What do you do when you have a hankering for something different, as a curry, without breaking the bank ? You buy duck sausages ! (of course).
Last time I went to my local butchers (The excellent Meat the Butcher in Dog Swamp Shopping Centre), to find duck for my curry. The friendly chap on the other end of the meat cleaver suggested I try their duck sausages as an alternative. I decided against it at the time, as I wanted the gaminess that duck breast provides that time around… but then found myself strangely drawn back there the following week (I have a certain attraction to butchers, kitchen supply stores, and bottle shops, which I’m sure that puts me in a certain category I should be concerned about).
So I bought three lovely duck sausages at a pittance (compared to duck breast) and rushed away gleefully to find a recipe for them. But what do you know… in a first for food nerds the world over…the internet failed me… Searching for all manner of terms including “duck sausages” “duck curry sausages” “curry sausages” “+sausages +curry +duck -sweetandsour” etc provided nothing that I could easily steal and proudly claim for my own. So it was up to my wiley self to come up with something suitable.
My thinking cap firmly on, I raided the spice rack for every conceivable thing I could think of that might go well with duck sausages, and came up with this.
Duck Sausage Curry
- 3 Duck Sausages
- 6 baby potatoes halved
- 1 bulb baby fennel
- 1 large onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon ground turmeric
- 1 tablespoon chilli powder (less if you’re a weeny)
- 2 teaspoons fenugreek
- 2 teaspoons fennel seeds
- 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
- handful of curry leaves
- 100 ml coconut cream
So basically I do my curries in a similar style most times, whether it be right or wrong. I started off by dry roasting the dry spices (fennel, coriander, and fenugreek) for about 30 seconds in a hot pan, then taking them out and putting them into my mortar and pestle to be ground finely.
Then add some butter/oil/ghee (whatever you like to cook with) to the pan and fry the chopped onions, fennel, and garlic at a relatively low heat until translucent and soft. At the same time (and this is probably cheating), I have the potatoes boiling in their own pot of water, so I don’t need them to cook in the curry itself, which saves a bit of time.
So once the onion mixture is nice and soft… add all the dry spices, the turmeric, chilli powder, and other stuff that was ground up, and coat the onion mixture with it nicely, so all the turmeric is absorbed into the mixture, and it colours it. Now add your duck sausages that have been sliced up into pieces (as chunky as you like them). Stir them all around and get them coated in the onions and spices too, and perhaps add a little water if the mixture is starting to stick to the pan and dry out.
Once the sausages are nicely coated and basically cooked, add the potatoes (which should be cooked but still firm), and the coconut cream and curry leaves, and then stir it all through so the sauce is nice and thick and the colour has absorbed all throught the coconut cream. Taste it and see if it needs anything else at this point, like more chilli or salt/pepper, and if not, turn the heat down, put a lit on the pan, and let the flavours absorb for a little while.
When you’re happy with how it’s looking, and all those wonderful flavours have pervaded every corner of your kitchen. Spoon it out over a pile of steaming hot rice, and dig it. One of the tastiness creations I’ve made in a long time.
And introduce yourself to your local butcher. You never know what great things they may have in the back of those fridges just waiting for you to discover them.
Looks incredibly tempting! Must find myself some duck sausages.
Matt,
You are a bad boy! I have been looking at my waist and thinking – must eat less, drink less etc, and then I read about duck sausages, and only around the corner too. . . .
Is Dogswamp your local too? We’re there practically every weekend!
Must admit I’ve never thought of the combo of curry and sausages. Looks delicious!
Hi Truffle, apparently the duck sausages come from “Love a duck” (or something), which is in Victoria, so you shouldn’t have to look too hard to find some.
Edward, you’re not the first person who’s called me that… but I’m waiting for the experts of your field to shortly announce that sausages are the next great cure all for every disease known to man… Red wine is already on the list, so hey…why not sausages…
CW, Yep, just down the road and around the corner. Although I do vege shopping at Station St Markets in Subiaco when I can be bothered, but the few little shops (Fish Japan, Fresh Stop, Meat the Butcher, All about Bread) at Dog Swamp keep me more than satisfied. The butcher has a whole bunch of game meats in a fridge behind the counter… give some a try next time.
That looks absolutely divine! As for needing to work in daylight – I think that your pictures are stunning anyway, the lighting looks quite warm and familiar :)
loving the idea of the duck sausage matt…. people who are attracted to butchers and bottle shops tend to be the fun and interesting ones (well that’s what I tell myself)
Hey Matt, You have a knack for finding great interesting produce! Must say I’ve never come across duck sausages so am intrigued by this. Great sounding recipe. Looks great!
Ellie, you are far too kind… if I had more time in between cooking and eating then I’d probably make more of an effort…but hunger always wins out in the end, and happy snaps is what you get… fortunately my photoshop mastery knows no bounds… this was originally a plate of boiled eggs.
Jules, I think you might be on to something… just like the people who hang out in the kitchen at parties…
Steve, I lack your flair for coming up with interesting dishes so I compensate with interesting produce :) Plus anything that can be successfully turned into a sausage or meatball is gold in my book.
it looks so nice~
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Oh yes, I know the brand well. They make a lovely product that combined with some greens and noodles make a perfect quick dinner. Will keep an eye out for the sausages.
Never ducked a sausage yet – I’ll check out my local good butcher in Currumbine but I he doesn’t have any I may have to make a trip down your way.