It’s been too long since I’ve had Indian food. I ate Indian often when I traveled weekly up to Brampton and Toronto ON. Around my rural area you either drive a couple hours or make your own lol. I often will do butter chicken when I get the Indian flavor urge but wanted something different. Went with pork vindaloo and some tandoori spiced pork belly bites. Getting the part started first was cubing up about 3 - 3 1/2 lbs of this pork butt.
Next for the pork belly. It will really add some richness to the vindaloo.
Cubed about 1 1/2 lbs in smaller pieces for the vindaloo.
Cut the rest in nice big cubes forcthe pork belly bites.
For the pork belly bites I hit them with a commercial tandoori masala dry spice blend and into the frig overnight.
For the vindaloo time to make the marinade paste. 5 T Kashmiri chili powder, 2 1/2 t ginger powder, 2 T Splenda, 2t cumin, 1/2t black pepper, 1t turmeric, 1t ground clove, 1/2 t cinnamon, 2t garlic powder and about 3 t salt. The Kashmiri chile is really key to the dish
Now the key component that makes vindaloo what it is…. Vinegar. 1 cup of white vinegar mixed with spices to form the marinade paste. Vindaloo has it roots in Portugal where they used spiced vinegar mixes to immerse meats for longer preservation. They brought it to India where it was made into this dish.
The meat mixed thoroughly with the marinade and into the refrigerator overnight.
Roll the clock forward to this morning. First up quartered and thinly sliced 2 onions. Sautéed in a bit of avocado oil until translucent.
Meat, onions and 5 cups of water added to the pot. Brought to a boil and rapid simmer for 1 1/2 - 2 hours until pork is tender. When it’s ready I do something most recipes don’t call for there is a tremendous amount of rendered fat and this is critical to the flavor of the dish I hate it continually pooling on the top though I remove the meat with a slotted spoon, add roughly 1 1/2 t Glucomannon which I premix in about 1/2 cup cold water I hit that with an immersion blender to fully emulsify / incorporate the fat then I add the meat back in It works flawlessly
It was super windy out and I had to keep an eye on the vindaloo so did the pork belly bites in the oven. They were baked about 2 1/2 hours at 275F and spritzed a couple times with one of my hot sauce browns. I glazed them with a bbq sauce made of sugar free ketchup, multiple spices as well as garam masala and tandoori masala, espresso powder, cola and brown swerve. This was a cook to taste deal as the recipe I started with frankly sucked. Glazed them and baked 15 minutes to set the sauce. Served with cilantro chutney which is a pretty popular Indian condiment. I can share that if anyone wants. Basically a large bunch of cilantro stems and all along with lime juice, a pinch of sweet and salt. I will say this may be my favorite appetizer I’ve ever made. The sweet earthy sauce against the bright citrusy chutney and the rich pork is mind blowing. Here is the pork bite appetizer plated.
Here is some of the vindaloo. Nice and spicy with the vinegar tang. I’m tired now so cheating and will serve with some steamed frozen cauliflower rice.
Oh and here’s a shot of more of the pork belly bites.
Well that’s a wrap. Time to pass out a few to go containers. Thanks for looking!!
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