Curried Sausages (or 'curried snags') is the quintessential Australian budget family meal — leftover sausages sliced and simmered in a curry gravy with onions, peas, and sometimes apple, served over rice. Born of the necessity to stretch cheap sausages into a family meal, it is the food of every Australian childhood, the Monday-night dinner that uses Sunday's leftover BBQ snags.
Curried Sausages are an Australian institution — the budget family meal that uses leftover BBQ sausages (snags) and turns them into a curry-flavored stew. The dish reflects two strands of Australian food culture: the British love of sausages (brought by colonists) and the post-WWII introduction of curry powder (via South Asian immigration and British-influenced curry traditions). Every Australian family has a version; it is the Monday-night dinner after a Sunday barbecue. The curry powder is always a mild, sweet Australian-style blend (not a complex Indian masala).
A plate of rice topped with sliced sausages in a thick, golden, curry-flavored gravy with soft onions and bright green peas. The curry is mild and sweet (not spicy); the sausages are savory; the gravy coats the rice. It is the most comforting, most budget-friendly family dinner in Australia.
The sausages are pre-cooked (either leftover BBQ or pre-boiled), sliced into coins, and added to a simple curry gravy. The gravy is a base of butter, flour, curry powder, and broth — thicker than an Indian curry, more like a sausage stew with curry flavor. The apple (if used) adds sweetness; the peas add color. The curry powder must be mild (Keen's brand is the Australian classic).
Variations
Some add diced apple; some add sultanas; some use beef stock; some serve with mashed potato instead of rice.
On the Palate
Where Curried Sausages sits in the Australian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
8 steps · 30 min active + 15 min waiting
- 110 min
Pre-cook 6 thick beef sausages (grill or boil); slice into coins.
- 25 min
In a pot, melt 40 g butter; add 1 diced onion; cook 5 minutes.
- 31 min
Add 2 tbsp curry powder and 2 tbsp flour; cook 1 minute.
Watch outCook the curry powder and flour a full minute until fragrant — this toasts off the raw floury taste before the stock goes in.
- 45 min
Gradually whisk in 400 ml beef stock; cook until thickened.
Watch outWhisk the stock in gradually until the gravy coats the spoon — pour it all in at once and you get lumps.
- 53 min
Add the sliced sausages, 100 g frozen peas, and 1 diced apple (optional).
- 615 min
Simmer 15 minutes.
- 71 min
Season with salt and pepper.
- 81 min
Serve over steamed rice.
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