30 August 2009

JB Special: Sausage Surprise

31.08.2009

You know, I should call this the 'good to throw on face' dish, there's a story behind it.... This recipe is filed under 'fast food' (see quick to cook label) and is really convenient when you're not in the mood to cook something spectacular. Like today, when I realised that I've been very lazy.

While I have been cooking, I've not really put anything up since March. Excuse 1 is that we were travelling from May-July. Excuse 2 is that uni, work and home stuff took precedence after that. Excuse 3, we lost the camera transfer cable and therefore there were no pictures and thus no impetus to cook. Till I realised that there are at least 12 people coming into the site daily and despite the laziness, Google is actually pointing people here. So here's to all who enjoy cooking and those who've been pulling me up for not updating this blog.

As for the 'good to throw on face' bit of the story, well, the year was 2006. I needed the money -- and friends said they loved the food -- so I decided to cater for friends' parties. This particular dish -- with mushrooms instead of the sausage -- was part of the catering order for a birthday party. Due to miscellaneous reasons, I was late to get the food to the party. After cooking the entire day and a fight just before the party, I land with the food and the host gets really nasty on me. Or so I thought. As I laid out this dish on to the table, the poor birthday boy, in his nice Versace suit, said something like, "Why's the food late?" I was pissed off and promptly threw the whole thing on his face and all over his suit. Sigh. Not proud of it but I was told it did taste good.


JB's SAUSAGE SURPRISE (sausage and eggs in tomato sauce)
Serves: 2-4
Cooked on: Stir-fried on high heat
Accompaniment: Drink of your choice
Try this with: Instant noodles, on bread or rolled in a chapati or parantha; makes great 'tiffin'
INGREDIENTS
Sausages 6-8 (I used Woolworth's Sicilian-stlye spicy pork sausages)
Vegetable oil 2-3 TBS
Eggs 3-4, hard boiled
Capsicum 1, big, thinly sliced (I used a red one, you can use any colour you like!)
Onions 2 medium, thinly sliced
Tomato ketchup/Hot n sweet chilli sauce 2 TBS
Salt to taste
NOTES
  1. If you don't have sausages in your freezer, you can use stir-fry strips of other meat as well.
  2. Just remember to brown the stir-fry strips in oil, it makes them tender.
  3. Boiling the eggs first is always a good idea.
  4. If you don't have Maggi Hot n Sweet chilli sauce, substitute with any ketchup and a 1/2 - 1 TSP of chilli powder.
  5. For vegetarians who eat eggs, substitute the sausage with tofu.
  6. Using tofu without the eggs or sausages works just as well.
  7. You can use as many vegetables as you like. Just remember if using 'harder' veggies like carrots and peas, blanch them first in boiling water for 5-8 minutes.
  8. Blanching: Boil water in a saucepan, put your chopped veggies in it for 5 minutes, take them out, put them in chilled water for another 3 minutes, drain on a strainer.
METHOD
  1. Boil the eggs, cool and cut into small pieces or slices.
  2. Slice the onions and capsicum and set aside.
  3. Heat the oil in a frying pan and once hot, fry the sausages till the outer skin is nicely browned and crispy. Take them out of the oil and place on paper napkins to drain any excess oil. Once cooled -- or if you can handle them hot -- cut into slim, round pieces.
  4. In the same oil, fry the sliced onions till nicely browned. Keep aside a table spoon to garnish the finished dish.
  5. Now add the capsicum (and other vegetables if using) and fry till vegetables are 'shiny'.
  6. Add the tomato ketchup/sauce, mix nicely and cook for 5 minutes.
  7. Add the sliced sausages and cook for 5 minutes or till sausages are coated with the sauce.
  8. Add the salt and the eggs and cook; don't be too hard as you don't want the eggs to crumble completely.
  9. Serve on top of toasted bread with salad, rolled in a parantha or chapati (pita bread goes as well) or with rice-daal and add an interesting twist to a mundane meal!
Bon appetit.
PS: If you do try this out and like it -- or not -- please do let me know.