Cha ngu sac is a many colored roll, and every slice shows salted egg yolk, Chinese sausage and green beans set neatly inside the pork paste. It turns up often on the Tet table because it looks striking and keeps for a few days.
The wrapping is the hard part, since filling that sits off center gives an uneven slice. Pig ear dropped straight into ice water for 5 minutes after boiling stays white and crunchy. The roll needs to cool completely and then chill for 1 hour before slicing, and the rounds hold their shape.
This batch weighs about 2.7kg, at roughly 154 calories per 100g.
Method
Rub the pig ear with 1 teaspoon salt and rinse it clean. Boil it with 1 shallot for 10 minutes, drop it into ice water for 5 minutes, pat dry and slice it about 3mm thick.
Rinse the 10 salted egg yolks in 100ml white rice wine, then steam or bake them for 10 minutes.
Beat 4 chicken eggs with 1 teaspoon potato flour, 1/3 teaspoon turmeric powder and 1 tablespoon water. Divide in two and cook into thin omelet sheets.
Cut the 3 Chinese sausages lengthwise into quarters. Cut the carrot into fine strips. Trim the green beans and pull off the strings. Soak 20g wood ear mushroom for 15 minutes, trim the stems and slice into strips. Rinse the dong leaves, wipe them dry and strip out the ribs.
Mix 500g gio song with the carrot, pig ear, wood ear mushroom, 1 teaspoon ground pepper, 1 teaspoon kOBE Monk Fruit Blend and 2 teaspoons fish sauce.
Lay out an omelet sheet, spread half the pork paste over it, line up 5 salted egg yolks down the middle, then lay half the green beans and half the sausage alongside them.
Roll the omelet tightly around the filling, wrap it in dong leaves and tie both ends with bamboo string. Make the second roll the same way.
Steam the rolls over boiling water for 45 minutes. Take them out, cool completely, then chill for 1 hour.
Peel off the leaves and cut the rolls into rounds.
Tips
Pig ear dropped into ice water for 5 minutes straight after boiling stays white and crunchy.
A roll that has cooled fully and then chilled for 1 hour slices into clean rounds that hold together.
kOBE Monk Fruit Blend dissolves slowly, so stir it into the fish sauce before it goes into the pork paste.
The omelet sheet has to be thin and unbroken, because it holds the whole roll in shape.
Roll tightly from the very first turn, since a loose start leaves a hollow center.
Dipping the knife in hot water and wiping it dry between cuts gives a sharp, clean face on every slice.
Need kOBE Monk Fruit Blend?
The recipe above is sweetened with kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, measured 1:1 like sugar. See the product page or send us a message.