Yvette's Spicy Sausage Rice

Nostalgia

Have been really busy of late and have been neglecting my blog. Yesterday, a friend asked me when my next recipe would be put up and so here I am!

The Bangalore Ham Shop on M G road is a well known haunt for those who love quality pork products. As children, we loved going to the tiny, dingy shop with our parents to buy bacon, ham, sausages and other delicacies. The smell, the people queueing up and the strings of fat sausages were a source of excitement for us. Special occasions saw us make a beeline for those wonderful meat products. Today there are Bangalore Ham shops all over the city and to tell the truth I have never eaten sausages as good as those from this tiny shop with humble beginnings. Today’s recipe was served to us at an impromptu dinner at a friend’s house many, many years ago. While in Bangalore I made it very often. Once we shifted to Kuala Lumpur, I never really got to make it as often as we liked. Recently my daughter brought back a whole lot of Bangalore Ham Shop sausages on a visit to India and so we were able to indulge in one of our favourite recipes’s from long, long ago. Yvette, this one is for you and the many happy moments we shared in Bangalore before we parted ways and went to different corners of the world.
The Recipe:
Ghee Rice
1 cup basmathi rice; 2 cups hot water; 3 tbsp. ghee; 1 onion sliced; 1 tbsp minced ginger garlic.
Wash and drain rice. Fry onions & ginger-garlic in ghee till golden brown. Add rice and stir fry till transparent. Transfer to rice cooker, add hot water and salt to taste. Cook till done. Transfer to serving dish and keep hot.
For The Sausages: 1 kg Bangalore Ham Shop Sausages; 3 dried red chillies, broken; 1 tbsp whole pepper corns.
Boil sausages in just enough water to cover them, lower flame, remove cover and cook till water evaporates and all the excess fat comes out. Drain sausages and keep aside. Heat one tsp. oil in a large non-stick pan and stir fry the red chillies for a minute. Add the pepper corns and stir fry till they pop. Quickly add in the sausages and stir fry till brown. Pour over the ghee rice and serve hot with cucumber pachdi and tomato sauce.
Cucumber Pachdi: 1 small cucumber deseeded; 1 cup thick home made curds; dsalt to taste; 1 minced, green chilli; 1 onion, sliced; 1 small tomato, diced; salt to taste and coriander leaves for garnish. Mix all together and serve with the above.