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*