Easy Pork Chops

It's no secret that I'm very fond of pork. My first real exposure to pork beyond cold cuts was at a sizzler restaurant in Pune called The Place when I moved to Pune to study archaeology. This is where I discovered pork chops and I was in love! Pune was my first taste of independence where I only had to think of myself as far as meals were concerned and later, my husband who I was dating at that time. This is where I got really interested in cooking and with a willing and really well informed partner to guide me, I cooked a lot.

We would shop at the Khadki market which had an excellent pork and beef shop, and we ate a lot of both. But we mainly made curries and stews, not chops. K would cook chops in the later years in our home in Mumbai. He was 'famous' in the family for pork chops and cooked chops for everyone on occasion. With mounds of creamy mashed potatoes!

I was lucky to get good chops from our local pork shop recently and this time I thought of giving them a go myself. I got the chance when we were at home in isolation thanks to the corona virus pandemic and K was at hand to guide me through the process. The recipe is entirely his.

Easy Pork Chops

To cook the chops

4 pork chops
1 stick cinnamon
2 star anise
1 tsp pepper corns
1 tbsp dark brown sugar
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
salt
water

For searing

Olive oil
Soy Sauce

In a pressure cooker add all the ingredients  to cook the chops with enough water - around a cup of water should be good. Set the chops to cook and once the cooker whistles lower the flame to the minimum possible and cook the chops under pressure for 10 minutes. If the cooker whistles in between that's fine. Switch off after 10 minutes and allow the cooker to cool on its own. The chops should be cooked through and perfect.

In a grill pan or regular frying pan heat a tablespoon or more of olive oil. Carefully lift out a cooked chop draining as much of the stock as possible and sear it in the pan. Pour soy sauce (a couple of teaspoons ) on the chop and then flip to sear the other side. Press down to sear properly.  Sear both sides nicely. The chops are already cooked, you're just adding colour and a nice bit of sear in this finishing step. Remove to a plate.  Do this with each chop individually and you're ready to serve.

To serve the chops you can make mashed potatoes or slow cooked potato wedges, and some boiled and buttered veggies. Make all this while the chops are cooking in the pressure cooker. Arrange nicely on a plate and serve with a flourish!

Gorom Moshla Pork - Pork with Bengali Garam Masala

It's no secret that I love pork and it's no secret that I like to wing it when I'm cooking. It's how I've cooked all my life. Over the last couple of years however, I have been studying Bengali cuisine in an attempt to learn the basics, cook some of the well known and not so well known dishes, and of course connect to my very Bengali roots. It is this study that taught me what goes into a Bengali garam masala (and it's not a lot).

I was in the mood to cook a pork curry but I didn't have much in the fridge to pair with it, nothing really appealed. As I stared at the various bottles and jars in the kitchen cupboard I pulled out the whole garam masalas and I saw my jar of home made Bengali garam masala. And I decided to make the garam masala the focus of my curry.

So here's what I did -

Gorom Mosha Pork 

500 gms boneless pork with around 30% fat
2 large onions, finely sliced
2-3 potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
1 tbsp fresh ginger-garlic paste, preferably roughly bashed in your mortar and pestle
salt
turmeric
mild chilli powder (for colour)
whole garam masalas - Indian bay leaf, cloves, cardamom, cassia bark
1 tbsp Bengali garam masala powder*
2 tbsp vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar)
mustard oil
sugar

Wash the pork, drain, and marinate with salt and the ginger garlic paste.
Heat oil in a pressure cooker and fry the potatoes till they turn a little brown and mildly crisp. Remove and set aside.
In the same oil, add a little more if needed, chuck in the whole spices and fry for a minute.
Add the sliced onions and fry slowly till they start going a little brown. Add a teaspoon of sugar to help the onions along.
Add the marinated pork and the vinegar and saute slowly for 15-20 minutes. Do this with patience till the moisture is dried out.
Now add the turmeric and chilli powders and the Bengali garam masala powder. Stir well and cook for another 5 minutes or so till the spices lose their rawness.
Add the fried potatoes back to the pot, add enough water, and then shut the pressure cooker and let the curry cook. Once it whistles reduce the heat and cook on simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Switch off and let the cooker cool on its own.
Open, taste and adjust the salt if required and serve with plain hot rice.


* Bengali garam masala that I like  - broil green cardamom, cloves and cinnamon separately on a tava over gentle heat. Combine and grind to a powder either in a mortar and pestle or in an electric spice grinder. Store in an air-tight bottle.
The ratios for the three spices I use - 3 parts cardamom, 1 part cloves, 1 part cinnamon. Measure by weight.

Choriz Upma for President!

I love choriz. The Goan variety - full of spices and flavour and nuggets of fat. Among porky ingredients it's my favourite and I fool around with it a lot, adding it to this and that seeing if the combination works. This Choriz Upma is one my great successes.

I often eat meals on my own and it goes without saying that I tend to make simple one-pot dishes whenever I can. Nonta Suji as we Bengalis call our version of upma, is loaded with vegetables and has a mild tempering of nigella seeds. I used to cook this very often for mom in the later stages of her illness as she found the soft texture of the dish easy to eat. Nonta Suju features on my meals on my own quite often and in pursuit of a variation I decided to try it with a good handful of choriz thrown in. It was one of my best ideas, even if I say so myself!

