Pork Chilli

I am absolutely overjoyed as I write this post. More, because I cooked this dish is my own and when I began, I had absolutely no idea of how it would turn out. But look at the pictures and they will tell what a good job I did. I have written earlier on the blog on how pork is every Mangaloreans comfort food and no big or small occasion is ever complete without it. Though, pork chilli may sound an authentically Chinese dish but this one is genuinely Mangalorean. Let me make my case

Every Mangalorean wedding has an interesting function preceding it. This function is called ‘Roce’. For the seekers of the truth, this is a function held on the day before the actual wedding. This is where coconut milk and oil is applied to the soon-to-be- bride or groom; the bath following the ritual symbolizing the last bath as a singleton. It is a very fun event and I seriously recommend you to attend one if you happen to be invited. And yes, how can I tell you about a roce and not tell you about the food? In the olden days, when food was traditionally cooked at home usually consisting of rice, variety of vegetables along with mutton polov and pork chilly. It also depended on how much the host could afford. With the passage of time, the menus started getting creative and contemporary fare started showing up. Two things remained constant though, the mutton polov and pork chilly. Like friends, who had sworn to stand by one  another through the test of time. I will do another post on the virtues of the mutton polov; for today, we shall focus on the pork chilly. Doesn’t the name ‘…… Chili’ make it sound it sound very Chinese.  It does. For a while I too, was misled to  imagining that this was another produce from across the border. But, I frankly haven’t seen this version being served anywhere else than a Mangalorean roce. The other thing is unlike other Mangalorean recipes, this one is not easy to find. I have found different versions as well; probably attribute it to the caterer. That made it difficult to ascertain one texture and base for the meat. After every roce, I’d come back home much more determined to try the pork chilli. With no proper recipe to back me, I knew I had to fend for myself to get this one right. The one that would make both the Chinese and the Mangalorean grannies proud. So I started researching for the recipe. On a recent trip to Mangalore, I even picked up a book, known to be the bible of Mangalorean cooking. A must have for every new Mangalorean bride. I was disappointed. The book didn’t contain the recipe.

Then, a few months back I went to another roce function. The pork chilli was there. This one was slightly different from the ones I had, there was something different. The texture soft and flavors though predominantly Chinese had that hint of extra chilli a typical Mangalorean trait. This not only gave it that extra bite but served as a nice cushion against the crisp but superbly cooked meat. For me, it was the dish of the day. I walked up to the caterer and complimented him firstly putting up a winner. I then quizzed him on the texture and cooking. Thankfully, unlike other Mangalorean aunts who hold their recipes close to their chest, he was pretty fort right and told me that he preferred baking the pork for some time to give it that contrast in textures. Another trick he told me is to get meat with some fat; that would help in marrying the flavours.

With a base to begin, I was now looking at the opportunity to cook. I thought it would be nice if I could marinate the meat for a while. I love the aroma of marinating meat. It somehow takes the flavors of the meat to another level. Marination done, I carefully laid the pork pieces on a baking tray and aligned the settings. Twenty minutes down and the house almost smelt divine. Baking the meat proved to me a master stroke. Later, as the bits started falling into place (or should I say into the gravy), I realized that this was that one dish I had been waiting for.  I guess, I more or less made it the the caterer.

Dinner that night was bliss. Pork to me is not sorpotel or vindaloo anymore. As I ate, I recollected something I read. It said that the poet and pig are appreciated only after their death. Not sure about the poet, but i can surely agree about the pig. 

Pork Chilli

Ingredients:

• 500 grams pork, cut into bite sized cubes- Refer note below
• 120 grams bell peppers, cubed - Suggestion is use 1 each of green, red, yellow 
• 1 bunch spring onions, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon ginger, minced
• 2 green chilli, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon, red chilli paste
• 1 teaspoon, white pepper powder
• 4 tablespoons, tomato ketchup
• 4 tablespoons, soya sauce
• 2 tablespoons, oyster sauce
• 2 tablespoons, vinegar
• 2 tablespoons, oil
• 1 tablespoon cornflour mixed with 70 ml water to make a slurry
• Salt- to taste

Procedure:

