Curried Pork Belly

Friday, April 20th, 2007

Filed Under India - Kerala, Mains, Pork, Recipes

This is a sinful pork preparation to be made with pork belly with fat on. This cut is available in the Asian stores, lean cut pork will not work for this recipe. The good news is, you don’t need to add any additional oil, if that is any consolation. This is one of our little indulgences that we both love, but try to stay away from making that often. Normal people get cravings for chocolate, I get cravings for real fatty meat! Do you get any unusual cravings like that?

Ingredients

1 lb pork belly with fat on
1.5 tbsp black pepper powder
2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
salt to taste
1 cup diced shallots
1 large tomato diced,
a bunch of curry leaves
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
1 tsp ginger paste
1 tbsp vinegar

Method

Cut some fat off the pork belly and cut into tiny pieces. Cut the remaining pork into small cubes.

In a pressure cooker, add the small pieces of fat and heat till some of the oil separates from the fat. This will take a while. When there is enough oil to cook the meat, remove the solid fat pieces and throw them away.

Keep a little bit of oil away for frying the shallots later.

To the remaining oil in the pressure cooker, add the pork meat along with black pepper, coriander and turmeric powders and salt. Mix well and close the pressure cooker. Cook for 5 minutes after the first whistle.

Open the pressure cooker after it cools down, add vinegar, ginger paste and tomato pieces. Cook in the open cooker on medium heat till the tomato pieces are cooked through and the gravy is thick.

In the mean time, heat the oil kept away earlier in a frying pan, and fry the shallots and curry leaves.

With a slotted spoon, drain the pork pieces from the gravy and add to the frying pan. Add the cardamom powder and mix well. Fry till the fat on the pork pieces starts melting and the meat is slightly browned.

Pour the remaining gravy from the pressure cooker into the frying pan, mix well to coat the meat pieces with the thick gravy.

Serve hot with rice.

Trust me, if you like pork you will love this recipe.

Technorati tags: Kerala Recipes, Kerala Pork Recipes, Pork Recipes

Comments

17 Responses to “Curried Pork Belly”

Paddukoti on April 20th, 2007 8:50 am

Sig
I am not a great fan of pork but my husband and rocky is and they both always complain that i make things i like the most then them, one selfish mom eh??
but looking at u’r delicious dish, i will definitely give it a go!!!
Asha on April 20th, 2007 12:04 pm

Man! You are a great non-veg cook Sig!! Looks gorgeous!! It reminds of Pandi curry(Pork curry) Coorgis make in K’taka.YUM!!
Freya and Paul on April 20th, 2007 1:47 pm

I’m cooking Belly Pork tomorrow but I’m keeping mine crispy, roasting it in the oven with some five spice. Yours looks delicious!
Sandeepa on April 20th, 2007 4:35 pm

Sig
I do not eat pork but this looks great. My hubby says that in India they used to buy mutton(goat meat) with the fat on and my Ma-in-Law would make some amazingly tasty dish with that.

I eat mutton but don’t like the fat..so there goes the story
Reena on April 20th, 2007 6:58 pm

sig, i don’t eat pork or beef so i am assuming this as mutton:):).
btw great presentation and am sure my husband who is a carnivore would love this. i think this would work well with mutton too? what say? yum!!!!
Sig on April 20th, 2007 9:09 pm

Padmaja, you are cooking, so you get to make your favorites more than theirs, it is only fair right? They should be thanking you for making their favorites once in a while!!

Asha, I’ve never had the pandi curry, but normally coorg dishes are so great, so I can imagine that!!!

Freya, yum… my favorite pork belly preparation is crispy as well, but I’ve only had it at restaurants, never tried it at home. Hope you will post your recipe!

