Healthier curried sausages

I found myself in a very unhealthy predicament recently. I had 24, yes 24(!) sausages to use up. Some dill had frozen them all together, so they all defrosted together and had to be used within a couple of days.

I'm not a huge fan of sausages - so fatty, salty and processed. I fried and re-froze a few portions to use on pizzas or in my super fried rice . but still had heaps left over. The general consensus amongst my friends was that curried sausages was the way to go. This could be cooked up in a huge batch and frozen - saving us from eating too many sausages in one go.



But every recipe I found for curried sausages included a lot of sausages, some curry and not much else. Hmmm...didn't sound very nutritious to me! Sure I could cook a few vegetables on the side, but one pot meals always score me extra brownie points with my partner who is responsible for the washing up!

The only negative comment this meal received was from my partner who thinks it needed more sausages. Personally I thought it was perfect!


Preparation time: About 10mins
Cooking time: About 30mins

Serves: Dinner for 2 adults and 2 toddlers plus 3 (large!) serves into the freezer

Ingredients:
6 sausages
Half a large onion
4 mushrooms
Curry powder
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
1 can of tomatoes
4 small potatoes
1 small sweet potato
1 can of butter beans, drained
About 1 cup of frozen peas

Rice/quinoa mix to serve

Spinach to serve (or whatever greens you have in your garden)

Cucumber yoghurt "dip" to serve

(Method for accompaniments is at the bottom - but you may prefer to prepare them first so check them out before you start!)

Method:

1) Cut sausages into bite size pieces.

2) Finely dice onion and mushroom.



3) Fry sausages until they are browned and starting to cook through. Add onion and mushroom and fry for a minute or two.



4) Add curry powder and tomato paste and stir to coat everything. I only used 1 teaspoon of curry powder and found that it wasn't very strong. You may like to experiment with the quantities to find how much your family likes.

5) Add the tin of tomatoes and the potato and sweet potato. Mix thoroughly and bring to the boil. Simmer for about 10 mins.



6) Add butter beans and continue to simmer for another few minutes then add peas.



7) Serve on a bed of rice mix and spinach and the cucumber dip on the side. Enjoy!


Method for the accompaniments:

1) Rice/quinoa mix: I like an approximately half/half mixture. Place 1 cup of quinoa in a pot and add about 2 cups of water. Bring to the boil and then add 1 cup of rice and another cup or 2 of water. Simmer until cooked.

2) Cucumber dip: Most recipes suggest a side of cream...which doesn't sound terribly healthy! I like to make a mix of about 2/3 greek yoghurt and 1/3 cream (adjust measurements to your own personal liking). Add a teaspoon of finely chopped mint and about 2 tablespoons of finely chopped or grated cucumber. Mix well.

It's also nice with lemon juice and garlic added.



As always use whatever vegies your family likes to eat. I think this would be nice with chunky capsicum and pumpkin - can't wait for some to be ready in my garden so I can try it!

Now I'm off to try and figure out what to do with the sausages that I still have sitting in my fridge!

Categories
#healthy_recipes
#may_comp



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