Choriz Upma

20 links of Goan choriz, peeled
1 small potato, cut into matchsticks
1 small carrot, cut into small pieces or matchsticks
1 small green capsicum, chopped into thick juliennes
1 onion, sliced
a handful of green peas
1 green chilli, chopped
2 tbsp tomato puree or ketchup
1/2 cup roasted rava/semolina
salt
oil
chilli powder

In your wok or kadhai heat a little oil and fry the choriz till it breaks down and has rendered off all the fat. Remove the choriz leaving behind as much of the oil/fat as you can.

Discard some of this oil/fat if there's too much and then fry the potatoes and carrots along with the green chilli in the remaining oil/fat in your kadhai. Keep the heat low and cover the veggies while they cook. When the potatoes are half cooked add the sliced onion and stir. Cook till the onions become translucent.

Add the julienned capsicum and the green peas and cook for another couple of minutes. If you're using fresh peas boil them before adding them in. Add salt and chilli powder and stir to mix. Then add the roasted semolina and stir over a low flame. Roast the semolina with the veggie mix for a couple of minutes without scorching or burning the semolina.

Put the fried choriz back into the kadhai. Reserve a little to sprinkle on top of the finished dish if you like.  Add enough water to just cover and the tomato puree/ketchup and give it all a good stir. The semolina will start absorbing the water so keep stirring.

Once the upma has reached the consistency you like switch off the heat and serve it hot.

Freezer Clear Out Pie - A Pork Pie with Possibilities

After the recent Hokus Porkus Piggy Bag event we did I had random leftover ingredients that weren't enough to be used on their own but could be combined with other things to make a good dinner. Thus was born another edition of my Freezer Clean Out Pies. I often throw together random ingredients from the fridge or the veggie box to use up bits of ingredients and it goes without saying that I do the same with stuff from my freezer.

This time I had leftover cooked ham, puff pastry, and a leek, from the Ham, Potato and Leek Pies I'd made for the Piggy Bag orders. I also found a couple of sausages from the Sri Lanka stash, and another opened packet of cocktail sausages that I could use. The hubby wanted a pie for dinner and so that's what I made with some added ingredients to the leftovers and scraps.

You will need

Cooked ham cut into cubes
Cocktail sausages, cut into small pieces
Breakfast sausages

1 large potato, cubed
1 carrot, cubed
1 leek, sliced as fine as possible
1 onion, sliced fine
oil

1 tbsp flour
2 tbsp butter
1 cup milk (more if required)
50gms cheese grated

salt
pepper

Puff pastry to cover the baking tin
cookie cutter to cut pastry scraps to decorate (optional)

To start with prep the vegetables and the sausages.

Heat oil in a pan, I used olive oil, and saute the potatoes and carrots till nearly cooked. Remove to your baking tin, and then saute the sliced leek and onion. Take your time with this and keep the flame on medium or low ensuring you don't burn or brown the leeks. Stir often and add a little oil if required. Once the leeks are soft and cooked and the onions pink pile them onto the potatoes and carrots in the baking tin.

Now fry the sausages. Just heat them through and brown them a little. I left the breakfast sausages whole and cut them after frying because they tend to disintegrate if you cut them before frying. Once the sausages are done add them to the baking tin remembering to cut the breakfast sausages.

Add salt and pepper and give the whole thing a good mix. Add the ham cubes too. Flatten everything so it's uniformly spread in the baking tin and then sprinkle grated cheese over the top.

Make a white sauce - heat butter in a clean pan and sprinkle flour into it. Once again keep the heat at medium so you don't burn the roux. Once the flour has lost its raw smell (it takes just a minute or so) pour in the milk slowly whisking as you go and ensuring that there are no lumps of flour. Once the sauce is smooth let it come to a boil, simmer and let it thicken a little. Season with salt and pepper. You can add dried herbs if you like, I didn't.

Pour the sauce over the pie filling and nudge the sauce into the filing so it's not just sitting on the top.

On a clean work surface roll out the puff pastry to fit the top of your baking tin. Cut the pastry to fit the top of the filling properly. Cut out shapes with a convenient cookie cutter from the pastry scraps and decorate the top of the pastry. Use a dab of water to stick the cut outs to the pastry.

Bake the pie in a preheated oven at 200C for 20 to 30 minutes till the pastry is puffed up and a pleasing golden brown.

Serve the pie hot!



Pies like this one are easy to throw together and of course you can vary the ingredients as much as you like - play with cooked chicken, fish, prawns, mixed meats, go veg, whatever you like! 

Pork with Lai Xaak

There's a special place in my heart for food from Assam and the rest of the North East. With all sorts of vegetables and lots of variety in meats the cuisines of the North Eastern states have so much to offer it will take more than a life time to savour it all. My friend Gitika has been working hard educating us Mumbaikars about the food of that region and she regularly has fresh produce and ingredients flown in for her very popular pop ups showcasing the wonderful food from the NE. A couple of days ago she called me to inform me that she had a little surprise for me - lai xaak! She was sending some over so I cook with it in my own kitchen. I am indeed blessed to have friends who share not just food but ingredients too. There is a different joy in cooking with things that are new to us and for me, a chance to cook with lai xaak was special indeed!