Sandeepa, mutton with fat sounds yummy!!! I know, most people don’t like fat, but it is more mental than about the taste I think… Tastewise fat is better than meat

Reena, this will work with goat too, but half the taste of this recipe is the melted fat… But with oil it will still be pretty good with mutton.
musical on April 21st, 2007 12:36 am

Yaar Sig, seriously, your pictures are WOW! the make vegetarian like me also wonder ;).

i have strange cravings too…..these days i am hungry for anything bready and spicy!
Amy on April 22nd, 2007 2:38 am

Hi Sig,
I have cravings for fatty meat too, especially pork belly! I love when it melts in your mouth. I red cook pork belly, it’s very popular in Shanghai.

BTW, I hope you don’t mind that I tagged you in a food meme: share your five favorite places to eat in Seattle. I always find new places to eat reading your blog. It’s completely optional and feel free to do it whenever you have time.
Inji Pennu on May 1st, 2007 11:38 pm

This is the only pork cut I like for curry, with the faaat…ooo! And pork belly fat is how you used to get pork in India. The other fillet or steak is a total waste to me. Or it should be ribs..yumm..
BeeRich on September 17th, 2007 1:45 pm

Hi folks. My buddy that I lived with for our last degree, he’s from Kerala. He said people don’t use pork much back in India, however he loved the pork when he came to Ontario. We export loads of pork from here (Toronto is hogtown), so if you come to Toronto, you must try it.

Cheers
Pork Ularthiyathu (Pork Dry Curry Kerala style) : Live To Eat on September 28th, 2007 7:57 pm

[…] had written about another pork dish a while ago, which needed a cut with a little fat on it, preferably pork belly. But for this dish, […]
Samit on May 10th, 2008 8:44 am

hi sig… trying this recipe of yours… just like you said, i get this craving for real fatty meat… actually weather.com showed rain for the entire weekend in NYC area and on my way back from work on Friday evening i got this craving for real fatty pork meat… may be the pork quality is good here but i never got real fatty pork as we get in india… anyways, i bought these pork bellies as they seemed the fattiest among the pork parts at the meat store. its sat’day noon and raining outside and nothing can match spicy pork curry and hot rice for lunch on such a day… now i had 2 choices.. cook it the way i cook or try something new… so i google up “pork belly curry” and there you are on top of the search result… read the recipe and liked it straight away… just finished cooking it and it tastes awsome… the rice is cooking right now while i write down this comment… i throwed a few cloves and cinnamon stick as well… it has turned really spicy, oily and very tasty… thanks for this again.
- samit

Hi Samit, glad it turned out well for you… and happy to meet another fat lover… On a cold rainy day nothing like a spicy, oily plate of meat and rice…
Minal on June 2nd, 2008 2:23 pm

Hi Sig,

I stumbled across your blog about a fortnight ago when I typed ‘crab curry’ into Google.

I love your blog and can’t wait to try the recipes!

I was just wondering - how would I cook this one if I don’t have a pressure cooker?

I usually roast my pork belly as it gives a wonderful crispy crackling but being Indian I’ve always thought of trying to make a pork belly curry..

I have to agree with you: part of the flavor of any meat is in the fat - I tend to trim away large bits of fat (for waist watching purposes!) but always leave some on for flavor.

After the dish is cooked, if I’m good I’ll skim off any large bits of oil that is floating on top of the curry - if I’m lazy or indulgent I’ll just leave it and have it fat and all!

I figured if I ever have a guest that’s really worried they could skim the fat off before eating, eat a smaller portion or just relax and stop being a pest about it!

Must say I’ve had no complaints from the husband or any guests so far!

Hi Minal, thank you for your kind words…

If you don’t have a pressure cooker, you can do this in a non-stick pan with a tight lid and add a cup of hot water to the pan where I said “mix well and close the pressure cooker” . Bring to a boil, close the pan with a tight fitting lid, lower the heat and cook for about 20-30 minutes till the meat gets softer. Check it occasionally and if it gets too dry, add more hot water and cook till the meat is completely cooked and soft and there is a thick gravy remaining.

