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Sri Lankan Pork Curry
Sri Lankan Pork Curry
With Sri Lanka being 70% Buddhist, they are one of the few areas in South Asia that consumes my favorite meat, pork. This curry is traditionally cooked in a clay pot; but using a large sauté pan will work just fine. Ready in just over an hour, the curry is bursting with flavor. You can adjust the heat level by adding as many green chilies as you’d like. Serve the curry over steamed rice.
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 tsp black mustard seeds
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 tbsp cumin seeds
- 20 curry leaves
- 1 large red onion finely chopped
- 1 tsp hot chili powder
- 3 tbsp madras curry powder
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 green chilies thinly sliced
- 1 tbsp tamarind concentrate
- 2 cups coconut milk
- 3 lbs pork shoulder cubed
- 1/2 cup chicken stock
- salt to taste
- 1 tsp garam masala
Instructions
- Heat coconut oil in a large sauté pan over medium high heat. Sauté the mustard seeds and cinnamon stick for a minute.
- Add in the cumin seeds and curry leaves. Sauté for 30 seconds.
- Add in the red onions. Sauté for 10 minutes.
- Stir in all of the ground spices and ginger garlic paste. Sauté for 1 minute.
- Stir in the tomato paste, green chilies, tamarind, and coconut milk.
- Add in the pork. Pour in the chicken stock. Cover and simmer over medium low heat for 1 hour.
- Season with salt to taste. Sprinkle with 1 tsp of garam masala.
Madras Curry Powder
While the British claim to have invented madras curry powder in th 1960’s, it can be traced back to South India in the state of Tamil Nadu in the 1700’s. The spice was commercially produced and sold to the British army and government.To make the curry powder, I recommend individually toasting all of the whole spices, since they all toast at different rates. Once all of the spices are cooled, grind all of them in a spice grinder. You can use the curry powder in a variety of South Asian curries; pairing well with just about every protein.
Equipment
- Spice grinder
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp cumin seeds
- 3 tbsp coriander seeds
- 2 tbsp black peppercorns
- 1 tbsp fennel seeds
- 1 tbsp black mustard seeds
- 3” cinnamon stick
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 1/2 tbsp fenugreek seeds
- 2 star anise
- 10 curry leaves
- 8 green cardamom pods
- 1 tbsp ground turmeric
- 4 dried Kashmiri chilies
Instructions
- Individually dry toast all of the whole spices. Grind everything together in a spice grinder.
Smoked Pork Chili
Smoked Pork Chili
There’s always been the debate on whether chili should have beans or no beans. I think that both are good and have their place. The real question is why are people putting flavorless ground beef in chili and not using cubed pork shoulder or chuck roast? It’s like night and day for the same price or cheaper, folks. Wake the fuck up. Like everything I do in life, I took my chili one step further. My pork was dry rubbed and smoked with mesquite wood. I also smoked the tomatoes, jalapeños, garlic, and onion. I also smoked. Then everything went into the crock pot and simmered for 5 hours. The last hour, I tossed in some beans. This chili can compete with any other chili out there; and will crush all in its path. It is worth every minute of the 36 hours it takes to prepare.
Equipment
- Electric Smoker
- crock pot
Ingredients
Smoked Pork Steaks
- 4 lbs pork steaks 1 1/2” thick
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 1 tbsp black pepper
- 1/2 tbsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tbsp onion powder
- 2 tsp white pepper
The Rest of the Chili
- 6 roma tomatoes
- 1 large white onion sliced in half horizontally
- 2 heads garlic
- 4 large jalapeños
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 3 ribs celery chopped
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 4 cups pork stock
- 2 tsp hot chili powder
- 3 cans beans pinto, black, and dark kidney
- salt to taste
Garnish
- green onions chopped
Wood Chips
- mesquite wood chips
Instructions
- Rib the pork steaks on all sides with the dry spices. Let rest on a rack in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Lest rest at room temperature for 2 hours before smoking.
- Place the tomatoes, onion, jalapeños, and garlic on a smoking rack.
- Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees. Smoke the pork steaks for 6 hours. Smoke the vegetables for the last 2 hours.
- Place the cubed pork steak, chopped smoked vegetables, whole peeled garlic cloves, celery, tomato paste, and chili powder in a crock pot. Mix all of the ingredients, making sure that they’re coated in the tomato paste.
- Pour in the pork stock. Place on the cover. Cook on high for 5 hours.
- Stir in the beans. Simmer for 1 more hour.
- Season with salt to taste.
Chive Cakes
Chive Cakes
Chive cakes are a popular appetizer found on many Thai menus and can usually be purchased frozen; but making them from scratch at home is light years better. There’s a lot of steps in making the chive cakes; all fairly simple. You can find Chinese chives, aka garlic chives, along with rice, glutinous rice, and tapioca flours at every Asian market. The chives are sautéed, then mixed in with the gluten-free batter. The batter is then poured into a springform pan and steamed. There are two really important steps that can’t be skipped in this process. You have to cover the springform pan inside the steamer with a towel. If you don’t, the steamer condensation will ruin the consistency of the batter. The other step is that the chive cake has to completely cool before you cut it into triangles. The chive cakes will only get crispy if you pan fry them while cooled. When ready to pan fry, heat up some cooking oil on a griddle. Cook them for 5 minutes a side until they are crispy. The chive cakes are served with a dipping sauce that is sweet soy based. These chive cakes are garlicky, crispy, and chewy on the inside, making this appetizer a go to for me.
Equipment
- steamer
- 8” springform pan
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb Chinese chives chopped
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil plus more for frying
- 1 cup rice flour
- 1/4 cup glutinous rice flour
- 1/4 cup tapioca flour
- 1 1/4 cup warm water
Dipping Sauce
- 1/4 cup kecap manis
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1/4 tsp sugar
- 2 Thai red chilies thinly sliced
Instructions
- Heat up 1 tbsp of cooking oil in a sauté pan over medium high heat. Sauté the garlic for 1 minute.
- Add in the chives. Season with 1/2 tsp of salt.
- Sauté for 5 minutes. Let cool.
- Mix together the 3 flours, 1 tsp of salt, and warm water to form a batter.
- Stir in the chives.
- Grease an 8” springform pan. Pour in the batter.
- Place the springform pan in a steamer with 1” of water. Place a towel over the springform pan so condensation doesn’t collect on the chive cake. Cover and steam for 30 minutes.
- Let the chive cake cool completely. Cut into 8 pieces.
- Heat up 3 tbsp of cooking oil on a griddle or in a large sauté pan over medium high heat. Add the chive cakes to the pan, making sure that none of the pieces are touching.
- Cook for 5 minutes a side until the chive cakes are crispy.
- While the chive cakes are cooking, heat up all of the dipping sauce ingredients in a small pan until the sugar dissolves; about 2 minutes.
