Fiery Sausage Curry

I came up with this recipe to help cure one of hubby’s pesky head colds. The curry is armed with enough chillis and black pepper to clear any stuffed nose, and the tangy-ness of vinegar and tomatoes is perfect for cleansing a sick-bed palate. The trick is to use hot Italian sausages, or, even better, fresh chorizo, to bolster the heat of the spices. Chicken sausages are fine in a pinch, but lamb or pork have the preferable body and complexity.

Ingredients 

Marinade: 

1 medium Onion, quartered
2 medium Tomatoes, quartered
6 cloves Garlic
2” piece Ginger, peeled
1 tsp Garam Masala
2 tbsp ground Coriander
1 tsp ground Cumin
1 tsp Turmeric
3 tbsp Red Chilli powder (or less, according to taste)
½ tsp freshly ground Black Pepper
½ cup white Vinegar

2 lbs [1 kg] spicy Sausage (I prefer fresh chorizo, hot Italian, or merguez), cut into 1” pieces
5 tbsp Vegetable Oil
2 whole Cloves
2 whole Cardamom pods
2 sticks Cinnamon
4 Bay leaves
1 medium Onion, diced
1 tsp Brown Sugar
Salt (to taste)
2 cups Water
6–8 fresh Green Chillis, minced
¼ cup Cilantro, finely chopped

1. Put onion, tomatoes, garlic, and ginger in a food processor and grind to a smooth paste. Pour into a large bowl, add garam masala, ground coriander and cumin, turmeric, chilli powder, black pepper, and vinegar, and stir. 
2. Add sausage to marinade and mix well. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sausage marinate in the fridge for at least 4 hours, and up to 1 day. One hour before cooking, remove sausage from fridge and bring down to room temperature. Shake off any excess marinade from sausage, and reserve all of the marinade for use later in the recipe. 
3. Heat 2 tbsp vegetable oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot, over high heat. Add sausage in batches and brown well on both sides. Remove sausage from pot and set aside in a large bowl. 
4. Add remaining 3 tbsp vegetable oil to the pot. When the oil is smoking, add cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, and bay leaves, stir for about 1 min and allow the spices to swell. Add onions and fry for 5–7 mins, until golden brown and well caramelised. Add brown sugar and continue frying for 1 min. 
5. Add reserved marinade to the pot. Stir briskly for about 3–5 mins, scraping any brown bits from the bottom of the pot, until the oil starts to separate from the spice mixture. 
6. Add sausage and accumulated juices to the pot and stir well to coat sausage pieces thoroughly with spices. Add salt and water, stir, and bring to a brisk boil. Then lower heat, put the lid on the pot, and simmer for 1½ hrs. Stir the curry every ½ hour while it is cooking. If the liquid in the pot becomes insufficient, add 2-3 tbsps of water at a time, as needed. 
7. You know the curry is ready when the sausage feels tender when prodded with a fork, and a dense, creamy gravy has formed. Turn off heat, stir-in green chillis and cilantro, and put the lid back on. Allow the flavours to steep for 15 mins. Serve hot with rice or naan.