How to Cook Pandhi Curry With Raita
Serves: 4
Preparation time: overnight
Cooking time: 2 hours
Ingredients needed to make Pandhi Curry With Raita:
For the pork:
- 1 ½ lb pork shoulder, cubed
- 10 kokum pods, immersed in 4 lf oz water to unstiffen
- 2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 4 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 2 star anise
- 3 bay leaves
- 10 black peppercorns
- 2 tsp salt
For the stir fry:
- 10 curry leaves
- 2 red onions, sliced
- 4 dried red chillies
- 2 fresh green chillies, split
- Juice of ½ lime
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
For the raita:
- 7 oz greek-style yogurt
- 2 heads baby fennel, finely chopped
- 1 apple, cored and finely chopped
- 1 tso fennel seeds, toasted
- 1 tsp caster sugar
- ½ tsp salt
Cooking instructions for Pandhi Curry With Raita:
- Toss the diced pork into a large dish and stir in the ginger-garlic paste.
- Toss in rest of the pork ingredients until well combined, put a lid on and leave it in the fridge overnight to marinate.
- Tip the contents of the dish into a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan and fill it up with water until the meat remains submerged in the liquid.
- Cover and cook over slow flame for 1 ½ hours or until the meat is cooked through and tends to fall apart on touch.
- While the pork cooks, make the raita by folding in all its ingredients into the yogurt until they are coated well and are distributed evenly throughout the mixture.
- Let it chill in the refrigerator until required.
- For the stir fry, add a lashing of oil in a wok and heat it over high flame until it starts smoking.
- Dump the dried red chillies in it and stir fry them until they are charred and gives out a pungent aroma.
- Stir in the curry leaves and continue to sauté for half a minute or until they turn fragrant and crispy.
- Toss the sliced onions as well as the green chilies into the sautéed mixture and stir fry further for a couple of minutes or until they soften.
- Drain the pork into a bowl and set the strained cooking liquid aside until required.
- Stir in the cooked pork and continue to stir fry for 3-4 minutes or until they turn golden brown; splash a tbsp of cooking liquid into the mixture in case it tends to dry up.
- Adjust the seasonings and add a splash of lime juice.
- Give it a nice stir to mix well and divide it between four serving platters.
- Serve hot alongside raita.
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
