The Vietnamese-inspired sausage puff pastries are a recipe from the book “Seven Spoons: my favorite recipes for any and every day” by Tara O’Brady, and it’s my choice for this month’s “The 27 Club” project. Every month we discuss a book, and this month it happened to be this one, truly beautiful and full of ideas, not just recipes, but based on her famous namesake blog, this book reflects the author’s personal and multicultural approach to cooking, inspired by her Indian heritage and life in Canada. The recipes range from everyday dishes to more elaborate preparations for special occasions, with an emphasis on fresh ingredients and international flavors.
Compared to Tara’s original recipe, I omitted the spicy part introduced with a sweet Thai chili sauce, Sriracha, or gochujang. The first is a spicy Thai paste, and the second is a similarly spicy Korean fermented paste. Here in Modena anyway, they are impossible to find.
Finally, the author suggests serving the sausage puff pastries with Japanese mayonnaise mixed with sriracha, or gochujang mixed with honey or Vietnamese nuoc cham sauce, of which I’ll leave you the recipe below. If all these ingredients scare you, you can use a simple spicy English mustard.
In any case, you can read the beautiful recipes prepared by the other club members in this month’s MTChallenge article.
Here are some Far East recipes that I know you’ll love
- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Very Cheap
- Rest time: 1 Hour
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 30 Pieces
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Vietnamese
- Seasonality: All Seasons
- Energy 152.62 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 8.23 (g) of which sugars 0.64 (g)
- Proteins 5.61 (g)
- Fat 10.78 (g) of which saturated 1.16 (g)of which unsaturated 5.19 (g)
- Fibers 0.47 (g)
- Sodium 142.25 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 35 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for the Sausage Puff Pastries
- 1 lb lbs ground pork (preferably not too lean)
- 3 shallots
- 3 cloves garlic
- 0.5 oz oz coriander (stems and leaves finely chopped)
- 0.5 oz oz basil (Thai, finely chopped)
- 2 rolls puff pastry (rectangular)
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (mild)
- 1 apple (small, diced)
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 egg yolk (diluted with a bit of water)
- to taste poppy seeds (for garnish)
Tools
- Baking Tray
- Brush
Preparation of the Sausage Puff Pastries
Pour a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil in a pan and gently stew the finely chopped shallots. As soon as they are soft, add the apple and garlic cloves. Continue cooking on low heat until the apple becomes soft. It will take about 10 minutes.
Pour the mixture into a large bowl. Add the chopped coriander, basil, fish sauce, soy sauce, and cornstarch. Mix with a fork and let cool completely.
Once cooled, add the ground pork and mix with clean hands. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate preferably for a few hours, so that all the flavors blend perfectly.
Roll out the puff pastry on the work surface and cut it into three parts lengthwise with a smooth blade cutter. Then cut rectangles about 1 inch wide.
Slightly wet your hands and form balls of sausage mixture the size of a large hazelnut. Place the balls in the center of the puff pastry rectangles and fold to form a dumpling. Press well to seal the edges to prevent the filling from leaking during cooking. I used the prongs of a fork.
Beat the egg yolk with a little water and brush the sausage puff pastries. Garnish with poppy seeds.
Bake the pastries in a hot oven at 340°F for about 15-20 minutes, check the oven to avoid over-browning.
Serve slightly warm with Japanese mayonnaise or nuoc cham and pickled jalapenos.
Ingredients
180 ml of water
50 g of sugar
3 tablespoons of fish sauce
2 Thai chilies stemmed and seeded
Juice of one lime
1 whole clove of garlic, peeled
Preparation
In a bowl, mix the water, sugar, and lime juice. Taste and adjust the flavor until sweet and sour are well balanced. Add the fish sauce and set aside.
In a mortar, pound the garlic and chilies until a paste forms. Add the prepared liquid part and mix well. Let it rest for 20 minutes before serving. It can be stored in the refrigerator for 2 days.
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FAQ (Questions and Answers)
What is Sriracha?
Sriracha is a spicy sauce of Thai origin, famous for its unique taste: spicy, sweet, and slightly tangy.
It is mainly made with ripe red chilies, vinegar, garlic, sugar, and salt.
The most well-known version worldwide is produced by Huy Fong Foods (the one with the famous rooster logo on the green and red bottle).
It is thick, bright in color, and used everywhere: on noodles, eggs, sandwiches, pizzas, even in cocktails like Bloody Mary.What is Gochujang?
Gochujang is a fermented chili paste typical of Korean cuisine. It is made with red chili powder (gochugaru), glutinous rice, fermented soybeans, and salt.
Its taste is spicy, sweet, and deep, thanks to the fermentation that gives it a very intense “umami” flavor.
It is a fundamental base for many famous Korean dishes, like bibimbap, tteokbokki, or spicy bulgogi.
It appears as a thick paste, dark red in color.
In cooking, it is used for marinades, soups, dressings, or to give a kick to vegetables.
