Smoked Thai Sausage with Chargrilled Squid and Sour Orange

Aromatic Paste:

2.5cm piece turmeric

2.5cm piece ginger

6 long red chillies

2 birdseye chillies

8 kaffir lime leaves

3 stalks lemongrass

2 tbsp belacan

1 shallot, peeled

2 cloves garlic, peeled

1 tbsp oil

Sauce:

1 tbsp oil

6 prawn heads

1 stalk lemongrass, bruised, roughly chopped

¼ cup dried shrimp

2.5cm piece ginger, sliced

reserved Aromatic Paste, made above

¼ cup lime juice

2 tbsp sugar

3 tbsp fish sauce

¼ cup coconut cream

Smoked Thai Sausage:

200g pork mince

1/3 cup Aromatic Paste, made above

2 tbsp fish sauce

2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp oil

Smoking Mix:

1/3 cup rice

¼ cup sugar

1 stalk lemongrass, bruised, roughly chopped

¼ cup aniseed myrtle

1. For the Aromatic Paste, place all ingredients in a food processor and blend to a fine paste. Set aside 1/3 cup for the Smoked Thai Sausage and the remainder for the Sauce.
2. For the Sauce, place a large saucepan over high heat. Add prawn heads and cook until golden. Add lemongrass, dried shrimp and ginger and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add 400ml water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes remove from heat.
3. Strain through a fine sieve into a small saucepan. Add reserved Aromatic Paste and set over low heat. Simmer gently for 15-20 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, strain into a serving jug and set aside, keeping warm, until serving.
4. For the Smoked Sausage, bring a wok of water to a simmer.
5. Place pork mince and Aromatic Paste into the bowl of a stand mixer and mix with paddle attachment until mixture is sticky and elastic, about 4-5 minutes. Add fish sauce and sugar and mix well. Form mixture into a 4cm wide log shape and roll in cling wrap, securing ends to form a firm cylinder.
6. Place pork sausage into a bamboo steamer basket and place basket over simmering water. Steam sausage for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, unwrap sausage then return sausage to steamer basket and set aside.
7. Line a wok with foil and place over high heat. Add rice, sugar, lemongrass and aniseed myrtle to centre of wok. Use a blow torch to assist ingredients to begin smoking.
8. Place steamer basket over wok and smoke the sausages for 6-8 minutes. Remove from heat. Remove sausage from wok and slice into 8 pieces.
9. Heat a large frypan over high heat. Add oil and slices of sausage and cook until golden on each side. Remove sausage from pan and set aside on a plate, keeping warm, until serving. Keep pan on heat.
10. Add oil to the pan and add squid. Fry until charred and tender, about 2-3 minutes. Season with salt and remove squid from pan and set aside, keeping warm, until serving. Keep pan on heat.
11. For the Crispy Curry Leaves, add oil to the hot pan. Add curry leaves and fry until crispy. Remove from heat and set aside until serving.
12. To serve, place 2 slices Smoked Thai Sausage on each serving plate. Add Charred Squid, Crispy Curry Leaves and garnishes over plate and serve with Sauce on the side.