Chef Shawn Koh adapts Taiwanese classic recipes picked up from his travels through Taipei, Keelung, Taichung, Tainan and Kaoshiung, where he immersed himself in the local dining culture and learnt traditional preparation methods from the locals there. “Throughout our travels, we ate different types of food from Taiwanese sausages to Taiwanese-style cured bacon”, he says. “We even visited the local farmers’ markets to see Taiwanese home-grown fruits and vegetables”.
While the original recipe calls for the forcemeat of sausages in casings, chef Shawn’s rendition uses fresh ground pork belly marinated in spices. “We marinate the meat with the spices, shape it into sausage patties and cook it on a hot plate. This chars the outside, lending a sweet and savoury flavour to each bite. We also made it bite-sized so you can eat it with chopsticks and a mouthful of rice”.
Taiwanese Sausage Patties
Makes about 40 small patties
Ingredients
1kilogram ground pork belly
80 milliliters Chinese rice wine
50 grams white sugar
15 grams fine salt
20 grams fresh grated garlic
5 grams light soy sauce
10 grams five spice powder
50 milliliters pomace oil
Method
1. In a large mixing bowl, put in the ground pork belly.
2. Add in Chinese rice wine, sugar, salt, garlic, soy sauce and five spice powder to the bowl.
3. Mix the meat and the ingredients well (pound it with your fist while mixing it a little).
4. Cover it and let it marinate for a minimum of 4 hours before use.
5. Shape the meat mixture into desired patty size (about 15 - 20g per patty).
6. Heat up a pan to medium heat.
7. Put 3 tabl spoons of pomace oil into pan and sear the patties for 2-3 minutes aside or until it has a good char on the outside and well-cooked in the middle.
8. When it’s done, put on a drip tray to take off excess oil and serve on a plate with cucumber slices.
