CARNE PICANTE – Mrs A’s Authentic Pork Vindaloo (Fiery!!)

A good friend of mine, Zac, is of East Timorese and Goan background. From the first day I visited his family home in Sydney’s Inner West when we were in high school I was opened to a whole new world of cuisine.

I can’t recall if I ate anything that day, but the fantastic aroma in the house was introduction enough.

 
Zac’s mother Mrs A is a fantastic home cook who makes meals you’ll never find in any restaurant. She is East Timorese born and raised and has lived in Goa and Zac’s dad is Goan. Goa is a region of India which was a former Portuguese colony – as was East Timor.

I can recall enjoying some really great dishes at Zac’s place. Even in my 20s after a night of drinking and crashing at Zac’s home, then waking up for a lunch of curries and whatever.
This dish I am about to share to you was recently taught to me by Mrs A. She introduces it to me as Vindaloo – a fairly run of the mill indian dish. But Zac objects and advises it it “carne picante”. Mrs A advises he is right this what “we call it”. This is a very similar scenario to my house – many dishes which have romanticised restaurant names have different and simple names in the home where they originated. Carne Picante simply means Hot (spicy) Meat.
Mrs A advises me that this dish should never be eaten on the day you cook it. It should be cooked and then reheated a day or two later when the flavours have developed to what they should be.
Spices

        Chilli powder – 4 or 5 heaped teaspoons
        Turmeric – 2 heaped teaspoons
        Cumin – 2 heaped teaspoons
        Ground cloves – ½ teaspoon
        Ground black pepper ½ teaspoon
        Paprika – 1 tablespoon – this is optional, Mrs A tells me that it adds colour to the dish. But when she demonstrated it she didn’t use it

Dried Krill – 2 level tablespoons, you can get this from Asian (Chinese/Vietnamese) grocery stores. Krill is a type of marine life similar to prawns and looks like mini dried prawns (shrimp). If you can’t find krill use small dried prawns (shrimp).
Salt -1 level tablespoon

Sugar – 1 ¾ tablespoon, Mrs A uses white sugar.
Pork belly -1.5kg cut roughly into 2cm (1 inch) cubes. Pork belly is the traditional cut used for this dish. However, the health conscious may like to mix it with a leaner cut like pork loin. But I would still use at least 25% pork belly for the flavour and to keep it moist.
Garlic – 2 cloves, each cut into 4 bits.
Onions – two lots:
Lot 1) 1.5 small brown onions – peeled, halved and sliced
Lot 2) 1 brown onion peeled halved and sliced & 5 small onions (peeled, left whole)
Note: use double the amount for onions if using very small onions, sometimes referred to as pickling onions. This is what I used when I tried it out – they worked out great.
White vinegar – 4 to 5 tablespoons
Pure Tamarind without seeds – 125g, soaked in enough water in a bowl for ½ hour to 3 hours or more. Available from Asian/Indian grocery stores

Olive oil – about 4 to 5 tablespoons. Olive oil in Indian cooking you ask? – remember the Portuguese!

Pot with lid – a big heavy based one
Food processor - or mortar and pestle
Rice – to serve – basmati works well
Eggs – 8 of them for serving (optional)


OK, now you can get started:
In 4 to 5 batches, brown pork on medium to high heat in a frying pan in a little olive oil. You don’t need much as the pork will create it own fat in the pan. Discard any oil/fat left behind in the pan after frying all batches. Set pork aside.

Squish the tamarind with hands. This will release flavours into the water.

Now you need to make the spice paste. In a food processor wiz up the spices, first lot of sliced onion, garlic, krill, sugar and a little tamarind water (about 2 to 3 tablespoons) until it resembles a thick paste. Don’t use the actual tamarind.

Alternatively you could make your paste using a pestle and mortar – I am guessing this is how it would have traditionally been done.
In a pot brown second lot of sliced onion and whole onions on medium to high heat for about 3 minutes in a little olive oil.
Now mix vinegar into the paste. Mrs A tells me not to mix this in earlier for some reason – again, who am I to argue.
Add paste to pot and stir. Let fry for about 1 to 2 minutes and enjoy the tantalising aromas. Add salt and the pork. Stir so that all pork pieces are coated with the paste.
Squish tamarind with hands again in the water, throw all water into pot (don’t throw in the actual tamarind)
Bring to boil then reduce heat to low.
Place the lid on the pot so that you leave about half uncovered.
Simmer on low heat for 1 ½ to 2 hours stirring occasionally – and as required add more tamarind water by adding more tamarind water – just use the same tamarind you have soaked earlier, add more water to cover – squish with hands. About 3 or 4 more lots of tamarind water during the simmering should do the trick. At no stage add any of the actual tamarind to the pot. Actual tamarind can be discarded once cooking is done.

Towards the end of simmering, taste and add extra salt if required. Also, if you feel it tastes too spicy (chilli) you may like to add ½ to 1 teaspoon of sugar. Just a word of warning, when you taste, it may seem like there is “too much chilli” – but remember when you eat it with rice it does mellow it out. And it ain’t called Carne Picante for nothing.

After cooking – turn off heat. Allow to cool completely and refrigerate (do not freeze) in a plastic or glass container. The next day (or within 5 days) – reheat in a pot on low heat. Eat with rice.
Mrs A tells me that her father would like to eat this dish with rice and a fried egg for breakfast – sounds good to me – but I ate it for dinner and you can eat it with whatever and whenever!

Don’t forget to lick your plate - like a top peasant!