I decided to make these on a whim the other evening as I had a smallish piece of pork tenderloin left over from my Chinese-style BBQ pork, there was some sliced bread that needed using up, and I always have a bag of prawns in the freezer. So really there was nothing for it but pork and prawn sesame toasts!
You can make these toasts with either pork or prawn, or a mixture of both. I’m going surf and turf and using equal quantities of each, but you can use any ratio. There’s just one decision then to make and that’s whether to cut the toasts into little triangles which I always think of as more Chinese-style or to have them in squares as we made them in Thailand.
Street food classic, perfect appetiser or to have as a snack with a drink, and really easy to make.
This does make quite a lot, probably enough for at least eight-ten rounds of toast, but you can’t really reduce the quantity as it uses a whole egg. However, I tried freezing what was left over and it worked well. Or you can add to this basic mixture and make some little prawn and pork balls to have in soup. I actually used the thawed mixture to do both: made a round of sesame toast to check it still worked ok and then made a lovely quick soup (pork and prawn balls in noodle soup).
If you have a food processor this takes no time at all and will only take a little longer to chop and mix by hand.
You’ll need …
400g total pork and prawns (I used raw prawns but am sure cooked are good too)
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
approx 1/2 teaspoon each white pepper and salt
small handful of coriander leaves, chopped
2 teaspoons soy sauce
one egg, beaten
sesame seeds
sliced white bread, slightly stale and dry is best, crusts cut off
vegetable oil for frying
Put the pork into the food processor first and give it a whizz to mince, then add the prawns and pulse again – I would pulse rather than just blast it as it will come together into a paste very quickly.
Add the chopped garlic, pepper, salt and coriander and give it another whizz. Then mix in by hand the soy sauce and beaten egg to combine.
Spread the mixture onto the slices of bread, sprinkle with sesame seeds and cut each slice into quarters.
Heat the oil in a wok or pan and when very hot carefully add the squares paste side down and cook for 3-4 minutes until golden brown
Then turn and cook for a minute more.
Remove from pan, put on kitchen paper to absorb excess oil and then serve with sweet chilli sauce, or soy sauce. Or any sauce really – I’m using up some nam pla prik here (fish sauce with sliced chillies).
Freeze any leftover paste straight away and thaw before using again.
Hope you like this recipe and do let me know if you make it!