Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! While it seems for many of us this day involves a lot of effort, pre-planning and countless hours of kitchen duty, don't forget the true meaning and remember to give thanks ... "For fragrant air and cooling breeze, for beauty of the blooming trees...for this new morning with its light...for rest and shelter of the night... for health and food, for love and friends, for everything Thy goodness sends, Father in heaven, we thank Thee."Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Making curry for dinner when your house is on the market for sale might not be the best thing in the world, but to those of us curry lovers, it smelled like heaven. Adapted from Food & Wine, their version was meant for a slow cooker, but after my debacle the other night I decided to make use of my favorite cast iron Dutch oven instead.
I had a pound less pork than called for but seasoned it lightly with salt and pepper and coated it in a little flour before browning it up on all sides. Joined by onion, garlic, lots of fresh ginger, I added cayenne pepper to their mix of curry powder, cumin and tumeric. Necessity had the canned diced tomatoes exchanged for a small can of pureed, I used a whole 15 ounce can of light coconut milk and reduced the chicken stock to a mere 1 cup.
Relegated to a 325 oven in a covered pot, the stew simmered nicely while I did a little more prep work for today's Thanksgiving feast and 2 hours later we enjoyed the most tender, flavorful, sublime curry you could imagine.
A final note - now while a purist... Lorraine you know who you are :-)... would use spices they ground with their own two hands for this, I used a Madras curry powder purchased in bulk from our local Sprouts store because as you know, we really like the spicy heat but go with whatever curry you prefer. As you may or may not know, curry isn't just one spice but a blend of many and "In addition to chili peppers, Madras curry can also contain spices like turmeric, coriander,cumin, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaves, fenugreek, allspice, black pepper, and curry leaves" (so sayeth the Wisegeek).
Coconut Pork Curry (from JBug’s Kitchen, adapted from Food & Wine)
3 to 4 pounds boneless pork shoulder, in 2 inch cubes
Salt and coarse ground black pepper
All-purpose flour
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons fresh ginger, minced
1-1/2 tablespoons curry powder (I used Madras)
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
8 ounces tomato puree
1 – 15 ounce can light coconut milk
1 cup low sodium chicken stock
Preheat oven to 325. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven until shimmering over medium high heat. Season pork cubes lightly with salt and pepper and dust with all-purpose flour, shaking off excess. Brown pork on all sides (in batches if necessary). Do not crowd pan. Move pork to one side of pot when browned. Add onion, garlic, and ginger and cook, stirring constantly until onion starts to soften. Stir in curry, cumin, turmeric and cayenne and cook for additional minute, then add tomato puree, coconut milk and chicken stock. Bring pot to a high simmer, cover and place in preheated oven for 1-1/2 hours. Remove lid and continue to cook until sauce is reduced to thickness you prefer and pork is very tender (up to another half hour). Serve over rice.
A year ago - Pear and Blue Salmon