Goan Style Pork Curry

Serves 2
This is a long cook curry, so the pork becomes lovely and tender.  It does have a lot of ingredients and there are quite a few steps, but it is well worth it.  And if you want to make double it freezes really well.
There are three lists of ingredients, you will need to make the spice blend and the main curry, but the sauce is optional
Main ingredients

• 400g pork leg or shoulder, chopped and most of the fat removed
• 2 tsp chopped or grated fresh ginger
• 100ml passata
• 3 large cloves garlic chopped
• ½ tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• ½ tsp chilli powder
• ½ tsp ground coriander
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• ½ tsp mustard seeds
• 10 curry leaves
• 2 medium/small onions chopped
• 1 – 3 whole chillies (dependent on heat preferred) stalk removed and skin pierced several times
• 3 tsp cider vinegar

Spice Blend (this makes about twice as much as you need so you could bag up the extra, or its really nice to spice up scrambled eggs.)

• 1 ½ tsp cumin seeds
• 2tsp coriander seeds
• 2 small cloves
• 5cm cinnamon stick
• 1tsp fennel seeds
• 10 black peppercorns
• ½ tsp mustard seeds

Sauce (if you are freezing; freeze as the dry mixture without the sauce, then warm through defrosted meat with the sauce)

• 150ml passata
• 3 chunks frozen spinach, or two large handfuls of fresh
• Salt & Pepper

 
Instructions
Blend together the first eight ingredients to make the masala and set to one side.
Put the spice blend ingredients into a dry frying pan and dry roast for 40-50 seconds until lightly golden and start to release their aromas, put in a large pestle and mortar and grind to a fine powder.
In a large non-stick pan heat the oil and the mustard seeds, once they start to pop add the curry leaves, onion and however many chillies you are using and cook until the onions are well browned.
Add the masala to the pan and cook for about ten minutes until the mixture is nice a dry, add the pork and brown in the paste.  Add 3 tsp of the spice blend and the vinegar and bring to the boil.  Add water (if needed) to make a nice thick paste, cover and turn the pan to the lowest setting you have.  (If I’m busy I often put the pan in a really low oven as this seems to keep the moisture a bit better than the hob).  Cook for 1 to 2 hours until pork is really tender. Check regularly and add a bit of boiling water if needed.

In the summer we have this curry quite dry with naan bread, salad and raita.
In the winter we have it as a saucier curry and add the passata and spinach to the dry mixture, and serve it with rice