Rick Stein and Pork Curry

‘Ah summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it” what an absolutely perfect quote by Russell Baker. This summer has been pretty hot and pretty unbearable but honestly, I would rather have this than the dank, gray, demoralizing and insipid days of winter. I do complain a lot about the heat and on more than one occasion have resorted to sitting in a tub of luke warm water with a glass of juice. Regardless, summer! The season of my people!

Which segues well into a little documentary I have begun watching on a video sharing website we are all oh so familiar with. Mr. Rick Stein of Britain has decided, in his documentary, to travel to my beautiful, dysfunctional and glorious motherland of India in search of the perfect curry. To him I say, good luck, you won’t find what you are looking for because in all technicalities, we do not really have “curries”.

Let’s clarify the situation. Curry is a westernized general term for any meat or vegetarian or legume or pulse dish that comes with spiced gravy. The thing is, we like our gravies a lot and as such we have a whole other set of nomenclature to denote the various mystical amalgamations of spices and whatever main protein. Calling a beautiful nut and cream based gravy as a curry does it a grave injustice. The correct word is korma. However this post would be ridiculously long if I had to sit and go through the many names and idiosyncrasies of local “curry” varieties and I am sure few of you actually care or have the time to learn.

Mr. Stein’s colourful documentary made me terribly homesick. I miss the hustle and bustle of India and the fresh smell of fruits and vegetables in the early morning open air market. I am not sure whether I am romanticising, reminiscing or whatever other –ising I am doing but I honestly believe open air farmers market type stalls are where you will find the best vegetables. I digress, returning to the main point, this documentary made me want an oniony garlicy flavoured meat dish pretty badly. Plus the weather being a balmy nearly 30 degrees Celsius I felt nothing would be better served for dinner than a curry. So it begins

I made this in a fairly traditional Bengali style and so what I call it is “Pork Jhol.” Other than the actual gravy spices and cooking method this is rather atypical. Bengali’s do not eat pork unless they are Christian, and since me and my family are not Christian, this recipe would easily give my mom a heart attack.

To begin

Marinade

•          3 lbs of pork tender loin cut into ¼ of an inch slices
•          Two fat pinches of kosher salt
•          Drizzle of olive oil or other oil
•          1.5 tsp cumin powder
•          1.5 tsp coriander powder
•          .5 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder (This packs a serious punch so figure out what your spice limit is and adjust)
•          Juice of 1- 1.5 limes

Marinate this for at least an hour and ideally overnight.

Cooking the meat 

     

•          1.5 onion
•          4 fat cloves of garlic
•          3 inches of ginger
•          2 tbs of peanut oil
•          1 tbs of butter
•          1 large bay leaf
•          1 inch of cinnamon bark
•          4 cloves
•          2 tsp cumin seeds
•          4 cardamom
•          1 tsp of garam masala
•          Handful fresh torn cilantro (optional)

Blend 1.5 medium sized red onions along with 4 fat cloves of garlic and 3 inches of peeled ginger.

Heat up a deep pot with 2 tbs of vegetable or peanut oil and throw 1 tbs of butter into it. When the butter has melted and begun to froth add 1 large bay leaf, an inch of cinnamon bark, 4 cloves, 2 tsp of cumin seeds, 4 cardamoms (smashed) and temper until the cumin pops a bit and everything smells fragrant and not burnt. Add the onion mixture and sauté on low heat for at least 20 minutes. Be gentle, be loving. In the words of Michael Pollan, when you are cooking onions, just cook onions. Giving them time to slowly caramelize will add a depth of flavour that is outstanding.  Add turmeric, ground cumin, coriander and ¼ tsp more Kashmiri chili and cook out the raw flavour some more (about 5 to 10 more minutes). At this point, add your meat and stir to combine along with salt to taste and water to come up just underneath the top of the meat. Reduce to medium low heat and simmer away. Right before serving add the garam masala and garnish with fresh torn cilantro. I served it with saffron rice but this goes just as well with plain rice. But please, no short grain glutinous rice: it will alter the consistency of the gravy.