How to make a Sri Lankan black pork curry
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 75 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 people
- Category: Main Dish
Ingredients
- 1 kg pork belly (without skin)
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 tbsp coriander seeds
- 1 tbsp cumin seeds
- 1 tbsp mustard seeds
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 1/4 tsp ground turmeric
- 5 cardamom pods
- 5 cloves
- 2 cms cinnamon stick
- 20 curry leaves
- 2 fresh green chillis (sliced lengthways and deseeded)
- 2 yellow onions (chopped)
- 2 cms fresh ginger (finely chopped)
- 4 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
- 100 mls tamarind water
- 200 mls coconut milk
- 300 mls water
Instructions
- slice the pork belly into 1cm pieces.
- Heat the oil in a large solid bottom saucepan or cast iron casserole dish.
- Start to brown the pork. You’ll need to do this in batches and set aside.
- Take the saucepan or casserole dish of the heat. Don’t discard the oil or meat juices, you’ll use this later.
- Now make the curry powder. In a small frying pan add the coriander, cumin, mustard and fennel seeds and ground turmeric.
- Gently heat the pan, and wait for the seeds to start popping and start to brown.
- Pour the seeds into a pestle and mortar crush the spices into a fine powder and set aside.
- Re-heat the oil in the saucepan or casserole dish.
- Add the cloves, cardamon, cinnamon, curry leaves and chilli and fry for two minutes.
- Add the onions, stir and allow them to gently brown.
- Now add the garlic and ginger, and let them cook for another two minutes. Keep the heat low so the ingredients and spices don’t burn.
- Add your freshly made curry powder followed by the pork, stir until all the pork is coated in freshly ground spices.
- Pour in the tamerind water, followed by the coconut milk and water. Mix thoroughly.
- Raise the heat a little, with the lid cover the saucepan or casserole dish and cook for an hour.
- Keep checking the curry, stirring occasionally. Let the sauce reduce. If the sauce starts to dry out, turn down heat and add a little water.
Cook until you have a thick sauce, the colour of burnt sugar, with a richly spiced and deeply delicious consistency.
- Dish up immediately with rice and a selection of sides.
Notes
I make this curry in a well used and truly beloved Le Creuset high sided casserole dish – this works fine. Otherwise, a deep, solid bottomed saucepan is just as good.