Pork with Fire Roasted Tomatoes and Chillies

Instagram brings me joy, especially because I have realised, quite late if I may add, about the utility of hashtags. My recent obsession with meat dishes from Assam, Manipur, Nagaland, and other parts of the North East resulted in checking out post after post, and I found a pork recipe I was keen on making, and a generous user pointed me towards this one. It sounded fantastic, so I was all over it (made it half an hour after I read it – having a pack of pork in the fridge pays off).

But, guess what? I made it, it was nice, but I wanted more out of it, and so I started playing. Seven days, three kilos of pork, and six versions later, my father came, cried uncle, and theoretically did the equivalent of dragging me out of the kitchen because I was THAT obsessed with the recipe.

The final recipe was quite different from the original, though. I ended up doing a few interesting things, which provided fantastic results. This recipe serves 3-4 people, and is better when its kept for a day or so, because that really infuses the flavours into the pork.

Pork with Fire-Roasted Tomatoes and Chillies Recipe

Start by washing and chopping 500 gm. boneless pork into 1 inch cubes. I decided on using pork with 80:20 ratio (meat to fat). Then, soak in cold water for half an hour before rinsing the pork and removing from the water. This will basically get rid of most of the blood in the meat, and that’s a crucial part of this recipe.

Soak 5 red chillies in 4 tablespoons warm water for half an hour. Drain the water, grind with 4 cloves of garlic (about 10-12 gm.), a pinch of salt and 1 tablespoon vinegar. Apply this all over the pork pieces and marinate for at least 3 hours, or, if possible, overnight.

Heat a pan (get one fitted with a lid) and arrange the pork cubes, fat side down, on it. This is to render the fat off the meat. I like adding a couple of teaspoons of water to get things going. Once you add the water, cover, simmer, and leave the pan alone for at least 5-6 minutes. That helps coax the fat out of the meat, which basically means, later on, the meat will cook in its own fat.

Meanwhile, fire roast 3 tomatoes and then keep them covered to help the tomatoes steam a bit. Fire roast 4-5 red chillies, either fresh or dry. Here, I had added a few preserved dallay khorsani chillies, but its ultimately up to you and your tongue – don’t overestimate its ability to stand torture and grief. Grind the tomatoes and the chillies together with an inch of ginger.

Once the meat starts rendering fat, and starts to become crispy, turn and cook till the meat is evenly golden. Add 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Cover, simmer, and cook till the meat is cooked and tender and the water has mostly dried out. Here, add your tomato-chilli paste, and stir to combine.

Cook, over medium-low to low heat, stirring occasionally, till the point where the paste dries out and oil floats on top. I dried up the dish, but leaving a bit of gravy makes the dish slightly different, taste wise. The key is to season at the very end, because that way, you can actually control how you want your dish to finally look. This is the point you might want to add a couple of fresh chillies (I used green, but red works too), adjust seasoning, and serve with a pot of rice and a bowl of greens.