• Wash the meat and pat it dry. In a bowl, whisk together half the soya sauce, vinegar, white pepper powder and some salt. Add the meat to this marinade and mix well. Make sure the meat pieces are well coated with the marinade.
• Preheat the oven to 100 C
• Line the meat pieces on a baking tray and bake in a the oven at 180 C for 40 minutes. Depending on the type of your oven, you may need to increase or decrease the baking time. But, generally 40 minutes is good enough. Once meat is done, remove and keep aside to cool.
• Heat oil in a pan on a medium flame. Add the ginger, garlic, chilli and saute till garlic has turned brown, but not burnt.
• Add the onions along with the greens with  and saute for a minute. 
• Now, add the red chilli paste and give it a good mix. If the paste is sticking to the pan, sprinkle a few drops of water.
• Add the tomato ketchup, remaining soya and the oyster sauce and mix well.
• Now, add in the bell peppers and coat them well with the gravy.
• Lastly, add the pork pieces, salt and mix well.
• Now, add the cornflour slurry and give it one last mix. 
• Garnish with spring onion  and serve hot with fried rice

Note on cooking the Pork:

• The quality of the meat plays a very important role in its cooking. Always take the best cut of meat from a trusted butcher. Secondly, depending on the quality of the meat, you may be required to boil the meat in salted water for about 15 minutes. If so, reduce the baking time by 10 minutes.

Basa in Soy and Ginger

Here is a very quick post to a dish that I made almost on the spur of the moment. Sometime back, I had asked readers on my facebook page what recipe they would want to see next and a majority of them responded saying a Chinese recipe was long due.

Last week, I instinctively purchased some basa while shopping and since this was my first time, i was left wondering what to cook with it. One experiment with frying it didn't come off too well. But what I realised was that Basa has a nice and buttery flavour that I felt would go well with  Asian seasoning. This took me back a few months when i had been to an Asian restaurant for lunch and managed to catch up with the chef. While chatting with him, he told me about how soya and ginger form a complex but compatible marriage. I decided to give it a try.

I tweeted my anxiety about cooking Basa the first time and folks egged me on. One step followed the other with military precision and by the time I was about half way done, I knew that this was going to be something good. The splash of spring onions on top only jazzed up the entire plating effect. Cooking done, as I was plating I also noticed the sun, who was lazily hiding behind the clouds; coming out in all his splendour as if to demand his share. 

As I had dinner that night, I silently thanked the man who decided to get the Vietnamese Basa to India. 

Basa in Soy, Ginger

Ingredients

• 150 grams, Basa Fillets, cut into bite sized cubes
• 4 tablespoons soya sauce
• 2 tablespoons ginger, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon garlic, finely chopped
• 1 medium sprig, spring onions, finely chopped- retain some of the greens for garnishing.
• 2 green chillies, finely chopped (I used red chilli flakes)
• 1 teaspoon , brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon, white pepper powder
• 1 teaspoon cornflour, mixed with some water to form a slurry
• 2 tablespoons, oil
• Juice of half a lime
• Salt to taste

Procedure:

• Wash the fish fillets and marinate them with the lime juice and the pepper powder. Make sure the juice and pepper powder coats the fish pieces evenly.  Refrigerate this for about half an hour.
• Add the soya sauce and ginger in a bowl. Now, using the back of a spoon, gently crush the ginger pieces in the the bowl. This will allow the flavour of the ginger to gel with the soya sauce.
• Heat the oil in a frying pan or wok. Add the chopped onion, garlic and chillies and saute for a minute.
• Now, add the fish pieces and the sugar. Allow the fish to cook for a minute along with the sugar that will caramelise. This wont take longer than 2 minutes.
• Add, the ginger, soya mixture and stir for another minute. If you want some more gravy, add in some water or stock now.
• Now, add the cornflour slurry and give it one last mix.
• Garnish with spring onion greens and serve hot with fried rice

Baby Corn Manchurian!!!

