s fairly easy.To make the curry paste, simply mix all of the ingredients together in a food processor or with an immersion blender. A nice tip when making curry paste: if the paste has turmeric in it, mix that separately in a bowl in last so you don’t permanently dye your food processor yellow.If you are able to grind your own pork, I recommend that you do so. When I make a pork sausage, I like to grind the pork once through on a medium grinding plate. If you don’t, you’ll have to ask your local butcher to do this for you. You can also use fatty ground pork, but that is ground twice through. Either honestly work. I just have my personal preference in texture of sausage.Mix the curry paste into the ground pork along with finely chopped lime leaves, green onion, and cilantro stems. Put on a soaked sausage casing on the sausage horn. Feed the sausage through the sausage horn attachment, keeping the sausage firm but not so tight that you can’t twist it. Pinch the end of the first link. Measure out by hand about 6”. Crimp with your left hand. Twist forward 5-7 times to create your first link. Move down another 6” and crimp, twisting the sausage backwards in the opposite direction. Repeat this process crimping every 6”, twisting forward one link, backwards the next, until all of the sausages have been twisted. You should yield 10-12 sausages. Let the sausages settle for 2 hours before cutting and cooking.There are a couple of different ways you can cook these sausages. You can either grill, broil, or pan fry the sausages. They will only takes 5-6 minutes a side. I highly recommend to not par boil the sausages. Par boiling boils out a lot of the fat and seasoning, ultimately making the sausages dry. I prepared mine on the stove top. To make sure that they get cooked all the way through, put a cover on your pan. I served these with slices of cucumber. The cucumber helps cut through the heat of the sausages.
Equipment
- Kitchen Aid mixer with grinder and sausage attachment
- Food processor or immersion blender
Ingredients
Curry Paste
- 24 dried arbol chilies seeded and ground
- 9 slices galangal chopped
- 3 stalks lemongrass bottom half, chopped
- 1 tbsp ground turmeric
- 1 cup shallots chopped
- 1 head garlic peeled
- zest of 1 lime
- 3 tbsp fish sauce
- 3 tsp shrimp paste
Thai Sausage
- 3 lbs fatty pork shoulder
- 15 lime leaves finely chopped
- 15 cilantro stems finely chopped
- 3 green onions finely chopped
- pork sausage casings
Instructions
- Mix all of the curry paste ingredients together in a food processor or immersion blender. Set aside.
- If using a Kitchen Aid grinder attachment, cut pork shoulder II to small strips. Grind the pork once through using the medium grinding plate.
- Mix in the curry paste, lime leaves, green onion, and cilantro stems.
- Using the sausage stuffer attachment on the Kitchen Aid mixer, put on a soaked sausage casing on the sausage horn. Feed the ground sausage through the stuffer, keeping the links firm, but not over stuffed.
- Pinch the end of the first link. Measure out by hand about 6”. Crimp with your left hand. Twist forward 5-7 times to create your first link. Move down another 6” and crimp, twisting the sausage backwards in the opposite direction. Repeat this process crimping every 6”, twisting forward one link, backwards the next, until all of the sausages have been twisted. You should yield 10-12 sausages. Let the sausages settle for 2 hours before cutting and cooking.
- Heat up 1 tbsp of cooking oil in a small sauté pan over medium high heat. Add in the sausages.
- Cook for 5-6 minutes a side. If you are concerned about the sausage being cooked all the way through, cook with a cover. Let rest for 10 minutes before cutting.
Sweet and Sour Cuttlefish Balls
Sweet and Sour Cuttlefish Balls
Fish balls are eaten in pretty much all Asian cultures in various forms. They are mostly eaten in noodle or soup based dishes, but can be eaten as an appetizer or as a main course. For this recipe, I used cuttlefish balls. You can use regular fish, shrimp, lobster, or any other variation. I’m partial to the Dodo brand frozen fish balls: more fish, less filler.The most important thing to remember is to make sure the fish balls are completely defrosted before deep frying. If not, your oil will spatter all over and the fish balls won’t reach the desired crispiness. They will end up absorbing the oil, making them mushy. Once submerged in the oil, they only take 5-6 minutes. Drain them on paper towel. Combine all of the sweet and sour sauce ingredients and cook over medium heat just for a minute. Add the cuttlefish balls back in and coat in the sauce. Garnish with sesame seeds.
Ingredients
- 20 cuttlefish balls defrosted
- vegetable oil for frying
Sweet and Sour Sauce
- 2 tbsp ketchup
- 1 tsp sriracha
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp oyster sauce
- 2 tsp vegetable oil
- 2 tsp sesame seeds
Instructions
- Heat up a pot of cooking oil over medium high heat that is deep enough to have the cuttlefish balls completely submerged. Add the cuttlefish balls. Fry for 5-6 minutes until they are crispy.
- Drain on paper towel.
- Heat up 2 tsp of cooking oil in a sauce pan over medium heat. Add in the ketchup, sugar, sriracha, and oyster sauce. Simmer for just a minute.
- Add the fried cuttlefish balls back into the sauce. Cook for 1 more minute, making sure they are evenly coated in the sauce.
- Garnish with sesame seeds.
Lechon Manok
Lechon Manok
Lechon Manok is a Filipino-style roast chicken. The chicken is marinated in a toyomansi marinade while the cavity is stuffed with lemongrass. Traditionally, the chicken is spit roasted over coals. This recipe is roasted in the oven on a rack for 90 minutes. If you want to create a glaze for the chicken, pour the remaining marinade in a kettle. Bring to a boil. Simmer for 5-7 minutes until the marinade has thickened. Brush the glaze on the chicken every 10 minutes for the last 30 minutes of cooking. Let the chicken rest for 1% minutes before carving.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 4 lb whole chicken
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 stalk lemongrass
Marinade
- 1 cup calamansi juice
- 1/4 cup soy ssuce
- 1/4 cup fish sauce
- 3 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 head garlic minced
- 4 shallots chopped
Instructions
- Mix all of the marinade ingredients together.
- Season the whole chicken with salt and pepper, especially underneath the skin. Place in a gallon sized ziplock bag. Pour the marinade into the bag. Marinate for 8 hours, preferably overnight.
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Place the chicken on a rack on a pan lined in foil. Peel the outside off of the lemongrass. Cut the stalk in half and pound it flat a few times. Stick inside the cavity of the chicken.
- Roast the chicken for 85-90 minutes. Let rest for 15 minutes before carving.
