Phaksha Pa: Bhutanese Pork Recipe

Happy Chinese New Year and Losar Tashi Delek! I am excited because this is the Year of the Pig, and what better way to celebrate it than a big pot of steaming hot food, served family style with a bunch of people sitting around the dinner table!

This recipe of Phaksha Pa, or pork cooked with chilli pepper, is inspired by several sources, including this one, but its a tried and tested recipe that I have used quite a lot. Now, the main ingredient of this dish, ideally, is dried pork. But, since I am really not able to source that here in Kolkata, fresh pork will have to do, but trust me, the finished dish is glorious in its own way!

How to make Phaksha Pa: Bhutanese Pork with Chillies and Vegetables

Soak 750 gm. pork, with fat to meat ratio about 70:30, in 1 tablespoon Chinese cooking wine for 1 hour to get rid of its game-y smell. I used pork without skin, because sometimes the skin might contain bristles or hair and that’s something a lot of people, including me, detest.  Once the meat is soaked, discard the water. Then, put the meat, fat side down, in a nonstick pan, to render out a bit of the fat but also get some colour into the otherwise pristine pink flesh. This helps adding a bit more flavour to the boiled pork.

Then, transfer this to a pressure cooker, along with two small potatoes (about 150 gm together), skinned, add half a cup of water, and boil till the pork is soft, about 5-6 minutes on simmer after the pressure cooker comes into full pressure. Turn off the heat and let the pressure cooker cool down naturally.

Now, while that’s happening, lets contemplate vegetables. Ideally, you should use radish and pak choy. Now, I didn’t have radish but I did have some lovely pak choy (or bok choy, call it what you will) which I had scored from Tiretti bazar recently, so I washed and separated the leaves, washing each of them individually to get rid of the dirt and grime that might settle between the leaves.

Soak 4-5 shiitake mushrooms in hot water for half an hour. Now, this is COMPLETELY OPTIONAL, but I love the fact that after I soak the mushrooms, the liquid can be totally used to boil the pork. So, if you are smart and have dried mushrooms at home, make sure you take this extra step to get even more flavours from the meat.

Chop a tomato (about 100 gm.) and 1 onion (about 50 gm.). Mince 1 knob of ginger, about 1 tablespoon, with 3 fresh red chillies. I used dallay chillies, because that’s what you’ll be using if you’ve got it, but if you don’t have it, use 1-2 teaspoons of red chilli powder, because that’s convenient.

Once the meat is cooked, you can then contemplate whether you want to cook it immediately, or wait a while. Leaving the meat alone for 3-4 hours after its boiled definitely makes it easier to tear apart and the collagen structure of the meat reintegrates itself to gelatin, making sure that the meat can withstand more cooking without disintegrating. However, if you are strapped for time, that’s okay too.

Take a few pieces of fat from the boiled meat and put it in a nonstick pan to render out some of the fat. Once about 1-2 tablespoons of fat is rendered, throw in 6-8 dried red chillies and the chopped onion. Let the onion fry for 2-3 minutes before throwing in the tomato, chopped roughly (you don’t need to be fancy because the tomato will melt anyway), and stir fry till the tomato is soft.

At this point, throw in the mushrooms and the meat (don’t add the cooking liquid) and stir fry over high heat till you can see the meat getting some colour.

Add the meat stock, the pak choy, and then cover and cook till the pak choy is wilted, about 3 minutes.

Add the potatoes, break them down lightly with the back of your ladle or spatula, and the ginger chilli paste. Season with salt, stir vigorously, and add a little bit of water, just to ensure everything is mixed well. Serve hot with steamed rice. I have tried this with bread, and its nice, but nothing beats steamed rice. This recipe serves about 4-6 people, depending on your appetite and eating capacity.