Recipe contributed by: Subhasree Basu
Subhasree is a media professional who turned into a foodpreneur because she simply loves good food. She is the owner of Hungry Cat Kitchen and has carved a niche for herself in Mumbai for her signature pork dishes.
P for Pork Sambhari by Subhasree Basu
This dish TOTALLY doesn’t exist. But since I dream of pork morning, noon and night I just made it up and it tastes delish, so here we are!
When my friend-cum-business-partner Perzen asked me to pick an alphabet for the AtoZ of Parsi Food Challenge I went completely blank. I have never cooked Parsi, not seriously in my life. But I was pretty sure I wanted to make a pork dish and that’s when lightning struck. How can I best combine the two.. Pork and Parsi?
Growing up in Calcutta, the word sambhar was only associated with the lipsmacking sour dal accompanying dosas. But after I started cooking by myself in Mumbai I realized that sambhar is a generic term for a powder made of mixed spices. And then I discovered the Parsi sambhar masala about a decade later. This masala, available commercially in some shops in Mumbai is fragrant with sharp notes of garam masala.
Sambhari Pork Chops, Puri & Chettinad style Pork
Following is my take on a pork rib recipe with Parsi sambhar. Eat it as an appetizer or with potato mash or a salad. You can also add a portion of cashew rice or coconut rice to make a complete meal of it.
So go ahead and cook this super easy dish at home and enthrall your guests. It has some serious punch and a whole lot of familiar flavors but it will also leave everyone guessing what went into it!
Bawi Bride’s Note:
If Parsi Sambhar masala is commercially not available near you, you can make it at home too using this awesome recipe from a fellow blogger, Cheeky Chilli who has done a lovely post analysing what goes into it and how it is different from all our other masala’s.
Pork Sambhari
Ingredients
- 6 medium sized pork ribs/chops
- 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
- 1 tsp whole cumin
- 1 tsp white sesame seeds
- 2 dry Kashmiri chillies
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 2 fat cloves garlic, peeled, whole
- 1 sprig curry leaves, mature leaves preferably
- 2 -3 tablespoon tamarind pulp, depending on taste
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp oil
- 2 tsp Parsi Sambhar Masala
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Wash and pat dry the pork ribs.
- Apply salt and fry in a tsp of oil till both sides are slightly browned.
- Pressure cook with a cup of water and ginger-garlic paste for about 20 mins (put it on simmer after 2 whistles). Depending on your meat-to-fat ratio the cooking time may differ. Cook till it is of the consistency you like. Let it cool on its own before you open the lid of the cooker.
- Separately dry roast the cumin, sesame seeds, chillies, pepper, whole garlic cloves and curry leaves in a frying pan making sure they don’t burn.
- Cool slightly, then grind it to a paste with the tamarind pulp, sugar and Parsi sambhar masala. Add a little water to make it saucy.
- Add the ribs along with the stock from the cooker into a frying pan, add the masala paste and cook on high heat till the sauce is thick & sticky, about 3 mins.
- Garnish with fried curry leaves if you want.
This post is part of my ongoing series on the blog, the A to Z of Parsi Food which has been curated in collaboration with Parsi food enthusiasts globally. For more interesting recipes follow the hashtag #AtoZChallenge mentioned below.