Naga Smoked Pork Curry Recipe: How to Cook Smoked Pork

When I got hold of some good quality smoked pork in Kolkata from Calcutta Deli (089810 99911), located at Keyatala Road, I was quite intent on making something simple. However, when I started looking for Naga Smoked Pork recipes, the ones came up were quite difficult to source, and time-consuming (Smoked Pork with Anishi, Smoked Pork with Axone, Smoked Pork with Bamboo Shoot – the list goes on). I really wanted an easy Smoked Pork recipe that would be seriously easy to execute, so I texted my friend E, who is an expert cook and does Naga-themed pop-ups every now and then (you can get details on her FB page here) . E texted back a recipe that was easy and sounded divine – so I quickly assembled all the ingredients required, and within the next hour, I was officially done cooking!

That was fast!

I later researched the recipe and realised that this recipe was similar to the Bhutanese Phaksaa Bexuk, or even my recipe of Phaksha Pa. Also, apparently, a version of this is made in China. It is also slightly similar to a recipe for a Bengali chicken curry my aunt used to make, but that’s the beauty of it – food does transcend cultural barriers and gets incorporated without recognition.

This makes for a fabulous weeknight dinner when you want to do something out of the box, but don’t want to think too much about ingredient lists. I also tried this with fresh pork, and I soaked the meat in 1 tbsp lemon + 2 cups water for 15 minutes before cooking with it. The fresh pork version is nice, but the smokiness is totally missing, which makes an important part of this dish. However, it tastes quite nice too, especially if you throw in a whole pod of garlic while simmering, and later mash them into the gravy.

How to Make Naga Style Smoked Pork 

Cut 300 gm. smoked pork into chunks. I sliced mine in 1/2-inch pieces. Place them in a cold pan, and slowly start heating them. The heat will slowly release a bit of fat from the pork, and you need to stir the meat every two-three minutes, till its lightly seared on all sides.

Then, add some dried red chillies. Here, bhoot jolokia or Raja Mircha is recommended. However, as I had neither, I opted for a combination of 4 Dalle Khorsani Chillies and 6 dried red chillies. I  had made this once before with only dried red chillies, and had added 12 red chillies. However, Dalle lends a rather distinct peppery note that’s quite inimitable, and pickled ones work too.

Anyway, I digress. Once you have put the chillies in the pan, you would need to add some water, because this is where the chillies shall hydrate for some time. Add a cup of water, cover, and leave it alone, simmering and bubbling away to glory, for about ten minutes. You can add a pinch of cooking soda at this point. It helps adding a little alkali to the dish and breaks down the meat tissues faster.

After 10 minutes, add two tomatoes, about 150 gm., cored. I generally throw the tomatoes in whole, since I will be grinding these anyway. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes more.

At this point, take the chillies and tomatoes out, and make them into a rough paste, using either mortar and pestle, or a food processor. Once done, pour right back in the pan with another 1 cup of water.

Now, here is a little digression: I added three potatoes, halved, at this point, because I am a Bengali. I later asked E if it was okay for me to put them in. She said, the extent to which some Naga people eats potato can rival, or best Bengali people.

I feel proud for those Naga people. They know what love looks like to me. A potato.

ANYWAY. BACK to the drawing board.

Now comes the moment of truth – I have been told, you can either flavour this with ginger, or with garlic. I tried garlic the first time, but ginger worked better, I think. So, make a paste of an inch of ginger.

When the potatoes are soft (about 20 minutes of simmering), mash a couple of them lightly, and then throw in your ginger. Stir vigorously, adjust salt. Cover and cook for 3-5 minutes, or till the ginger is mostly infused. At this point, bring out a big pot of short-grained sticky rice, ladle a generous serving of the pork onto the rice, and proceed towards the most important part of this Naga Smoked Pork recipe – consumption.

Thank me later!