Sausage and Komatsuna Soup Curry, made with SN3

At the end of August, komatsuna is the one thing on the vegetable counter whose price barely moves.

When the summer vegetables are heading out and you want to add a single bunch of green, this is what you buy. Today it goes on top of the curry sauce, under a lid, over the heat for five minutes and no longer. Sink it into the pan and simmer it, and the green falls away into brown.

The whole-spice sachet of Symphony No.3 holds two leaves of quite different character. Indian bay leaf is the leaf of the cassia tree, and it is sweet; laurel is the leaf of the bay tree, and it is clean. In one pan, an aroma that arrives first and an aroma that stays behind, set deliberately apart. Not one of the spices that carry heat is in the set, so it is not hot at all.

Nothing here thickens into a roux. The sauce stays thin, close to a soup, with the fat from the sausages floating on top. Salt comes out along with that fat, so the salt you give the aromatics is half what you would usually use.

Total time: about 50 min

Ingredients (Serves 4)

• SN3 / starter spices (the whole-spice sachet): 1 sachet
• SN3 / powder spices (the ground-spice sachet): 1 sachet
• Sausages: 8 (about 200 g)
• Komatsuna (Japanese mustard spinach): 1 bunch (about 200 g)
• Onion: 1
• Carrot: 1/2
• Celery: 1/2 stick
• Garlic: 2 tsp (about 1–2 cloves)
• Ginger: 2 tsp (about 1–2 knobs)
• Tinned tomatoes (whole): 1 tin, 400 g
• Coconut milk: 3 tbsp (milk works too)
• Water: 200 ml
• Salt: 1/2 tsp
• Oil: 3 tbsp (use whichever oil you like. For this recipe we recommend rice bran oil or light sesame oil)

How salty a sausage is varies a good deal from brand to brand. These quantities assume a coarse-ground pork sausage. On a day when you use something saltier, go easy on the salt you add at the final tasting.

Preparation

1. Grate the garlic, then the ginger, in that order. If you have no grater, chop them finely instead.
2. Slice the onion thinly, across the grain.
3. Finely chop the carrot and the celery. Chop the celery leaves as well and use them along with the rest.
4. Cut the sausages in half on the diagonal. Opening up a cut surface lets the fat come out more easily as they fry.
5. Trim the roots from the komatsuna, wash it and cut it into 5 cm lengths. Drain it in a colander, then pat it dry with paper towel. Water left on the leaves is what makes a watery sauce. Unlike spinach, komatsuna carries little bitterness, so there is no need to blanch it first.
6. Open the starter spices (the whole-spice sachet) and split the cardamom pods lengthways with scissors or a knife — it lifts the bright side of the aroma.

Instructions

1. Pour the oil (3 tbsp) into a pan over low heat, and once it has warmed, tip in the starter spices (the whole-spice sachet).
2. When the cardamom pods (the green ones) puff up, add the grated garlic and ginger and fry for about 30 seconds, stirring them through the spices.
3. Add the onion, carrot and celery with the salt (1/2 tsp), stir everything well into the spices, then turn the heat to high and cook for about 12 minutes, adding a splash of water often, until deep golden brown. The salt is half the usual amount because the sausages will release salt of their own later on.

   How far you cook the onion changes the finished flavour enormously. When a curry comes out watery, or the tomato tastes too sharp, or the depth feels thin, the single biggest cause is moving on to the next step before the onion has turned deep golden brown. Always cook it for 12 to 15 minutes, frying it properly until it is deep golden brown.
   The points to watch are:
   • Keep the heat at medium to high
   • Spread the onion evenly across the pan and leave it, then stir; spread it evenly and leave it, then stir; and repeat
   • When you stir and feel the onion catching on the base of the pan, add a splash of water, often (in our experience, about 2 tbsp of water at a time, roughly five times in all)
   That splash of water carries the savoury depth released by the cooking through the whole pan, and lets you reach deep golden onions without burning them. Letting it catch a little and then adding water actually draws out more of that depth.

4. Once the aromatics are deep golden brown, turn the heat to medium, add the sausages and fry for about 3 minutes, until the cut faces colour.
5. Add all of the powder spices and stir them through, thinking of it as cooking the powder itself.
6. Push the ingredients to one side of the pan, add the tinned tomatoes, crush the whole tomatoes well, then stir everything together.
7. Add the water (200 ml) and the coconut milk (3 tbsp). Bring it to the boil, then turn the heat low and simmer for about 15 minutes, uncovered.
8. Lay the komatsuna lightly on top of the curry sauce, put the lid on and steam over low heat for 5 minutes. Once it has wilted, turn it over just once, gently, from underneath, and fold it through the sauce. Stir it again and again as it simmers and the green falls away into brown. The moment you lift the lid a fresh green scent rises — cut the heat there.
9. Taste at the end and adjust the salt. What you add here will be somewhere around 1/3 to 2/3 tsp. The salt from the sausages is already in the broth, so do not put it in all at once — add a pinch at a time and work towards the seasoning you like. That final adjustment is what makes it taste good.

Indian bay leaf, cardamom and cassia bark are not usually eaten, so lift them out when you come across them.

The green of komatsuna fades overnight. If you plan to eat it the next day as well, set aside half the pan before step 8, and add the komatsuna and steam it for 5 minutes just before you eat.

Inspice spice curry spice sets contain none of the usual sources of heat — chilli, cayenne pepper or chilli powder — so please add heat to your own taste.

If you want more heat, we recommend HOT SPICE “Savoury Heat”. It is a blend that adds heat and savour together, so instead of simply turning the dish hot, it sharpens the outline of the flavour while the curry keeps its aroma. Do not put it in the pan — serve the curry into bowls and shake it over a little at a time. That way everyone can share one pan, even those who would rather not have the heat.