steamed pork sausage cha luo

      You might think that the colonial French introduced the art of making pate and sausages to Vietnam, but sausages wrapped in banana leaf or stuffed into animal casings have been around Southeast Asia for generations. This silky steamed sausage is usually purchased in Vietnam, but it's easy to make at home with a food processor. Don't be put off by the amount of fat included; as any good charcutier (French or Vietnamese) will tell you, you must have plenty fat to make a good moist sausage.

      1 lb (500 g) lean leg or loin pork, thinly sliced

      4 shallots, minced

      1 clove garlic, minced

      1 teaspoon crushed rock sugar or white sugar

      4 teaspoons tapioca flour

      1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

      ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

      ⅓ cup (85 ml) fish sauce

      3½ oz (100 g) hard pork back (loin) fat, boiled in water 10 minutes, diced to about the size of a rice grain

      2 pieces of banana leaf, 12 in (30 cm) square, softened in boiling water or a gas flame

      Put the pork in a bowl. Process the shallots and garlic to a paste, then add this together with the sugar, tapioca flour, baking soda, pepper, and fish sauce to the pork. Massage with your hands for about a minute so that the marinade is absorbed. Cover the bowl, refrigerate and leave to marinate for 4 to 6 hours, or overnight if preferred.

      Transfer the bowl of pork to the freezer for 15 minutes, then put the pork and every bit of its marinade into a food processor and blend until very fine and smooth. Add the pork fat and pulse just two or three times, until it is well mixed.

      Put the pork mixture in the middle of one piece of banana leaf and with wet hands, shape it to make a fat roll about 8 in (20 cm) long. Lift the two ends of the banana leaf up (leaving the sides open for the moment) and fold over about 1¼ in (3 cm) on the top. Roll this down until the sausage is completely enclosed, then tuck in the sides. Put the roll on the second piece of banana leaf and repeat the rolling process, starting with the sealed side of the roll face down. Tie the double-wrapped roll loosely with string around the sides and ends (not too tightly as the sausage will swell during cooking).

      Put the roll on a perforated disk or in a steamer set over a wok of boiling water, making sure the water does not touch the roll. Steam over boiling water for 2 hours, adding boiling water to the wok frequently to make sure it does not dry out. Leave the cool completely, then refrigerate until required.

      The pork sausage is sliced thinly and served as a snack with pickles or tangy relish, or put inside French bread to make atypical Indochinese Sandwich (see below).

      Serves: 6-8 Preparation time: 1 hour + marinating 4 hours Cooking time: 2 hours

      indochinese sandwich

      This fantastic snack is found everywhere that the French left their wonderful bread. It's a flexible recipe, with variations within each country as well as between neighboring countries. You need small loaves of crusty bread (crisped over a charcoal brazier in Laos and Cambodia), a spread, a filling of one or two types of meat or pate, crunchy vegetables, and herbs to finish it all off. Below are some of the options so you can compose your own variation on an Indochinese theme.

      (1) small French loaves or baguettes, halved lengthways

      (2) a spread of either mashed boiled eggs (a Cambodian favorite), chicken liver pate, soft pork pate, Onion/Chili Spread (see right), butter or mayonnaise

      (3) slices of pork sausage such as Steamed Pork Sausage (above), Chinese red-roasted pork (char siew), chicken sausage or pieces of cooked chicken

      (4) freshly grated green papaya (or chayote/ choko) or sliced cucumber, plus shredded Long White Radish and Carrot Relish (page 178)

      (5) fresh herbs such as coriander, mint, or spring onion

      Onion/Chili Spread

      1 tablespoon vegetable oil

      2 large red or brown onions, finely minced

      2-4 teaspoons Roasted Thai Chili Paste (page 179)

      ¼ cup (60 ml) water

      Heat the oil in a small saucepan and stir-fry the onion over low-medium heat until transparent, about 2 minutes. Add the chili paste, cover, and cook 5 minutes. Add the water, stir and continue cooking until the onion is very soft, about another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally Transfer to a bowl and leave to cool.

      Serves: 4-6 Preparation time: 15 min Cooking time: 1¼- 1½ hours

      crispy rice cakes khao tong

      One of the reasons I've never got around to buying a rice cooker is that I love to cook steamed rice until it forms a dry crust on the bottom of the pan. I sun-dry this the next day, then store it for frying into crisp, crunchy rice cakes which are perfect with all kinds of dips. Here's another way of making these rice cakes which may be easier if you happen to use a rice cooker, or if you don't have a steady supply of sunlight.

      2 cups (400 g) uncooked long-grain rice

      2 teaspoons oil

      Serves: 8-10 Preparation time: 10 min

      Drying time: 2 hours Cooking time: 45 min

      Cook the rice in the usual way (page 19). You can now either use two frying pans, each about 8½ in (22 cm) and preferably non-stick, or double your length of cooking time by doing the next stage of cooking in two batches. Assuming you are using two frying pans, put 1 teaspoon of the vegetable oil in each. Heat the oil, then swirl it around to grease the pan over the sides and base, then tip out any excess oil and reserve.

      Add half the rice to each greased frying pan. Grease a spatula with oil and press it down very firmly on the surface of the rice so that the grains stick together to make a compact cake. Put the frying pans over the lowest heat possible and cook for 10 minutes, pressing down on the surface of the rice several times. Slide the rice cake onto a large plate and invert it over the pan, so the rice cake goes back in with the cooked side facing up. Press down again on the top of the rice with your spatula and cook for another 10 minutes.

      Slide each rice cake onto a baking tray lined with baking paper and cook in the oven set to the lowest possible heat until thoroughly dry, about 1½ hours to 2 hours. Cool the rice cake completely, then break up into chunks of about 2 in (5 cm). Store in an airtight container for several months.

      To cook the rice cakes, heat vegetable oil for deep-frying in a wok until very hot. Add 2 or 3 rice cakes at a time and cook until puffed up and golden brown on both sides; this should take less than a minute. Drain on paper towel and serve with any kind of dip, or simply sprinkle with a little salt and a few crushed dried chili flakes.

      tangy marinated fish roll-ups goi ca

      With its intriguing balance of flavors and textures, this is one of the most refreshing appetizers I've come across. But be warned: it really gets

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