Coorg Pandi Curry

Ingredients

• 1 kg pork belly or shoulder with the fat on, cut into 3 cm cubes
• 12 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2.5 cm piece of ginger, chopped
• 4 green chillies, chopped
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 3 sprigs curry leaves
• 1 tsp red chilli powder
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 240 ml water
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 tbsp kachampuli, or 2 tbsp thick tamarind extract with 1 tsp dark vinegar
• 2 tbsp coriander seeds
• 1 1/2 tbsp cumin seeds
• 15 black peppercorns
• 6 cloves
• 2.5 cm cinnamon stick
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 12 fenugreek seeds
• 12 curry leaves, for the powder

Before you cook

• Cut the pork into 3 cm cubes, keeping the fat and skin on, since the curry cooks in that fat.
• Chop the garlic, ginger and green chillies and slice the onion.

Steps

1. Dry roast the coriander seeds in a small pan over low heat for two minutes, until they smell warm and nutty, then tip them onto a plate.
2. Roast the cumin, peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon, mustard seeds, fenugreek and curry leaves one after another in the same pan, adding each to the plate as it is done.
3. Cool the spices completely, then grind them to a fine powder.
4. Heat the coconut oil in a heavy pot and add the pork with the garlic, ginger, green chillies, onion, curry leaves, chilli powder, turmeric and salt.
5. Turn the pork over high heat for five minutes, until the pieces are sealed and the fat begins to run.
6. Add 240 ml of water, cover the pot and cook on low heat for fifty minutes, until the pork breaks under a spoon.
7. Uncover, turn the heat up and boil the liquid away for ten minutes, until the pork is frying in its own fat.
8. Sprinkle in three tablespoons of the roasted spice powder and stir it through.
9. Roast the pork in the spices for five minutes, until it darkens and the powder smells cooked rather than raw.
10. Spoon in the kachampuli and stir well.
11. Cook for two minutes more, then taste and adjust the salt and sourness.
12. Serve hot with kadambuttu or steamed rice.