This dish is made rather differently from the curries I’m used to cooking. Normally I start by frying onions, garlic and ginger before adding pan toasted spices. Here, everything is marinated together and then cooked ‘all in one’. In fact, you can even marinate it in the pot in which you are going to cook it. There are a lot of ingredients, but the cooking is brilliantly simple. The other interesting thing about this dish is the use of tamarind and vinegar which give a pleasant sour tang. This is a very aromatic dish, which is medium strength in terms of chilli heat. Serve with rice or flatbreads.
Ingredients (serves 2 to 3)
For the bafat spice mix (makes double the amount needed):
8 dried kashmiri chillies
½ tbsp cumin seeds
½ tbsp black peppercorns
½ tbsp crushed stick of cinnamon
1 tbsp coriander seeds
Remainder of ingredients:
500g pork shoulder cut into fat chunks (you could use belly pork with some of the fat removed)
1 medium onion, peeled an sliced
5 fat cloves of garlic, slivered
2 inch piece of ginger root, slivered
½ tsp grated nutmeg
½ tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp salt
2 Indian bay leaves
12 fresh curry leaves
3 red or green bird’s eye chillies (pierce in several places with a sharp knife but leave whole)
1 tbsp kashmiri chilli powder
3 heaped tsp tamarind paste
4 tbsp vinegar (I used malt vinegar. Wine vinegar would be fine)
To finish (optional):
8 fresh curry leaves
white sesame seeds
Method
Ingredients (serves 2 to 3)
For the bafat spice mix (makes double the amount needed):
8 dried kashmiri chillies
½ tbsp cumin seeds
½ tbsp black peppercorns
½ tbsp crushed stick of cinnamon
1 tbsp coriander seeds
Remainder of ingredients:
500g pork shoulder cut into fat chunks (you could use belly pork with some of the fat removed)
1 medium onion, peeled an sliced
5 fat cloves of garlic, slivered
2 inch piece of ginger root, slivered
½ tsp grated nutmeg
½ tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp salt
2 Indian bay leaves
12 fresh curry leaves
3 red or green bird’s eye chillies (pierce in several places with a sharp knife but leave whole)
1 tbsp kashmiri chilli powder
3 heaped tsp tamarind paste
4 tbsp vinegar (I used malt vinegar. Wine vinegar would be fine)
To finish (optional):
8 fresh curry leaves
white sesame seeds
Method
- Start by making the bafat spice mix. Toast the spices together in a hot dry frying pan until they release their aroma. Grind to a powder. Store any leftover bafat in a sealed container for future use.
- Place the remaining ingredients plus 1 tbsp bafat spice mix into a large bowl. Mix well to coat all the pork. Cover the bowl and marinate overnight.
- Place the marinated mixture in a pan, add 100ml water. Cover and cook on a low heat for 1½ hours or until the pork is tender. If the curry dries out too much add a little more water. Season to taste and add more vinegar if desired ( added another tablespoon of vinegar).
- To serve (optional) fry curry leaves in a little oil for a few seconds and sprinkle over the curry with some white sesame seeds.