Let me know how this turns out!
Minal on June 4th, 2008 4:26 pm

Hi Sig,

Thanks for the quick reply - I will try it out this weekend and get back to you with the results…

Also congratulations on your 10 year milestone!!!

I have been married for just over a year (18th March 2007) and can you believe on our first anniversary my Husband forgot my card!!!

(he did remember my present - it was something I’d hinted about an he’d picked up on so was his one saving grace on the night)

Minal

PS I also hope my pictures turn out a nice as yours do over the years - we both seem to have become ‘rather contented’ and put on a bit of weight so if anything we’re beginning to look worse as they years go by rather than better!!!

Thanks for the wishes Minal… 1 year? Let me know if you need any marital advice Yeah, I know what you mean by the “contented” part… you saw our not-so-gradual weight gain over the years… it’s just the natural progression I guess!
Minal on June 4th, 2008 4:33 pm

PPS: I love the fact that you do so much regional Indian cuisine as I’m Australian Indian and my husband is British Indian but we’re both of Punjabi descent so our curries can get a bit boring and lack variation at times - although I must say the variety has certainly improved since I’ve found your blog!

My hubby used to sign and go ‘oh not again’ when I’d say that I’m going to cook curry but now he’s getting quite excited at the prospect of trying something new - this is quite an achievement when you consider that the man would refuse to eat curry more than twice a week!

Glad he is enjoying Indian food … Hope the pork curry turns out well!
Minal on June 9th, 2008 3:28 pm

Hey Sig,

I think I’ll take you up on that offer of marital advice - apart from a quick murder with some arsenic how do I deal with a Mother In Law from hell who thinks I’m not good enough for her darling youngest baby boy?

I swear without sounding like a she is so to me sometimes!

Even though I’m likely to be her only Daughter In Law ever - her other two boys have yet to marry as they are happy living in sin (or so to speak) with their non Indian girlfriends..

(Not that there’s anything wrong with living together before getting married - we did so ourselves too) Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated..

Minal

PS: I’ve my exams on Wednesday so I’ll be making this over the weekend - I’ll tell you how it goes..

ouch, I am not a person to give any advice on in-laws Sorry to hear about the in-law from hell Minal… Let me know if you ever learn how to tackle the issue… okay, I am kidding, mine is very sweet, I am the evil one
Minal on June 11th, 2008 7:15 pm

Hey Sig

I finished my last exam at noon today and I simply couldn’t wait for the weekend - I went straight to my local butcher and got me some pork belly!!!

The butcher gave me quite lean pork belly but when I explained that I needed the fat from the pork belly for the recipe to work he cut some fat from the back end of the belly and gave this to me in a separate bag..

Anyways I made it as you recommended for cooking on a stove top without a pressure cooker - it tasted so very nice and was just the thing I needed after a hard and stressful exam time!!!

I’m with you on the fatty meat craving - whenever I’m stressed, sick, feeling down, homesick (for Sydney, Australia) or the weather is awful (which in Northern England is quite often)I ALWAYS make a curry with nice fatty meat!!!

Its amazing and I don’t know how it works but a simple meal of meat curry, rice, chappati’s and if I’m lucky dhal too can work such wonders..

I LOVE chicken skin in all its forms - crispy from the oven/on the BBQ to meltingly soft in a curry..

(and the same goes for pork skin and lamb/beef fat too)

It’s funny coz my hubby is not so keen on skin and bone so whenever I make a chicken curry I use chicken wings for me and boneless/skinless thigh fillets for him - I sit down to my plate of fatty boney stuff and he enjoys his meaty bits..

(same goes for the using two different types of cuts in lamb and beef curries)

Minal

Hi Minal, glad you finally got to make it and more importantly that you liked it!! It was a great idea to get the extra fat, fat really makes this dish…
I wish Siv was like your husband and hated the fat and bones, then I’d have all the more for me But he does give me the big bones all the time though….