Goan Pork with Hot Spices

Today, I'm posting the recipe for Goan Pork with Hot Spices which I served with Aromatic Indian Rice with Peas and a vegetable curry, Cauliflower, Pea and Potates Curry, recipes which can be found at my previous post. This dish is popular in Goa, which is situated on the west coast of India. Goa is influenced by three religions, Hinduism, Islam and Christianity. So beef and pork cuisines are quite common in this part of India.

This dish is tasty and really good eaten with the Aromatic Indian Rice. It is not overly spicy and has the sweet aroma of the cinnamon. I think that replacing the pork with beef should be great too.

This recipe is taken from "Curries 500" by Mridula Baljekar, which is my current obsession for Indian food! 

Much as I like this cookbook, I found that she has a totally different approach in writing out the instructions. Unlike my other cookbook by Raghaven Iyer which is more precise in letting us know at the beginning of the recipe on when to prepare the spices that are either needed to be milled to fine powder or pounded coarsely, and keep that aside until needed, Mridula Baljekar has a different approach. You would find that the instructions for grinding the spices needed to a fine powder comes somewhere in the middle of the cooking instructions, as you can see from the recipe below. So careful reading of the instructions is needed to prepare all the necessary before you start cooking. 

For this recipe, my advice is to prepare step no 2 and no 5 first before you start cooking, and keep them aside until needed. 

Goan Pork with Hot Spices
(adapted from "Curry 500" by Mridula Baljekar)
Serves 4
60ml / 4 tbsp vegetable oil
15ml / 1 tbsp grated fresh root ginger
15ml / 1 tbsp crushed garlic
2.5cm / 1 in piece cinnamon stick, broken up
2-4 dried red chillies, chopped or torn
4 cloves
10ml / 2 tsp cumin seeds
10 black peppercorns
675gm /1-1/2lb cubed leg of pork, crackling and fat removed
5ml / 1 tsp ground turmeric
200ml / 7fl oz/scant 1 cup warm water
25ml / 1-1/2 tbsp tomato puree (paste)
2.5ml / 1/2 tsp chilli powder (optional)
1 large onion, finely sliced
5ml  / 1 tsp salt
5ml / 1 tsp sugar
10ml / 2 tsp cider vinegar

1. Heat 30ml/2 tbsp of the oil in a wok, karahi or large pan, and add the ginger and garlic. Fry for 30 seconds.
2. Grind the next five ingredients to a fine powder, using a spice or coffee grinder. Add the spice mix to the pan and fry for a further 30 seconds, stirring.  (I pan fry in a dry pan over low heat all the 5 ingredients until aromatic and crisp, let cool on a plate, then mill to a fine powder, it is easier to mill if spices are crisp and brittle)
3. Add the pork and turmeric to the pan and increase the heat slightly. Fry for about 5-6 minutes or until the meat starts to release its juices, stirring regularly.
4. Add the water, tomato puree and chilli powder; if using, to the pan and bring to the boil. Cover the pan with a lid and simmer gently for 35-40 minutes. (You may add a little water at a time, as it will evaporate during cooking)
5. Heat the remaining oil and fry the onion for 8-9 minutes until browned, stirring regularly.
6. Add the fried onion to the pork along with the salt, sugar and vinegar. Stir, cover and simmer for 30-35 minutes or until the pork is tender. Remove from the heat and serve.