Lai Xaak Image

There was no discussion or even any question about what I'd make with the lai xaak - pork of course! I looked up a few recipes and made something that suited the tastes of the family. The brother, who' visiting, likes it hot, the hubby will sulk if there are no potatoes, I was in the mood for something comforting to be enjoyed with rice. The recipes I saw were very frugal in flavours letting the greens dominate. I have saved half for a more authentic rendition, today I just sort of winged it. It's not too far off from what you might be served in an Assamese household but I don't claim this to be an authentic Assamese recipe.

1 kg Pork 

1 bunch Lai xaak 

2 Onions 

2 Potatoes 

4-5 Green chillies 

2 tsps Ginger paste 

1 tsp Garlic paste 

1 tsp Turmeric 

2 tsps Chilli powder 

Salt 

Oil

Wash and clean the pork pieces and marinate with salt. 

Chop the potatoes into large chunks and chop the onions fine. 

Heat oil in a pressure cooker and chuck in the chopped onions along with the green chillies. Fry on low heat till the onions turn pink. 

Add the pork to the pot and braise well for around 10 minutes. 

Put in the ginger and garlic pastes. I used freshly made pastes for better flavour. 

Add turmeric and chilli powder, mix them in and cook the whole thing covered for 5 minutes. 

Wash the lai xaak well in running water separating out the leaves and washing inside the stalks properly. Break into rough pieces and add to the pork. Stir well to mix and let it cook for another 5 minutes. 

Now add the potatoes and enough water to give you plenty of gravy. I used around a cup and a half. 

Shut the cooker and cook the pork under pressure. Once the cooker whistles reduce the flame and cook for 10 minutes. Shut off the heat and let the cooker cool on its own. 

Serve the hot pork curry with plain hot rice. 

Soupy Pork Stew

Soupy Pork Stew is perfect for nippy winter evenings in Kharghar where the temperatures don't freeze your bones but there's still a nice chill in the air and a hot soupy meal is very welcome. It's a basic no fuss recipe and something that I like make as often as possible, after all it tastes great and is easy to put together - what's not to like?!

1 kg Pork 

Ginger garlic paste 

4 Potatoes 

2 Carrots 

3 Onions 

2 Green chillies 

1 Star anise 

3 pods Cardamom 

5 Cloves 

2 Indian bay leaves 

1/4 cup Bacon fat 

Oil 

Salt 

Fresh pepper

Wash the pork and marinate with salt and ginger garlic paste. Use a little less salt because the bacon fat that's used later will be salty. 

Cut the potatoes and carrots into large chunks.

Chop the onions fine. 

Heat oil in your pressure cooker and fry the carrots and potatoes till the edges turn brown. Remove to a plate and set aside. 

In the same oil drop in the whole spices, fry for half a minute, and the throw in the chopped onions. When the onions turn translucent throw in the green chillies. Use more chillies if you want the stew to have a lot of heat. 

After a few minutes when the onions begin to pink add the pork pieces to the pot. Stir well and braise the meat for 10 minutes at least. Grind fresh pepper directly into the pot. Mix. 

Add the bacon fat and stir again. Let it cook for another five minutes. 

Now put in the potatoes and carrots. Add just enough water to cover the pork and shut the cooker. Let it come to pressure and then reduce the heat. Let it cook under pressure for 10 minutes. Then switch off the heat and let the cooker cool on its own. 

Check salt and adjust if required. 

Serve hot with plain rice, pav or sliced bread. 

Hokus Porkus - A Porky Pop Up

Anyone who knows me knows I love pork. 

I started The Porkaholics on Facebook just to share my love of this wonderful ingredient with like minded folk, a space where we could revel in the joys of honey roast hams, bacon breakfasts, jamon Iberico, Goan choriz, and everything pork that anyone encountered. As with most food groups on Facebook off line meet ups soon began to happen and I organised a couple of lunches and dinners at restaurants known for great pork dishes, pork-centric pop ups with home chefs, and even pork based pot lucks. These events were always fun and well attended and soon members in other cities got together and had similar events celebrating the beauty that is pork. I was ready for something new. 

And so I thought of doing a small Porkaholic Bazaar sort of event - a few stalls with people selling porky goodies. I was sure it would get a decent audience and it would definitely be fun. I told the hubby about my latest new idea and he just rolled his eyes. I could see that thought bubble above his head - "Here we go again!" For me that was the go ahead sign ;) 

Next, I pinged a few of my pork loving friends who I knew were really good cooks, already doing a variety of pork dishes at their pop ups and other events. I pitched the idea to them and within minutes we were excitedly exchanging ideas. The bazaar was going to happen! Ideas, options, and possibilities flew back and forth and finally Hokus Porkus was born. 

Menus were discussed, our venue was fixed, we had a date, and we were ready to tell the world. 

