Don't Give a Fork

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Sri Lankan Yellow Rice (Kaha Bath)

Sri Lankan Yellow Rice (Kaha Bath)

We all know how to make our rice and we love it that way. But once a while, when you come across something that is so beautiful, you leave what you have been doing all your life and do this new beautiful thing. That’s what happened to me when I first tasted this rice in Sri Lanka and  then made it at home after, and owned this simple but glamorous recipe. It has become my favourite thing to make…

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I love cooking with meats and my husband says I make the best ribs *gushes like a little girl*.  So I said, let’s cook some Pork Curry and when I did, it turned out spectacular. This amazing curry smells and tastes of perfectly-balanced roasted spices with an inherent richness of any South Asian curry. The reason why it’s called “Black Pork Curry” is because the spices used in the masala are roasted till just before they start to burn giving the curry a darkish sort of a colour. A MUST-TRY for all PORK lovers.

Sri Lankan Black Pork Curry

Serves: 4

Prep Time: 30 mins

Cooking Time: 1.30 hours

Expertise Level: Medium

Ingredients Availability: Easily available in Super Markets

Food Mood:

Taste Palate: Spicy

Ambiance:  Sunday Lunch with a good movie at home.

Ingredients:

1 Kg cubed and boneless pork with some fat

2 Onions, finely chopped

2 bay leaves

3 whole green chilies

8 cloves of garlic, minced

1 thumb size ginger, minced

8 curry leaves

2 tbsp oil

½ cup water

1 cup marinade

Marinade:

2 tbsp Sri Lankan Roasted Black Curry Powder (This is what gives it the dark colour; recipe below)

2 tbsp Tamarind paste/juice (a table tennis ball-sized tamarind in half a cup of hot water for 15 mins. Squeeze out all the flesh and remove the seeds. Sieve to obtain the tamarind Juice)

4 tbsp vinegar

1 tbsp crushed black pepper

1 tbsp salt

Srilankan Roasted Black Curry Powder

6 Cardamoms

3 tbsp Coriander seeds

2 tbsp cumin

1 tbsp fennel

1 tsp cloves

1 Cinnamon stick

½ tsp mustard

2 tbsp raw white rice

2 Tbsp black pepper

  Method

To Make the Roasted Curry Powder

In a deep bottom pan or kadhai, roast the rice first in medium to low heat till lightly brown

Then add the cinnamon stick and continue roasted for about 2 minutes

Then add the coriander seeds till it turns brown, followed by fennel, cloves, cardamom, and cumin one-by-one in that order to brown them without burning the spice mixture.

Add the mustard seeds right at the end and wait for it to start popping and take the pan off the heat

Cool the spice mixture to room temperature and add the whole black peppers

Grind the spices in a mixer grinder to fine powder. I prefer to use a mortal pest

Step 1: Roast all the spices

Step 2: Grind the spices

Step 3: Ready to use

  To make the Black Pork Curry

Apply the marinade to the pork and leave it overnight or for 8 hours in the refrigerator.

Before cooking, get the pork out of the fridge and bring it to room temperature

In a deep bottom non-stick pan, add the oil and heat on medium flame

Add the bay leaves followed by the minced ginger and garlic and stir till fragrant. That would be for about 2 mins

Add the onions and turn up the flame. Sauté till translucent

Now add the pork and water and bring it to a boil. Turn the heat to low and put a lid on

Let the pork cook for around 1 hour 15 mins, stirring occasionally. Add more water if the curry starts to dry out

Once the pork is cooked through and soft, turn the heat up to dry out excess water to a consistency you like and take the pork off the heat

Now in a separate pan, add 1 tbsp oil and allow it to heat in low flame

Add the curry leaves and chilies and fry lightly for a few minutes

Pour the curry leaves and chilies over the pork as garnish and serve with rice or roti

  Food Marriage Tips

Pork Curry and sweet spices are a blessing in disguise: cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, they all work wonders with pork

Pork and Pepper has been my favourite food pairing right from my Bangalore days, when i could eat bowls and bowls of yummy pork pepper fry at Pecos

Sri Lankan Black Pork Curry I love cooking with meats and my husband says I make the best ribs *gushes like a little girl*

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Srilankan Kottu Roti

Kottu Roti is a very popular street food in Sri Lanka. Fragrant with curry leaves and roasted spices, this dish dances with wholesome and bold flavours, and is bound to steal anyone’s heart away. After experimenting at home, we cooked this spectacular dish at our Srilankan Pop-Up. Our ensemble that comprised 25 guests polished their plates squeaky clean, in no time and we knew this dish hit the…

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What to do with leftover Chapatis? Make yummy Tostadas

What to do with leftover Chapatis? Make yummy Tostadas

Egg and Chicken Pickle Tostada

  Serves: 4

Prep Time: 5 mins

Cooking time: 15 mins

Expertise Level: Easy

Ingredients Availability: Left overs and Eggs

Food Mood:

Taste Palate: Medium Spicy

Ambience:  Weekend movie-time snacks or dinner combined with te thrill of watching a horror film. We had this dish while watching Mister Babadook (dook dook dook). No. I am not brave. I need a pillow to cover…

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Almond Brittle Cake Baking is fun when you get it right. Almond cake with crushed almond brittle buttercream icing studded with almond brittle ofcourse.

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Pan Fried Chicken Breast

As promised, I am posting the recipe of the dinner I cooked for myself yesterday. The Gajar ka…

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Donna Hay's Classic Chocolate Cake with a twist

Happiest New Year to you. I know. I know you have missed me dearly. Life and existential issues,…

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My Exotic Trip to Brazil - Part 1

Early last month, I had to travel for work with my colleagues to São Paulo. I needed a vacation…

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Thyme and schezwan pepper crusted chicken breast stuffed with cheese

A post after a long time.  The past month has been super crazy. Have been working too hard and…

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Stir Fried Chicken with Lemon Grass and Black Pepper

Stir Fried Chicken with Lemongrass and Pepper

Serves: 2-3

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cooking time: 10 mins

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Thai Red Curry http://wp.me/s3m99a-858

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Fried Jasmine Rice with thai brinjal, mushrooms and chicken

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Fried Jasmine Rice with thai brinjal, mushrooms and chicken

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Bangkok shopping

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All my Bangkok shopping (at bangkok)

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Thai Red Curry Paste

As promised, I am posting some of the things I learnt at my Thai Cooking classes in Bangkok. Here is a link if you haven’t read my previous post to know what’s coming up next.

The first post from my Thai Cooking Series is going to be about a basic curry…

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My Thai Food Venture in Bangkok

I have been up since 11.30 pm last night. It 5 pm India time now. I barely had 3 hours of sleep in…

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