Pork Masala – Hot and sour pork curry

I don’t know what to call this – pork masala or hot and sour pork curry. Either way, it turned out pretty good. It was surprising to see boneless pork on Bigbasket the other day and I ordered some. Sunday lunch was this pork masala and it was finger-licking good. As always, I rely on freshly ground spice mixtures and I made one for this curry too. I’ve made pork bafat or Mangalorean style pork before with freshly ground bafat powder. This one though is very different. I wanted something sour and spicy.

First, I caramelized onions till they turned almost dark brown. What I do in this process is, I add small splashes of water as the onions cook down. Turns out, it caramelizes just fine. This method doesn’t use a ton of grease but still gives the onions great colour. Once the onions were right, I added the pork along with the freshly ground masala which had dried chillies, peppercorn, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, ginger and garlic among others. It’s the caramelized onions and the chillies with the peppercorns that give the pork masala its dark colour. It might look fiery, but it wasn’t. You could try this style of curry with mutton too.

Ingredients:

Boneless pork – 500 gm

Onions – 3 medium sliced

Tamarind extract – from a lemon sized ball (about 1/4 cup)

Curry leaves – 2 sprigs, chopped

Coconut oil or ghee – 2 tbsp

Salt

For the masala:

Dried red chillies – 4-5 deseeded

Black peppercorns – 2 tsp

Coriander seeds / dhaniya – 1 tsp

Cumin seeds / jeera – 1 tsp

Fennel seeds / saunf – 1 tsp

Carrom seeds / ajwain – 1/4 tsp

Poppy seeds / khus khus – 1/2 tsp

Cinnamon stick – 1 inch piece

Cloves – 1 tsp

Ginger – 1 inch piece

Garlic – 4-5 big cloves

Method:

Wash and dry the pork pieces and keep aside.

Heat a nonstick pan and dry roast all the ingredients, except the ginger and garlic.

Now, along with the ginger and garlic grind the roasted spices together till you have a coarse mixture. It will be neither a paste, not a powder.

Heat a pressure cooker with the ghee or oil and add the onions. Cook them down on medium heat and keep adding small splashes of water as they begin to brown.

Once the onions are caramelized, add the curry leaves and give it a good mix.

Then, add the pork pieces and the spice mixture. Mix well.

Add 2 cups of water and the tamarind pulp along with salt to taste.

Cover with the lid and let it cook on high heat till 2 whistles are let out. Then, turn the heat down and let it cook for 15 mins.

Let the pressure drop on its own before you open the lid. Check for salt and adjust if needed.

Serve hot with pav, rice or roti.