I was a pop up virgin. I've never cooked food myself and put it up for sale at an event. Yes, I've done pop ups under the Katy's Kitchen banner but there I was managing things, not shopping, prepping, cooking and packing. For Hokus Porkus I was on my own, as Euphorhea. I had no idea how to go about things beyond the basic idea that I would cook stuff and carry it all to the venue on that day of the event. I leaned on my team mates -Gitika,Subhasree and Madhumita - who were generous with advice, ready to hit the brakes on me every time my enthusiasm gave me unrealistic ideas, and perked me up when I felt I couldn't really do this on my own. To tell you the truth, I was never alone, they were always with me. And for that I am supremely grateful. Euphorhea couldn't have asked for a better team to debut on to the pop up scene with. 

My menu featured a selection of some of my favourite pork dishes. Obviously! These were things I'd cooked often enough at home but now I was going to be cooking for the paying public. So more attention to detail, strict quality control, and a lot of organisation was required. On my menu I had Bacon Jam, Pigs in Blankets, Choriz Pav, and Bourbon Bacon Brownies. I tried to have a menu that could make a complete meal, plus I had a condiment that people could enjoy at leisure at home. 

Hokus Porkus had no budget for marketing and we decided to do everything ourselves at minimum cost. This part of doing Hokus Porkus was a huge learning experience for me because I knew nothing about sustained promotion on social media. After the first edition of Hokus Porkus, seeing the incredible turnout at the event I was just awed. It IS possible to successfully market your event without spending a bomb on marketing or hiring a professional.

We had a lovely venue in Cafe Terra and very cooperative and supportive people running the place. I loved the open bright space - it looked so inviting! Many of my friends who'd not been there before fell in love with the place and have vowed to go back just for the relaxed ambiance and vibe. And the beer. 

The event itself was quite a success. On the whole things went really well and I was very heartened to see the incredible turnout - way, way beyond anything I had expected, certainly not numbers I'd even dared to dream about! I was sold out really quickly. Which was good, but not good at the same time because so many people took the trouble to come and went away without trying my stuff. I felt I let them down, and I did. This was another lesson. 

I had a great time doing this event. Interacting with people, serving them food I'd cooked myself, getting feedback there and then, watching happy porkaholics relaxing with food from my kitchen, seeing people come back for more... it made my heart sing. This is what I want to do... celebrate pork. Here are some photos from Hokus Porkus. See you there next time :)

Friends and family sent me cute piggy stuff to use at Hokus Porkus!

That's four of us all set to make pork great again! I just LOVE the piggy ears Subhasree made for us :)

Bacon Jam! I made two variants - One richly flavoured with Port, and one with the solid punch of Bhut Jolokia chillies.

A little self promotion!

Pigs in Blankets with beer - a marriage made in heaven!

The complete Hokus Porkus Menu

We're definitely stirring the cauldron again and gearing up for Hokus Porkus 2. So stay tuned because if you missed us this time, you're getting another chance :) 

Goan Choriz in Instant Noodles - Comfort Food at its Best

If you've lived in a hostel it's more or less guaranteed that you've experimented with instant noodles. Maggi and other brands were the backbone of our meals, especially if one wanted options apart from Mess food! Assorted vegetables, ketchup, chilly and other sauces, spices, pickle masalas, anything and everything was pressed into service to add zing and flavour and even body to the basic noodles.

I spent many happy years living the hostel life and one of the best things that emerged from those years is my concoction of instant noodles with Goan choriz. Slightly soupy, the thick and spicy sauce coats every strand of noodle punctuated with chunks of the fat and meat of the choriz beads - heaven in a bowl!  The unique flavours of this local Goan sausage are the foundation of this dish. The cheese slices cut the sharpness from the spices of the choriz and give the sauce a wonderful roundness.

I made some for my lunch today and my friend M pinged me to ask for the recipe. I confidently told her to look it up here on the blog. And then I thought why not dig out the recipe myself and send her the link. That's when I discovered, much to my horror, that I haven't written about it. You cannot imagine my shock!

Anyway, let me fill this terrible lacuna right away. Better late than never, correct? So here goes...

Noodles with Goan Choriz

Instant noodles - Maggi or any other
Goan choriz sausage - approximately 15 to 20 beads, peeled
1 small onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 slices Britannia Cheese
tomato ketchup
oil

In a pan fry the onions and garlic till just brown. Remove the onions to a plate.

In the same pan add enough water to cook the noodles. Add the flavouring spice that came with the noodles now.

Add the choriz and let it boil in the spiced water for a few minutes.

Break the noodles up a little and add to the pan. Let them cook fully.

Add the fried onions and garlic, a good splash of ketchup and the cheese slices. Stir to mix.

Reduce the liquid to the consistency to the consistency you like and serve.

I usually make a big bowlful and then get comfy in a big chair and enjoy it with a good book. The perfect dish for a solitary lunch.  No. I don't share. 

