Sai Oua (Northern Thai Herb Sausage)
Chiang Mai’s famous coiled pork sausage, packed with lemongrass, galangal, makrut lime and dried chilli, grilled slowly over charcoal.
- Region
- Northern Thailand
- Condiments
- Fish Sauce, Shrimp Paste
- Vegetables
- Lemongrass, Galangal, Makrut Lime, Thai Shallots, Garlic, Fresh Turmeric, Ginger, Dried Red Chillies, Coriander Leaves
Ingredients
- Paste: 8 dried long red chillies, deseeded, soaked and chopped
- Paste: 3 stalks lemongrass, tender part only, finely sliced
- Paste: 3 cm galangal, peeled and chopped
- Paste: 3 cm fresh turmeric, peeled and chopped (or 1 tsp ground)
- Paste: 6 small shallots and 8 cloves garlic, chopped
- Paste: 1 tsp shrimp paste (kapi) and 1 tsp salt
- 1 kg pork shoulder with some fat, coarsely minced (or 800 g lean pork and 200 g pork belly)
- 8 makrut lime leaves, very finely shredded
- 1 small handful coriander, chopped
- 1½ tbsp fish sauce
- 2–3 m natural sausage casing (hog casing), soaked
- To serve: sticky rice, nam prik noom, fresh ginger, shallots, cabbage and roasted peanuts
Instructions
Sai oua is the sausage of Chiang Mai and the old Lanna kingdom: coarse pork mixed with a fragrant red curry paste and lots of herbs, coiled into a spiral and grilled slowly over charcoal. Markets in the north sell it by the metre, and the smell of it on the grill is one of the smells of the region.
It is less work than it looks. If you do not want to stuff casings, shape the mixture into patties or small logs and grill them the same way.
Method
- Make the paste: pound the salt, chillies and lemongrass in a mortar until broken down, then add the galangal and turmeric, then the shallots and garlic, pounding each to a paste. Finish with the shrimp paste. (A small blender works too, with a splash of water.)
- Put the pork in a large bowl with the paste, lime leaves, coriander and fish sauce. Mix with your hands for 2–3 minutes until well combined and slightly sticky.
- Fry a small spoonful of the mixture and taste it. Adjust the salt, chilli or fish sauce now, before stuffing.
- Rinse the soaked casing, slide it onto a sausage funnel or the wide end of a piping nozzle, and fill it with the mixture, pushing out air as you go. Do not pack it too tightly or it will burst on the grill. Tie off the ends and coil the sausage into a spiral.
- Prick the sausage all over with a needle or toothpick, so it does not split. Leave it uncovered in the fridge for a few hours or overnight if you have time; the skin dries and grills better.
- Grill over medium-low charcoal for 25–30 minutes, turning often, until browned and cooked through (72°C in the centre). You can also bake it at 190°C for 25 minutes, then finish under a hot grill.
- Rest for 5 minutes, slice diagonally, and serve with sticky rice, nam prik noom, slivers of fresh ginger, shallots, raw cabbage and peanuts.
Cook’s tips
- Some fat is essential. With lean pork alone, sai oua comes out dry and crumbly.
- Leftover mixture makes excellent fried patties or a filling for lettuce wraps.
Aroy Mak Mak
Aroy Mak Mak is a small team writing about the food of Thailand and its neighbours: recipes you can cook at home, guides to the ingredients behind them, and places worth travelling for. The name means "very delicious" in Thai. Every recipe on the site lists its ingredients, timings and method in full, explains the techniques that matter, and suggests substitutes for ingredients that are hard to find outside Thailand. The guides to regions, condiments, vegetables and fruits explain what things are, how they are used and how to buy and store them. Place pages are researched from current sources, including the latest Michelin Guide Thailand, official websites and maps, and give addresses, opening hours and what to order. Where a detail could not be confirmed, it is left out rather than guessed.