Pork curry with green chillies and tamarind
Prep time less than 30 mins
Cook time less than 30 mins
Serves 6-8
From Rick Stein's India
This is a Christian pork dish from Kerala, which to me is typical of the cookery of southern India in that, even though it’s a meat dish, it’s still light, fresh and acidic. The fattiness of pork is cut through by finishing the dish with a tamarind paste, sliced green chillies and garlic, and it’s normal to serve a sliced, pickled onion salad with it as well.
Method
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Put the shallots, garlic, ginger and chillies into a mini food processor with a splash of water and blend to a rough paste.
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Fry the mustard seeds, cumin, cloves, cinnamon stick and peppercorns in a dry frying pan over a medium heat for a minute until toasted and aromatic. Add the turmeric and fry for another 20 seconds. Cool, then grind to a coarse powder.
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Heat the oil in a heavy-based pan or karahi over a medium-high heat. Add the pork, in batches if necessary to avoid overcrowding, and fry for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until browned.
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With all the pork in the pan, add the shallot, garlic, ginger and chilli paste, the ground spices and salt, and fry for a further five minutes, adding a splash of water if the paste starts to stick. Pour over enough water to just cover, turn the heat down to low, put a lid on and simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the meat is tender.
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To finish, fry the coriander seeds in a dry frying pan over a medium heat for a minute, or until toasted, then grind to a powder. Add the tamarind liquid, green chillies and garlic to the pork and cook for a further minute, then stir in the ground coriander. Serve.
Ingredients
For the curry
- 6 large banana shallots, sliced
- 20 garlic cloves, peeled
- 6cm/2½in ginger, finely chopped
- 6 green chillies, roughly chopped, with or without seeds according to preference
- 1 tbsp black mustard seeds
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 cloves
- 4cm/1½in piece cinnamon stick
- ½ tsp black peppercorns
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1kg/2lb 4oz boneless pork shoulder or chops, cut into 4cm/1½in chunks
- 1 tsp salt
To finish
- 2 tsp coriander seeds
- 75ml/2½fl oz tamarind liquid (see Top recipe tip below)
- 3 green chillies, thinly sliced lengthways, without seeds
- 5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
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