Bacon Jam with Bhut Jolokia

I'd been meaning to make bacon jam for months but just didn't get around to it. Then a bunch of friends from all over the world made a plan to meet and I thought, why not make bacon jam as a gift for them. As usual, I wanted to play around with the recipe and try something new. The basic recipe is awesome and is a superb canvas for adding new flavours - just like basic mayonnaise.

I looked through the pantry cupboard and chanced upon my stock of Bhut Jolokia chillies that I'd bought on my trip to Assam earlier this year. Bacon jam with a spicy kick sounded like a good idea to me and so that's what I made. The basic recipe remains the same and I replaced the regular green chillies with  a dried bhut jolokia chilli. This chilli is seriously potent so be careful how much you use. I'd say be conservative the first time and work your way up in subsequent trials.

I didn't use whiskey in this batch. Instead I used port wine. Well that was also lying around neglected and this was a nice opportunity to use it up. The flavours worked very well indeed! The whiskey didn't get me very excited (hardly surprising because I don't really like the stuff!) and replacing it with some other flavour was at the top of my priorities. Red wine and port seemed to be good choices and they were.

This is my basic bacon jam recipe. The element I consider integral to it, apart from the bacon and the onions, is the freshly brewed coffee. Don't skip the coffee. And don't ever use instant. I can't resist playing with recipes once I have mastered the basic version and this jam recipe is like a doorway to a land of wonder - the possibilities are just endless. Yet, some basic principles must be kept in mind so that there is a high chance of success once you've finished tweaking.

• It doesn't matter if the onions are not perfectly chopped, or that they're not very finely chopped. But cook them slowly and thoroughly.
• Don't brown the onions
• Don't let the bacon crisp
• Use only as much of the bacon fat as required. Too much fat will mask the flavours of the other ingredients and you will get a stodgy jam.
• Use a mix of back and streaky bacon for a good balance of fat and meat in the jam
• Use the best quality bacon you can afford. 
• Use freshly brewed coffee, even if it's not a premium or fancy one. NO INSTANT.

The experiment with the Bhut Jolokias was not limited to a change of chillies. I also did away with vinegar entirely, and added port and pomegranate molasses to the mix. Both liquids gave the jam a deeper, more rounded sweet and sour element compared to vinegar which has a sharp sourness. I'm tempted to slosh in a good slug of Balsamic in a batch...I'm sure it will work fabulously well.

It's all very well concocting bacon jam recipes in the head but the toughest part, trust me, is when you're in the middle making a batch and you have a pile of perfect 'soft fried' bacon in front of you, and you have to do your best not to eat the lot! Look at this and you will understand... Sigh!

Pork with Agal (Kokum extract)

It's that time of the year again when K is gearing up to go away on excavation. This time he's going to be gone for a month and the two of us are getting ready mentally too, for his long sojourn away from home and home cooked food. Well, the food at the excavation camp is home cooked too but it's vastly different from what we cook at home and is largely vegetarian. In the run up to his departure I like to cook things that he likes and I ask him what he'd like to eat today, nearly every day.

He was at home yesterday and as we caught up with errands and chores I asked him what I should cook. He chose pork. As long as it had potatoes in it I was free to cook it any way I liked. That worked for me and once we'd finished marketing and other stuff I set about prepping the pork. 

We'd bought a kilo of pork shoulder with a few nice chunks of fat and very few bones. After a quick light rinse I drained the meat and picked out spices for the marinade. I didn't want to make a heavy spicy dish as the days are really hot now and we were in the mood for a light dinner. As I looked around picking out the spices I spied the bottle of agal. On a whim I decided to go with agal instead of the usual vinegar.  

Pork with Agal

1 kg pork with a little fat, cubed

3 onions, sliced

3 potatoes, cut into large cubes

2 tablespoons garlic paste

2 - 3 tablespoons agal

1 tsp tumeric

2 tsp red chilli powder

2 tsp jeera powder

1 tsp dhania powder

salt

oil

2 tej patta or cassia leaves
3 inch stick of cassia bark

1 star anise

Wash the meat lightly and drain off excess water. Marinate with all the dry spices, salt, garlic paste and agal. Mix thoroughly and leave covered in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.

In a heavy bottomed vessel (I used my cast iron Dutch oven) heat some oil. Fry the potatoes till they turn pale golden. Remove from the oil and reserve on a plate. In the same oil throw in the whole garam masala and then after half a minute, add the sliced onions. Fry gently till the onions start to turn a pale gold. Don't let them brown. 

Now add the marinated pork and turn up the heat. Braise the meat well for a good five minutes stirring frequently but not all the time. Reduce the flame, cover the pot and let it braise a little more - around 15 minutes. Stir it every 5 minutes or so. Add any remaining marinade. Add enough water to just barely cover the meat chunks. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 30 minutes. 

Add the potatoes and cover the pot again. Let it cook for an hour or more till the pork is soft. Stir gently once in a while just to mix things up. Be careful not to break or mash up the potatoes. There will be a thick gravy, but not a lot of it.  

The agal gives the pork a lovely sweet sour flavour that is distinct. The onions disintegrate to form a lovely smooth gravy and the fat from the pork helps take the dish to a higher level. We don't eat the chunks of fat anymore but I never cook pork without some fat in the pot. 

