Sausage with Homemade Tomato Curry Sauce

Finely chop 80 g peeled onion. Take the ready-to-eat, precooked bratwurst out of the refrigerator immediately before frying; do not score the edible casings, and do not remove them. Measure out 6 g curry powder for the sauce and reserve the remaining 2 g separately for serving. Prepare a saucepan with a capacity of about 2 l, a skillet about 28 cm in diameter, and an immersion blender.

Heat 15 ml oil in the saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the onion and cook for 5–7 minutes, stirring often, until soft and translucent, without dark, burned edges. All the onion and oil stay in the sauce. Do not raise the heat sharply, as the onion needs to soften before the tomatoes are added.

Add 30 g tomato paste and stir for about 1 minute over medium-low heat until combined with the onion. Add the measured 6 g curry powder and 3 g sweet paprika and stir for about 30 more seconds, just until fragrant. Immediately add all 500 g passata, 50 ml water, 20 g sugar, 20 ml vinegar, 3 g salt, and 1 g pepper. Stir, scraping the tomato paste from the bottom; do not let the dry spices burn.

Bring the sauce to a gentle simmer, reduce the heat, and cook without covering for 15–20 minutes, stirring every few minutes. It should thicken noticeably, flow slowly from a spoon, and leave a brief trail on the bottom when the spoon is drawn through it, rather than spread like juice. If still thin, cook for about 5 more minutes without adding fresh water. Fry the sausages in the next step while the sauce reduces.

Heat the remaining 10 ml oil in the skillet over medium heat and add all four sausages in a single layer, with space between them. Fry for 12–15 minutes, turning several times, until the casings are browned on different sides and the centers are hot; if the skins darken too quickly, lower the heat and cover the skillet for the last 2–3 minutes. Transfer the sausages to a cutting board and cut one through the middle: the cut surface should be hot and steaming; if cool, heat both cut halves too for another 2–3 minutes with the remaining sausages. Take the skillet off the heat, carefully pour in the remaining 30 ml water, and use a spoon to collect the juices and all the fat from the bottom; pour everything into the saucepan of sauce, without draining anything.

Take the saucepan off the heat and blend the sauce with the added skillet juices until smooth, keeping the blender head submerged in the liquid. Return to low heat and cook for another 2–3 minutes, stirring, so the sauce thickens again after adding 30 ml water. It should coat the back of a spoon in a thick, even layer, without watery liquid separating at the edges. Do not add extra salt, sugar, water, or oil beyond the ingredient list.

Cut the hot sausages crosswise into pieces about 2 cm long. Divide among four plates, one sausage per serving, and divide the hot sauce among them. Sprinkle the portions with the remaining 2 g curry powder, dividing it evenly. Serve immediately.