Bar snacks. Does this concept thrill you, or strike terror in your heart? Mr Gochugaru and I started our university lives 40 years ago, and back then bar snacks (at the college student bar) would consist of a packet of peanuts or crisps. I still like both very much, but things have progressed somewhat when it comes to choice snacks to accompany your drinks. The thing is, the prices would also burn a hole in your pocket.
I am thinking now to Christmas 2025, in preparation for the possibility that I may not be in London then. I am so thankful my mother’s recent health has been stable, but at the back of my mind I always know that things can change at very short notice.
And if I cannot be present at the end of the year, then we as a family will just celebrate Christmas earlier or later.
In the meantime I should try to build an arsenal of snacks that can keep everyone happy until any main course is served. I recently updated my spiced nuts recipe but first, here is a winner of a sausage roll. As any Korean will tell you, kimchi makes everything taste better. Here, it is chopped up and added to pork sausagemeat, which is then encased in puff pastry and baked. Despite my rush, as I was also cooking lunch, the sausage rolls turned out very well – crisp on the outside, salty and tender on the inside.
Kimchi has become quite popular and easier to find on the supermarket shelves. Whichever brand you use, it has to be cabbage kimchi and cut quite finely before use. I had two brands of kimchi in my fridge, and used the one by Vadasz (non-Korean). As the kimchi was already chopped quite fine, this saved me some prep time. The ingredients are: Chinese leaf cabbage, carrots, spring onion, sea salt, chilli powder, ginger, garlic. This really adds flavour to the sausage meat.
The idea is to make a bar snack that is quick and easy, and to this end ready-made puff pastry is also a must. Do not even entertain the idea of making any type of pastry for this sausage roll.
As for sausage meat, if you make this outside of the Christmas season, you will need to buy regular sausages and remove the casing to get 500 g of sausage meat. During the lead up to Christmas, supermarkets sell sausage meat without the casing, for use in stuffing e.g. the turkey.
This recipe is adapted from FERMENT, by Kenji Morimoto (published by One Boat, ISBN 978-1035053742). This is part instruction and part recipe book. If you don’t want to make your own kimchi, miso, pickles, kombucha or cheong (one part sugar to one part fruit), you can use ready made versions of these items and cook from the given recipes.
For the Sausage Rolls:
(makes 20 small rolls)
300 g cabbage kimchi, chopped finely
½ teaspoon unrefined caster sugar
1 tablespoon fennel seeds, crushed
500 g sausage meat
1 x 320 g pack ready-rolled puff pastry
1 egg, beaten
black sesame seeds
You will also need a large baking tray, lined with baking paper.
How to Make:
Place the chopped kimchi and sugar in a small saucepan and fry over a medium heat until all the liquid has evaporated. This step can be done ahead of time and cooled, then kept covered in the fridge until ready to use.
Roughly crush the fennel seeds in a pestle and mortar or spice grinder. Set aside.
If using sausages, remove the casing and weigh out 500 g of sausage meat.
In a large mixing bowl, mix together the sausage meat, kimchi and fennel seeds. This step can be done ahead of time and kept covered in the fridge until ready to use.
(The sausage kimchi mixture can also be made ahead of time and frozen. Defrost fully before using as below.)
Preheat the oven to 205 C fan/ 230 C.
Remove the puff pastry from the fridge and unroll onto a large chipping board. Cut this in half lengthways.
Divide the sausage mixture in half (I weighed this out) and roll each piece into a compact long sausage the same length as the pastry.
Place the sausage mixture on the pastry, about two-thirds of the way in.
Brush one long side of the pastry with beaten egg, then roll the pastry tightly around the sausage mixture, finishing with the seam side underneath. Repeat with the second piece of pastry.
Stages in making the sausage roll: crushing the fennel seeds, making the sausage kimchi mixture, filling the pastry
It is now time to cut the long sausage roll into smaller pieces before baking. As it was a very warm day, I struggled with the pastry, and could not see a way of cutting each roll into six 5 cm pieces as the cookbook advised.
Instead, I cut each roll into half, and brought the four half-rolls onto the baking tray. Once safely on the tray I used a pair of scissors to cut each half-roll into five pieces, making 20 pieces in total. I managed to spread the small rolls out across the tray, then brushed the tops with the beaten egg before sprinkling over some sesame seeds.
Bake for 15 – 20 minutes, until golden brown. Once cooled, the sausage rolls can be frozen. Reheat in the oven before serving.
I really love sausage rolls, and can guarantee this will be a hit when served to your guests, along with any drinks you choose to kick-off your festive party or family dinner.
