If you ask me to cook for you and expect to be satisfied, you better eat pork. If you don’t eat that delicious type of meat, your tastebuds are missing out. Thanks to the Tibetan influence on food around the streets of Kolkata, I got introduced to pork. It wasn’t love at first sight, but the more dishes I tried, the better I could appreciate the flavor of the meat. In the last two years of my college life, I would check out all the porky places I heard good reviews about – be it a shack selling pork momos or a high-end place serving soft, caramelized pork belly. When I started cooking, I remember going to Kalman’s in New Market and bringing back nearly a pound of meat, much to the reluctance of my grandmother. The first attempt at Pork Vindaloo was only satisfactory, but 2 years later, my roommates can vouch for my pork dishes.
Ask anybody who loves pork what their favorite part is, and the unanimous answer is pork belly (bacon doesn’t count)! So every opportunity that I get to eat those fatty pieces of pork, I indulge – royally. I chanced upon this recipe of Pork with Dried Red Chillies while looking for Northeast Indian pork recipes on Youtube. Since I love to read more about regional dishes and find authentic recipes to prepare them, the find was followed by some frantic Google searches.
Phaksha Paa is a traditional Bhutanese dish. Phaksha is Pork in Dzongkha and Paa refers to a meat dish cooked with vegetables and chilies (both fresh and dried). This is not the traditional version of it, since I added no vegetables whatsoever, but the commonly used ones are radish, spinach, cabbage, potatoes, etc. This is also a much simpler and drier version, that I adapted from Eat Your Kappa, so if you wish to scan the internet more on the dish, you’ll find fuller plates with more steps in the recipes. But hey, simplicity is the ultimate sophistication!
Note: The instructions may seem to consists of unusually long sentences if you’re one of those who just skim articles to find the actual recipe (I am one of those too). But have a little patience, and I promise to humour you! In case you’re still not convinced, the words in bold should be an easy way out.
INGREDIENTS:
- 500g Pork, cut into pieces (Pork Belly preferable)
- 1 large onions, sliced
- Ginger, grated ~ 1 inch
- 7-8 Dried Red chillies
- 2 tsp Chilli powder
- Salt
- Vegetables (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS:
Step 1
Pork belly is a tough muscle that needs a long time in low heat to become tender. If you have a pork with skin on and you see small hairs, you gotta follow some extra steps. You can either attack it directly and scrape it off with the backside of a knife (or shave it, or burn with a blowtorch) or you can boil the pork belly for 10-15 minutes to soften it before proceeding to remove the hair. Boiling is also an essential step in the recipe. The idea is that boiling the pork belly not only renders out some of the fat, it also tenderizes the meat.
So the first step is boiling the pork in water with a pinch of salt. In many other recipes, adding different things to this water can result in a beautiful broth and beautiful flavour within the pork. But this is a simple recipe and I would try to stay as authentic as possible. Boil for around 30-45 mins, depending on what texture of the pork you prefer. I generally opt for a 50:50 fat to meat ratio and the timing is in accordance with that. If you have more meat, then go for a lower timing.
Step 2
To reiterate, it’s important that you have a good amount of fat in your pork since we won’t be using any additional oil. Drain 95% of the water from the pork and transfer it to the pan. You can use a steel pan, but since pork belly is sticky, it might be more difficult to toss and turn it around.
Time to add one of the two main ingredients – the dried red chillies and the chilli powder. Once mixed, you need to cover it with a lid and let the chillies soften.
Step 3
You can add any vegetables you want. The video from which I borrowed this recipe adds potatoes. Since potatoes take a longer time to cook, you need to add them early on. But if you are adding say, tomatoes, add them at a later stage since they can get mushed very quickly. The traditional one uses radish and bok choy primarily. Cover with a lid and let those cook.
Step 4
Once the chillies are soft, add the ginger. You can use a paste, but I recommend using freshly grated ginger to incorporate that beautiful aroma and flavor. Be generous with the amount – the ginger is the other predominant flavor in the dish. If your pork starts drying up too much, add in some water.
Step 5
Add the onions last, so they don’t get lost amidst the pork and you can still feel a little of the crunch as you take a spoonful. Cover and cook for around 5 minutes after you add the onion.
Step 6
Give a final stir and invite your friends to gorge on, even as they complain about the spice/hotness level of this Pork with Red Chillies.
