The ultimate German fast food, beloved of Berliners, tourists and locals, city-workers and late night revellers alike. Since the 1940s, currywurst is said to have been invented by a savvy housewife, setting up her stand in the streets of Charlottenburg, and feeding the construction workers re-building the war-devastated city. The currywurst kiosk is now a Berlin institution.
Street food may be hard to come by for the time being, but you can recreate the classic curry sausage experience at home, washed down, obviously, with an ice cold beer.
Currywurst
Ingredients
For the Currywurst sauce
2 tbs. vegetable oil
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
1 tbs. curry powder
1 tbs. hot paprika
1 x 400g can peeled tomatoes
100ml tomato ketchup
2 tbs. Worcestershire sauce
1 tbs. sugar
2 tsp. mustard
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
Heat the oil in a pan over a medium flame. Add the chopped onions and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes until soft and golden. Add the curry and paprika, stir, and cook for another minute.
Add the tomatoes and their juice to the pan. Crush and stir them into the onions with a wooden spoon. Add the ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, and mustard, and stir well. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
Check the seasoning, adding salt and pepper as necessary. Blend to a smooth sauce with a hand blender.
For each serving:
1 large wurst
Currywurst sauce
curry powder
Boil, then fry the wurst in a shallow frying pan with a little oil, for about 10 minutes – turning and browning on all sides. Chop into bite sized pieces and place in a dish. Smother with curry wurst sauce and sprinkle with curry powder. Serve with beer and a crusty bread roll or chips.
INFORMATION
Recipe by Melina Keays, Entertaining Director
In memoriam: Paolo Portoghesi (1931 - 2023)
