Healthier Homemade Char Siew (Chinese style) Sausage Rolls

Growing up, I used to love Char Siew Pao (steamed bbq pork buns) from the Chinese stalls. I used to have it once a week or so when we ordered Chinese take away food for dinner. The buns were delicious. What I loved most about the buns were the sweet salty taste of the pork meat in the bun.

So, a few months ago, I made some sausage rolls. Instead of my making my usual veggie packed sausage rolls, I decided to incorporate the sweet salty flavour of the bbq pork buns in my sausage rolls. So, this resulted in some delicious healthier veggie packed Char Siew sausage rolls for dinner 🙂 It’s also a great way to increase the vegetable intake of your fussy children (or even adults), if you have any 😋 I used turkey mince in this recipe, but pork or chicken mince would work just fine. I also made this in my trusty Airfryer, but it can also be baked in the oven 🙂 I find this recipe very simple to make and the airfried/oven baked sausage rolls freezes well, so you can make these sausage rolls ahead and re-heat on a busy night after work 😊

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I have. As always, please let me know what you think of this recipe. If you like what you see on this blog, you can follow me on my blog, Facebook or Instagram for some food porn. Also, if you do recreate this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram @subz_foodie 🙂

Makes 24 sausage rolls

Ingredients

3 x store bought puff pastry, thawed & cut in half (so you have 6 x puff pastry for making the sauce rolls);
500g turkey mince (chicken/pork mince or combination would work fine);
1 zucchini, grated & water squeezed out (important so that you don’t get soggy sausage rolls!);
1 cup button mushrooms, finely sliced;
3-4 garlic cloves, minced;
1 small red onion, finely chopped;
1/2 bread crumbs;
2 heaped tbsp honey;
2 tbsp soy sauce;
2-3 tsp ground Chinese five spices;
San elk vegetable stock or salt to taste;
White pepper to taste; and
***For topping: some milk (I used soy milk) & sesame seeds.

Method

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius & grease a baking tray if baking the sausage rolls. If using an Airfryer, grease the Airfryer tray with olive oil;
In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients except the puff pastry and topping ingredients until well combined;
Split the sausage roll mixture into 6 equal portions;
Place the portioned sauce roll mixture in the middle on one (of the 6) of the puff pastry length wise. Fold the the puff pastry length wise so that the ends touch each and make sure the roll is secured;
Cut the roll into 4 equal length (I used dental floss to do this as it does not ruin the shape of the rolls). Brush some milk on the rolls & sprinkle with some sesame seeds;
Repeat the above the for the remaining 5 puff pastries & sausage mixture.
Place the rolls on a baking tray or in the Airfryer tray & bake/airfry (170 degrees Celsius) for 20-25 or until golden brown. Enjoy 😊
If you would like to make these sausage rolls ahead and freeze them, you can bake/airfry them for 15 minutes. Once cooled place in a zip lock bag and place in the freezer (for up to 6 months). When you would like to have them, simple remove from freezer 10 minutes before baking/air frying & bake/airfry for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and hot to eat 😊