Serve hot with pav, sliced bread, or parathas. Or have it with hot rice. 

Agal is a pulpy extract made from the kokum fruit and is popular in the Konkan region of Maharashtra. It's used as a souring agent just like tamarind pulp is used in the southern states. 

Marathon Bloggers

Choice Pork - A Pork-centric Enterprise from NE India

I received an invitation from Arohan Foods, the makers of the Choice Pork Natural range of products, to visit their Guwahati office and to sample a few of their products. What piqued my interest the most was that this company dealt exclusively with pork. Added to that was the fact that it was based in the NE and claimed to use fresh Indian ingredients only, sourced mainly from the North East. I asked the hubby if he would like to check them out and he eagerly agreed.

We found the office in what looked like a residential building and proceeded to go up. A bright and clean space, the first thing I noticed was a line of huge freezers. Just the thought of packets and packets of pork products sitting in there chilling made me happy :)

We were ushered into the office and introduced to Anabil Goswami, Head - Strategy and Business Development, who welcomed us very warmly. We settled down in his office for a long chat about Choice Pork Natural and of course, all their products. Anabil won me over in minutes. I asked him what made him start Choice Pork Natural and his answer was three magical words "I love pork". If you know me at all you know that these words are absolute music to my ears. It's why I started The Porkaholics on Facebook!

Anabil is one of three friends who got together to start Arohan Foods and launch Choice Pork Natural as a brand. He told me how they were particular about showcasing pork as the star and insisted on having the word pork in the brand name itself. There's no doubt that pork is not exactly the most popular meat in India and there are many biases against it.

Many of us also have misconceptions about the NE, it's people, the cultures, and how enterprising (or not) they are. Anabil and his partners wanted to change a few of these misconceptions and decided to set up a company that would sell its products across the nation - products from the NE, a brand from the NE, with ingredients sourced mainly from the NE, manufactured in the NE.

And thus, around three years ago they started Choice Pork Natural which is now available in Delhi, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Bangalore, and of course all over the NE states. I was really happy to find out that Hypercity stocks their products because that means I have easy access. They are also in talks with an online grocery chain so you might soon be able to order their products online.

As we talked about the company a parade of the products began to appear in front of us. Sausages, frankfurters, salami, mortadella, bacon, the parade was endless! And it was delicious.

Here are pictures of some of the stuff we ate-

Juicy porky sausages flavoured with allspice berries. These were just fantastic. Since these came out towards the beginning I greedily ate two forgetting about the goodies that were going to follow! We also had garlic flavoured sausages which we forgot to take pictures of.

The hubby loved these, I wasn't so impressed. But that's a personal taste thing and I have to say these were juicy and full of pork.

Lightly grilled slices of salami with bits of fat scattered in each slice making them juicy and delicious. Choice Pork Natural products are made with absolutely no fillers - there's pork meat, fat, salt and spices. No soya. And believe me, we could taste the difference.

As you can see there's a nice balance of meat and fat on these bacon strips. Compared to the bacon I've eaten so far I found these to be very low in salt. Now o one hand low salt is an excellent thing, but since we associate a salty taste with bacon I was a little confused with this one. It's excellent quality bacon though and I would love to make my bacon jam with this.

This belly roll was made on trial and launched only locally in Guwahati during Christmas and New Year. It was the best Indian processed pork product I have ever eaten and I cannot wait for it to be launched properly all over India. Can you just imagine these with a couple of fried eggs and toast for breakfast? Heaven on a plate!

Mortadella with pistachios! I love this combination and I'm really glad that there's an Indian company making it and doing a good job of it too!

You can see more about the products and where they're available on the Choice Pork Natural Facebook page

The visit to the Choice Pork Natural office in Guwahati was one of the highlights of our trip to Assam. We had plans of going out for lunch but after this smorgasbord of delicious pork in every avatar we just rolled back home!

Bacon Rolls

Pull apart rolls are really easy to make and I like to make them as often as I can. It's good practice and one can variate the fillings without limit. My love for bacon is well known and it seemed to me that long strips of bacon tucked into the rolls would be simply fabulous. They were.

I made the bread dough using this recipe. 

Once the dough has proved the first time roll it out and then arrange your strips of bacon on it. Be sure to cook the bacon strips first. I left them slightly soft so they would roll with the dough easily. I had planned to grate cheese over the bacon strips but I forgot. I think cheese will be awesome in there so I'll remember it for sure the next time. 

Roll up the dough along the length of the oval so you get a nice long cylinder which will yield more rolls once you cut it.

Once you've made a neat cylinder cut into portions with a sharp bladed knife or a dough scraper. Don't use something with a serrated blade. You want clean cuts that will go through smoothly without snagging on the dough. 

Arrange the cut rolls in a baking tin leaving space for the rolls to rise. Leave them to rise in a warm place for around 20 to 25 minutes. Once they look like they're pushing each other vying for space they're ready to be baked :)

Pop the rolls into a pre heated oven and bake at 200C for around 20 minutes. Keep an eye on them - once the tops are nice and golden brown they're ready. Brush the hot rolls with butter and serve them warm from the oven with a hearty soup, a casserole, or just enjoy them on their own.

