Old Fashioned Curried Sausages

Curried Sausages might just be the ultimate retro winter dinner option. Warm, filling and tasty, this dish was on regular rotation on many Aussie dinner menus throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

In creating this recipe, I've hit the retro cookbooks and tested and re-tested the recipes to:

• uncover the secret ingredients that our nanas used to make this dish super tasty
• work out which cooking method gives the best results
• balance the flavours so that it's not too hot – the whole family will love this sausage meal (though you can easily turn up the heat if that's what you're after)
• deliver an easy curried sausages recipe – so you can get this fantastic dinner on the table with minimum fuss.

Jump to:

• A favourite retro recipe
• Ingredient notes
• How to make Curried Sausages
• Serving Curried Sausages
• Variation ideas
• Storage and freezing
• More retro meals
• Room for dessert?
• Curried Sausages

A favourite retro recipe

Curried Sausages go way, way back, with the dish hugely popular throughout the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. My research covering old Australian newspapers revealed many hundreds of mentions of this dish during this time period.

And some of these really old fashioned curried sausages recipes had a few secret ingredients that have been forgotten in the recipes that are around today.

Until now! I've added Nana's secret ingredients back into this dish to create the BEST curried sausages recipe. Can you spot them in the recipe below?

Remember, you'll need to keep scrolling to find the Cooking with Nana Ling version of Curried Sausages below.

Ingredient notes

This recipe has all the regular ingredients:

• thin beef sausages
• onions
• peas
• carrots
• curry powder (I use Keen's)
• flour
• stock.

So, what are the secret ingredients that add a dash of nostalgia to this recipe?

Here they are:

• a little desiccated coconut
• grated apple
• chopped banana.

These add the sweetness and flavour which elevate this recipe to a whole new level of retro goodness.

While we're talking secrets, I want to mention another secret to success with this recipe.

TIP: Always use good quality thin beef sausages. Buy from an old school butcher!

(I was so thrilled when I moved to Maitland and found an old school butcher who makes sausages that taste like they used to taste when I was a kid. He even gives the kids a free cocktail frankfurt when they're with me. Remember when they all did that?)

How to make Curried Sausages

The recipe card at the end of this post contains all of the ingredients, quantities and detailed instructions. But I'll run through the basic steps you need to follow here, too.

Brown the sausages

First, you cook the sausages in a large frying pan for about 5 minutes or until browned. You then remove the sausages, slice into pieces diagonally and set aside.

Create the sauce

Next, you cook the onion until translucent before adding the curry powder and flour. You stir this over medium heat for a couple of minutes to cook the flour before adding the coconut.

Now it's time to add the stock, carrot, peas, apple and banana and simmer for 2-3 minutes. The sauce should start to thicken.

Add the sausages back

Then, add the sausages and simmer for another 10 minutes, or until the sauce thickens and sausages are cooked through. Finally, you can add salt and pepper to taste.

Serving Curried Sausages

Curried Sausages and potato mash is hard to beat! Though it's also pretty awesome served with fluffy rice.

You could also serve this with a side of green vegetables. But the good thing about this recipe is that it already contains veges so you don't need to feel guilty if you don't have time to create a vegetable side.

Variation ideas

This basic recipe is hard to beat, but you can definitely experiment with some variations. Why not try:

• Vegetarian: use plant-based sausages and experiment with the veges you add (celery, beans or zucchini would work well)
• Spicy: up the curry quantity a bit if you like something a bit hotter
• Pork or Chicken: you could use other types of sausages... the options are endless. (But to get that old-fashioned retro taste, use the thin beef variety.)

Storage and freezing

You can store this dish in the fridge in an airtight container for a couple of days.

Re-heat gently in a saucepan or microwave.

Its also great for freezing. The only thing better than a curried sausages meal is when you already have it made and portioned up in the freezer. Curried Sausages should be fine for up to 3 months in the freezer.

More retro meals

Other tasty dishes to add to the menu:

Room for dessert?

Some popular sweet things that pair well with Curried Sausages: