An Anglo-Indian acquaintance in Calcutta once told me that when he went to buy his sausages from the family butcher, he always took along the spices he wanted as flavoring. He would hand these to the butcher and then watch as his choice of meat was ground, seasoned, and pushed into casings. I made a note of the seasonings and now make those sausages all the time. I do not always bother with the casings. I make sausage patties, using all the same spices. We eat these with eggs on Sundays, ensconced between slices of bread as sandwiches, or I put them into a curry (see next recipe), just as Anglo-Indian families have been doing over the years.

　　

Ingredients

makes 8 patties

　　1 pound ground pork (it is good if it is a bit fatty)

　　3 tablespoons finely chopped shallots or red onions

　　1 cup finely chopped cilantro

　　1/2–3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

　　1 teaspoon garam masala (preferably homemade, page 285)

　　1 teaspoon salt

　　Lots of freshly ground black pepper

　　2 teaspoons oil

　　

Step 1

Put the pork in a bowl. Add the shallots, cilantro, cayenne, garam masala, salt, and pepper. Mix thoroughly, making sure to pick up and integrate all the shallot and cilantro bits. Make a loaf, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate overnight ideally or as little as 1–2 hours if you are rushed. Divide into 8 parts and form 8 smooth patties about 3 inches in diameter.

　　

Step 2

Pour the oil into a nonstick frying pan and set over medium-high heat. Put in the patties, as many as will fit in easily, and brown on both sides. This will take 4–5 minutes. Make sure that they are cooked through. Cook all patties this way. Remove with a slotted spatula.

　　Excerpted from At Home with Madhur Jaffrey: Simple, Delectable Dishes from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka by Madhur Jaffrey. Copyright © 2010 by Random House. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.Buy the full book from Amazon.