Pork with Vegetables (A No-Oil Recipe)

A No Oil Pork Recipe?

Well, I have to blame someone here – lets start with E. Here, E stands for Elika. Generally, I don’t like mentioning people by their names on the blog, but this one is an exception. She is one of the few people in Kolkata who cooks Naga food, and from time to time, she does a pop-up here and there. I have been to a few of them, and I have to admit, her cooking is simple, yet it has that certain je ne sais quoi that I return for, over and over again. Maybe its the use of really interesting ingredients, or maybe because she knows exactly how to cook pork – her pop-ups feature very interesting ingredients and dishes, and she sources them herself, or flies them down from her hometown.

FYI, her pop-ups can be found at her page on Facebook, and you can follow it here.

I made another version of this dish for R, when she had come down to Kolkata. On a hot summer day somewhere in September, we had eaten copious amounts of pork and talked about life. She loved this dish, and asked me for the recipe. I forgot completely, as usual.

But, the dish E made at her last pop-up (Pork with tomatillo, cherry tomatoes, and dalle khorsani) jogged my memory. However, I wanted to improve the original recipe. A quick chat with E, and she suggested that I should definitely roast the pork in its own fat, and also to hold the ginger till the end. I did both and the result was stunning. I also added other vegetables because that made it even better.

How to Make Pork with Vegetables

No oil doesn’t mean I am not putting off fat from this dish. In fact, Pork with Vegetables thrives on fatty cuts of pork, especially when there is a 60:40 ratio between meat and fat. I generally buy skinless boneless pork, because I am not too happy with the skin-on pork that we get in Kolkata. Half the times I have to clean the meat myself. So, getting skinless and boneless meat makes far more sense to me. I got this one from Alpine Pork, who are pretty reliable.

Wash the meat well, and then chop into 1 inch cubes. Put the pork pieces, fat side down, in the pan, and turn on the heat over medium-low. The pork will get slowly sauteed, the fat melting down and the meat browning in its own fat slowly.

Once the meat is light golden brown (refer to the photo above), remove it from the pan, and drain off all but 2 tablespoons of the fat. This fat will be needed to keep the meat and vegetables moist and flavourful. Don’t waste the stuff you drained. Fry your eggs in it. Good for the cholesterol. Don’t ask further questions.

Okay, next part please.

Pork with Vegetables – but What KIND OF VEGETABLES?

Now, here’s where you contemplate vegetables. What kind of vegetables, you may ask. I say, what have you got lying there in your fridge? I got a week-old cabbage which is trying to get a new life and start a band with a few tomatoes and a couple of spring onions. I am no fool, bands need to be broken up to really make the stars shine individually. So, chop the tomatoes, slice the spring onion greens, and cut the cabbage in sixths. This was a small cabbage, so its about 350-400 gm. When you’re buying a cabbage, if it looks lighter than it feels, and the darker outer leaves are hiding a lighter core, you probably should be picking it up. The idea is to have about equal amount of pork and vegetable (500 gm. meat = 500 gm. vegetable), but you can play around with the portions, I’ll give you that because I’m nice.

Anyway, now that you’ve got your pork in the pan, add something that would rework the moisture balance in the game. For that, liquid is required, so yes, add a cup of water (250 ml.). Now you don’t really think that this little of water is going to be enough, right?

You’re right.

So, add another couple of cups of water after ten minutes, when the first cup is nearly absorbed over medium-low heat. Once the water is again on the boil, add the tomatoes, spring onions, and here, you can totally add some chillies. I added some preserved dalle khorsani chillies because they are so good, but if you don’t have it, don’t sweat it, just add whatever you’ve got, as long as it promises to be hot. I like adding a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice at this point, which is my quirk, and you should add it too.

Cook for another half an hour to forty minutes, or until the pork is nearly tender (just a smidgen below the point where its softness is what you feel is right). Add half a teaspoon of grated ginger. Do this right over the stove with a microplane zester and you’ll feel rather chef-y.

At this point, add the cabbage on top. To be fair, put whatever vegetable you like – chunks of carrots, potatoes, squash, snapped string beans – the world is your oyster. Just make sure they are clean. I also added a couple of tomatoes, halved, because I like soft but still firm enough to smoosh tomatoes, and cover the pan. Cook the meat over low heat until the cabbages are cooked to your liking. I like cooking for about 10 minutes or so, which makes them soft but not mushy. At this point, adjust salt, throw in a bit of chopped green onions, and serve.

I like Pork with Vegetables on top of some sticky rice, or jasmine rice, or even plain old rice that my mother told me to eat because you don’t make fancy rice when there’s cooked rice in the fridge already.