Hello Everyone!!!! I’m back after a short vacation to my hometown Mangalore. Shortly, I will put up a post chronicling my Mangalore tour. I cannot put in words what an awesome tour it was, I am still reminiscing the memories. And on returning to Mumbai, it was back to the usual grind; office work, sorting out the vacation laundry and a pile of other stuff. With all this blogging has taken a hit for a while now.  Worry not, my dearies, I am back now with a whole load of sumptuous recipes from Mangalore and much more ready to flood your inbox shortly. Also, I want to say a big thank you to all of you who have written on email and on the facebook page enquiring on where I was all the while. Thanks a ton guys, for all the love and support you have shown to the bog. And a special thank you to my friend Stephane from My French Heaven for writing and asking about my next post. Do check his wonderful blog here

As is the case with most holidays, we ate and ate and traveled and tanned. One resolution we made on the way back home was go light on the food (no prizes for guessing why… Lol) over the next few days.  That is perhaps why, you will see a nearly stir-fry dish making it to the blog today. But, to understand today’s recipe you need to understand a cuisine called Indo-Chinese. A cuisine that’s perhaps a cross between the Indian taste and Chinese stir fry. Honestly, any Indian would swear by this; proof of which is the millions and millions of carts (and small dingy restaurants) with their trademark glaring red colour and signs saying “Authentic Chinese served here”. One of the most famous dishes of the Indo-Chinese is the Chicken Manchurian very simply bite sized chicken bits covered in a batter deep fried and thrown into a tangy sauce. But folks, the only way to stay in the game is through product diversification and so, considering the huge Indian appetite for vegetarian food all sorts of vegetarians options started coming up, the most famous among them being “Gobhi (cauliflower) Manchurian” and followed closely by “Paneer (Cottage Cheese) Manchurian”.  For today, the humble baby corn basks in glory.           

We had it with Sichuan Fried Rice. But goes well with steamed rice as well.

Baby corn Manchurian

12-15 Babycorn, diced into bite sized pieces

1 bunch spring onions, finely chopped

7-8 garlic cloves, minced

1 inch ginger, minced

2 Tablespoons Soya Sauce

2 tablespoons, tomato ketchup

1 tablespoon white pepper powder

3 tablespoon cornflour and some more for the gravy

2 tablespoons oil, some more for frying

1 cup vegetable stock/ or plain water

Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. Cut the babycorn into bite sized pieces. Coat them with cornflour and keep for 10    minutes.
2. Heat oil in a pan and fry the baby corn till just about a golden brown. Remove and drain on an absorbent paper. Sprinkle very little salt and some white pepper powder powder and keep aside.
3. Now, heat the remaining 2 tablespoon oil and add in the garlic. Saute till reddish brown. 
4. Add the onions and saute. Once done, ad the soya sauce and tomato ketchup. Stir for a minute.
5. Add the baby corn and mix well so that the sauces cover them well.
6. Add in the stock or water and let it boil. Meanwhile, dissolve the remaining cornflour in some water and keep aside.
7. Once the stock comes to a boil, add in the dissolved cornflour and stir well
8. Garnish with spring onion greens and serve hot.

Sichuan Fried Rice!

If you have been following my blog, you would have realized by now that after Indian, my favorite cuisine is Chinese. I can go on and on raving about the simplicity and versatility of Chinese food, but one blog would not be enough..  lol.

Here is another gem from the vast treasury of Chinese one –pot wonders, Sichuan Fried Rice. Once again the ‘go-to’ meal for those times when you want to have complete meal, but do not have the energy or bandwidth to go the mile. The best thing is that it gets done in a jiffy. I have tried the vegetarian version, you could use chicken, bacon or egg if you wish.

I served it with the Singapore Black Pepper Prawns and a very special ingredient called love. Try it, I’m sure the taste will multiply manifold.

Sichuan Fried Rice

Ingredients:

•         1 cup pre-cooked rice
•          ½ cup grated cabbage
•          ½ cup grated carrot
•          1 bulb spring onion
•          50 ml white vinegar
•          2-3 dried red chillies
•          5-6 cloves garlic, minced
•          1 inch piece ginger, minced
•          2 tablespoon soya sauce
•          2 tablespoon Oil.
•          Salt- to taste

Method:

• Soak the red chillies in the white vinegar and keep aside for half an hour
• In a wok or a deep bottomed pan, heat oil till just before smoking point.  Add the ginger, garlic and let it cook for a while.
• Add the vegetables (cabbage, carrot) and the spring onion greens and give it a stir. The vegetables do not take a long time to cook
• Now, add the red chillies and give it a mix.
• Add some of the rice, and 1 tablespoon soya sauce and stir well. Repeat the same with the other batch of rice and the remaining soya sauce, salt and keep stirring.
• Add the vinegar and mix well.
• Ensure the vegetables and sauce have mixed well with the rice.
• Serve hot garnished with spring onion greens.