Spicy Spam Sausage Rolls
I’ve never understood why Spam gets so much hate - how can you dislike a (super delicious) food product so much, you’ll name annoying, unwelcome emails after it?
To me, Spam is nostalgic. In Hong Kong, Spam is a star ingredient in the cha chaan teng - pan-fried in hot oil until it forms a golden crust, Spam is served either on a bed of fluffy rice, or swimming in a bowl of hot instant noodles (Doll brand instant noodles, of course). It’s an all-hours kind of dish, the sort of thing that you reach for at 3am, and equally, at 3pm.
These rolls are one of those things that takes barely any time to pull together, yet are still impressive enough (crispy umami crust, flaky pastry and all) to be a talking point at your future picnic and picky bits parties. Plus, they keep incredibly well in the freezer, so if you make these, you’re doing future (hungry) you a favour. It’s debatable whether or not this roll is technically a “sausage” roll when there isn’t any sausage meat - but in my humble opinion, Spam makes this a way better roll than most.
Ingredients:
250g of pork mince (ideally a fattier mince, about 8% fat - can be substituted with other mince meats)
1 tin of Spam (roughly 340g)
2-3 birds’ eye chillis, finely minced
1 teaspoon of five spice
1 package of frozen puff pastry (roughly 320g), defrosted
A pinch of salt to taste
Crumble the Spam by hand (or lightly process in a food processor) in a large bowl until it is completely broken apart into small chunks.
Add in the pork mince, birds’ eye chillis, five spice and salt, and mix to combine.
Shape the Spam mix into log about 1 inch thinner than you’d like your roll to be, and tightly wrap with cling wrap. Refrigerate for at least an hour to set.
Roll out the puff pastry into a 0.5 inch thick rectangle, ideally with the longer side being the same length as the Spam roll.
Place the Spam roll on top of the puff pastry, and gently fold the puff pastry over the Spam roll. Using the handle of a fork or knife, crimp the puff pastry seam lengthwise along the Spam roll.
Slice the ends of the Spam roll off (these can be baked separately), and then slice the rest of the Spam roll into a few chunks as desired.
(Optional) Wrap and freeze the Spam rolls immediately if not using - these should keep for a few weeks.
Airfry these at 200°C for 30 minutes, and then 170°C for 20 minutes - the rolls should be golden brown and sizzling by then. Serve with ketchup of choice.