Marathon Bloggers Project 52

Chorizo Oats

Marriages might be made in heaven but some blessed pairs are made in my kitchen. Like chorizo oats. I am in love with oats and have been making a savoury oats porridge with various vegetables and spices several times a week, and I'm always looking for new inspired combinations. Adding spicy flavourful chorizo to the mix has been one of the best ideas I've had in a long, long time!

Chorizo Oats

Quaker Oats 3/4 cup
100gm chorizo, peeled from the casing and crumbled
1 small potato cubed or cut into sticks
1 small onion, thickly sliced
1 small carrot cut into discs
1 handful frozen green peas
half a green capsicum sliced into 2inch pieces or 1 bhavnagari chilli chopped
3 tbsp tomato puree or ketchup
salt
turmeric
jeera/cumin powder
dry chilli powder or paprika powder
oil

Heat a little oil in a wok or kadai and put in the carrots and potatoes. Fry on a medium flame so that they cook through. Add the chorizo and mix well breaking up the meat as you go. Cover the wok and let it cook for a few minutes. Now add the remaining vegetables, stir it all well and leave it alone for another five minutes or so. Add salt and the spices too.

Once the carrots and potatoes look nearly done sprinkle the oats on the vegetables and mix well. Let it roast a bit for a couple of minutes and then pour in enough water to cover everything under a centimetre or so of water. Stir and add the tomato puree or ketchup, whichever you are using. Let it come to a boil and then simmer till the water is absorbed and the oats are cooked through.

I reserved a few pieces of the chorizo once they were fried, to garnish the dish. The chorizo tends to disintegrate and blend into the dish so the reserved pieces are nice to bite into as you enjoy the oats.

Marathon Bloggers Project 52

Dohneiiong - Pork with Black Sesame, from Meghalaya

A few days ago I went for an incredible lunch that featured the cuisines of the north eastern states of India. From aperitif to dessert, it was a wonderful gastronomic tour of seven states and I learned a lot about the cuisines of this region. I think the biggest lesson I took home with me is the fact that momos are not from the North East. They're from Tibet and Nepal, although they have penetrated into many regions of India, not just the NE.

Given my love for pork, I was quite thrilled to see a dish featuring my favourite meat on the menu. That wasn't all - we also saw a demonstration of how this dish was made. The recipe was shared with us and I am going to share it here on my blog for one very simple reason - you will find the ingredients anywhere and quite easily. There's no exotic ingredient that you have to beg your friends to bring back from their home in the NE.

Dohneiiong - Pork with Black Sesame by Gitika Saikia

Half kilo pork belly
100 gms black sesame seeds. Roasted and powdered
1 onion, sliced
2 tbsp fresh ginger garlic paste
3 - 4 green chillies, chopped
1 tbsp red chilli paste
1 tbsp turmeric powder
mustard oil
salt

Boil the pork belly and cut into largeish cubes.

In a thick bottomed pot or casserole dish heat a few tablespoons of mustard oil till it smokes. Reduce the heat and chuck in the sliced onions. Let it fry stirring it once in a while. Add the ginger garlic paste and fry for another couple of minutes. Once the onions have changed colour add the pork cubes, chillies and the chilli paste. Stir well and mix properly. Add the salt and the turmeric too. Saute on a medium flame and let the pork cook for a good 10 - 15 minutes.

Mix a little water into the sesame powder to make a thin slurry. Pour this into the pork. Water is added to the sesame powder to make it easier to mix it into the pork, so don't use too much water. Now cover the pot and let it cook for another 5 minutes or so. Give it a stir once in a while and it will be ready to serve as soon as the water is gone and the oil is released.

This tastes best served with sticky rice but you can enjoy it with whatever rice you make at home.

Marathon Bloggers Project 52

Chicken Casserole with Pork Sausages

There are some days when nothing seems appealing from what's on the dinner menu and cooking seems tedious. Today was one such day that was spent largely catching up with sundry chores and dealing with a few things from the larger picture that is life. I was tired. I needed comfort. I wanted it easy for a little while. And I wanted to eat something nice. I press ganged the hubby and the mother into helping and cooked a simple casserole that was warm and comforting, just what I needed.

I had rooted through the freezer and removed the remaining fat and juicy pork sausages that a friend brought for us all the way from Bangalore. (Another friend has since brought us more, and that is waiting to be collected) These sausages are great in a stew or casserole and that's what I planned to make. However there were just 5 sausages left and on their own they wouldn't be enough. The hubby went out and bought chicken, and some lovely fresh ladi pav from the local bakery.

I also rooted around in my pantry cupboard and fished out a packet of casserole seasoning that my friend had sent from London. The hubby and the mother peeled and chopped potatoes, sliced onions, peeled garlic, and chopped celery. Once the prep was done it was super easy.

