Pork Curry– Coorgi Style

Many things about the Kodava community fascinated me right from when I was a child. Their gentle and good looking men and women folk, their intriguing customs, distinctive dressing and sweet sounding language always brought about great admiration in me. Even today this small community of Karnataka stirs in me great fondness for unknown reasons.   And like the community, the distinctive and exotic Coorgi cuisine has in me one of it biggest fan.

This pork fry recipe from  coorg uses kanchampuli (thick black extract from kudampulli-dried and smoked fruit rinds of the camboge tree) and the traditional coorgi masala. The only variation I made here is I sautéed the gravy to dry ‘cause that’s how Roy likes it. You could however leave it as a thick gravy and it pairs amazingly well with Indian wheat or Rice breads. Also, if you can’t get hold of kanchampuli you can substitute it with rice wine vinegar, the taste is almost close but you of course wont get the dark intense color.

 

Ingredients

2 lbs pork cut into 1’’ cubes, like you would do for stew.
1  large onion finely sliced
5 –6 shallots finely sliced (replace with one red onion if you don’t have these)
2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
2 tbsp kanchampuli
3 – 4 tsp coorgi pork masala (ingredients and directions mentioned below) 
11/2 tsp red chili powder (base this on tolerable spice levels)
1 tsp black mustard seeds (optional)
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 –3 sprigs of curry leaves(optional)
salt to taste
2 tbsp coconut oil/ refined vegetable oil

Ingredients/Directions for coorgi masala powder

3 tbsp coriander seeds 
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp black mustard seeds
1 tsp black pepper corns
4 cloves
1’’ of cinnamon bark  
seeds of 1 pod of cardamom

Dry roast all these ingredients separately to a dark brown color and  grind fine.

Directions

Mix turmeric,chili powder, coorgi pork masala  with kanchampuli and salt and marinate the meat pieces with this mixture for an hour or two.

Add 1/4 cup water, and pressure cook. After the first whistle reduce the flame and let it simmer for 10 to 15 minutes (slow cooking on a low fame is the key to cook the meat tender).

If you don’t have a pressure cooker, cook the marinated pieces in a tightly closed pan with 1 cup of water on high for 5 minutes and then reduce the heat to low and let it simmer for about 20 – 25 minutes on low heat, till it is just about cooked.

Heat oil in a large sauté pan, add mustard and when they pop add in the curry leaves.

Add the onions and sauté until the onions are caramelized to a dark brown.

Add ginger-garlic paste to the onions, sauté until the oil separates.

Add the cooked pork to the pan till all the gravy completely dries out. If you want it with gravy cook only until the gravy thickens to the desired consistency.

Serve as an appetizer or with rice or rotis.