Chicken Casserole with Pork Sausages 

1 whole chicken, cut into pieces
5 or 6 fat spiced pork sausages, like English breakfast sausages
2 large onions, thickly sliced
2 -3 potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
8-10 cloves of garlic
2 tablesoons chopped fresh celery, stem and leaves
1 sachet Colman's Season and Shake Pork Casserole spice mix
olive oil
salt

Heat a stove top casserole dish and pour in a slug of olive oil. Place the sausages and cook for a few minutes till they turn brown. Don't worry if the sausages split. Remove to a dish leaving the oil and juices in the pan. Now in the same pan put in the chicken pieces. Drop in the leg pieces and the bony bits first. Braise for a bit till the chicken starts to brown.

Add in the onions, celery and the garlic. Stir for a few minutes and then add the remaining chicken pieces (mainly the meaty breast pieces). Braise further till the chicken turns opaque. Open the seasoning sachet and sprinkle it all over the chicken and onions. Stir and mix well. Now add the potatoes and cook for a further few minutes.

Pour in enough water to cover the chicken pieces completely. Add the sausages and bring to a boil. Simmer and cook covered till the potatoes are cooked through. The spice mix will also thicken the resulting gravy. Add a little salt only if required.

The casserole is ready once the chicken and the potatoes are cooked. Serve hot with fresh bread.

If you don't have the spice sachet you can still make a very good casserole. Use a tablespoon or so of mixed dried herbs instead, along with a stock cube. Add pepper too. Thicken the gravy with some flour.

Use more veggies if you like. Root vegetables will work very well here, as will mushrooms. Make a pot full and enjoy it with fresh dinner rolls, ladi pav, or even regular sliced white bread.

We sat at the table, all three of us, and ate a family dinner - a rarity in my house! 

More on Internet Friends and Gratitude...An evening with Finely Chopped

Just yesterday I wrote about a Facebook friend and his generosity to us. K and I have been fortunate to have quite a few Internet friends, some of whom are in Mumbai and we meet them quite frequently. Among these are Kalyan Karmakar of Finely Chopped fame and his wife Kainaz.

Not only do we share an interest in blogging but we also are passionate about food, and that's what makes us meet over and over again, exploring new tastes or simply going back to old favourites like Bohri Mohalla, and Ling's, to name just a couple. And sometimes we meet at home.

Yesterday we met at Kalyan's home for dinner. There wasn't any occasion but there was a very good reason. They'd just returned form a holiday in Prague and there was something they wanted to share with a bunch of freinds. Smoked pork sausages stuffed with bacon! Of course we went!

What a lovely evening it was... there were chicken kebabs made by their cook (we all agreed she should start a kebab and paratha stall somewhere - the kebabs were that good!), potato wafers that are irresistible as usual, and a simple dinner of those sausages chopped and fried with potatoes, and Kalyan's Spaghetti with Pesto and Bacon which he has now refined to a sublime, delicious dish.

I was, for once, too taken up with the food to take photographs so I am sharing Kalyan's photos here.

Photo credit: Kalyan Karmakar

Photo credit: Kalyan Karmakar

Photo credit: Kalyan Karmakar

You will find Kalyan's recipe for pesto here.

As we drove home late in the night the hubby and I mused over how lucky we were to have met warm hearted and generous folk like them who were so eager to share goodies bought from lands afar - only because they knew we would really enjoy them.

Food can be magical and for us, it is food that has found us some incredible friends.

Marathon Bloggers Project 52

Some Gratitude and a Tray of Chorizo and Onion Pull Apart Rolls

Sometimes when we meet people we have no idea where this first encounter might lead. I've had the good fortune of meeting many generous people, some of whom I haven't met in person but on the Internet - mainly on Facebook. Among these people is Manish, a big hearted fan of food who has made it his mission to ply K and me with goodies whenever he finds someone willing to carry his gifts from London all the way to Mumbai.

Among the many goodies Manish has sent us are some incredibly flavourful Spanish Chorizo sausages. K and I love pork in all its forms and quite high on my list are chorizo sausages, be they the mildly spiced European ones or the rambunctious, tongue tingling, Goan ones. Somehow I manage to always have one version or the other in my fridge.

K loves bread and I try to bake some at home whenever I can. I'd just made a batch of pull apart rolls with a Pesto Rosso filling yesterday and looking at the rich red paste I suddenly thought these rolls would be quite fabulous if I stuffed them with some chorizo and grilled onions. I couldn't wait for today to begin.

We chopped up an entire Spanish chorizo into smallish pieces.

Then K rendered the fat off the chorizo in a non stick pan. The Spanish ones do not release great amounts of fat like the Goan ones so we didn't need to drain off any fat. We added sliced onions to the pan and let them grill nicely along with the chorizo till the onions began to brown. We spread the cooked chorizo and onion mixture on a plate to cool.

And then I used this mixture to stuff my Chorizo and Onion Pull Apart Rolls.

Here's the recipe for the basic pull apart roll. You can fool around with the fillings as you like. This bread is ridiculously easy to bake and so far I have done them with green pesto and cheese, pesto rosso, marmalade, Nutella and now, with chorizo :)

As we bit into the soft rolls with fat morsels of chorizo and the incredibly flavourful onions I gave thanks to the forces that be for giving me friends like Manish.

Marathon Bloggers Project 52