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The Best Ever Mangalorean Pork Curry | Kudla Panji Kari on notjustspice.com

The Best Ever Mangalorean Pork Curry | Kudla Panji Kari | No-Oil South Indian Pork Curry

This distinctively piquant Mangalorean pork curry, otherwise known as Kudla panji kari will capture your heart, tongue and stomach from the very first bite!

Course Main Course
Cuisine East Indian, Indian, Mangalorean
Keyword Mangalorean Pork Curry, Pork Curry, Pork Gravy

Ingredients

  • 1 kilo pork, small pieces, 70:30 = meat:fat (2.2 lbs) pork
  • 6 medium onions julienned
  • 4-5 bulbs garlic peeled and julienned
  • 3 knobs ginger peeled and julienned
  • 3-4 green chillies slit in half
  • 10-12 peppercorns
  • 4 cloves
  • 1- inch piece cinnamon
  • 1 cardamon
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 and 1/2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar (coconut vinegar or cider vinegar)
  • 10 Byadgi chillies soaked in water for about 15 minutes, after you deseed them — break them in half and tap them lightly on a hard flat surface
  • 6 tablespoons coriander seeds
  • 4 tablespoons poppy seeds
  • 4 tablespoons cumin seeds
  • 2-3 teaspoons mustard seeds
  • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
  • 1 and 1/4 teaspoons salt (add more, according to your taste)

Instructions

  1. Grind together the Byadgi chillies (drained), coriander seeds, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, and poppy seeds. Don’t add water or they won’t grind properly. You should end up with a thick red fragrant masala paste. You could add a teaspoon of water towards the end to get it moving.

  2. Add vinegar to this masala paste and set aside for 15 minutes. You could get all this ready first and then chop up the ginger, garlic and onions, too.

  3. In a heavy-bottomed vessel or a big pressure cooker add the remaining ingredients: the pork, onions, garlic, ginger, green chillies, peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon, cardamon, turmeric powder, bay leaf, salt, and the masala paste, and mix them gently.

  4. Place it on low-medium heat and cover it and let it all cook.

  5. Turn off the heat after about three whistles. If you’re not using a pressure cooker, ensure that the pork is well cooked — the meat should give way easily when prodded with a fork.

  6. Let it rest for about 20 minutes before you open the cooker. Give it a good stir and add more salt if you want.
  7. Serving: You could eat it once you open the cooker, although it tastes best when eaten the next day. It is best eaten with neer dosa (recipe coming soon!) or sannas. Or with pão (bread roll, also know as pav) or bread if you prefer them, or have no access to neer dosas or sannas.

Notes

You must’ve noticed the absence of oil and water in this recipe. Keep it that way. It’s meant to be thick, and it has been carefully constructed that way. Don’t add water or oil at any time! Also, it’s important that you use only Byadgi chillies and not any other kind of dry red chilly. When in a pinch, add a variety of your choice that add more colour than heat.

Do not grind the onion, garlic, green chillies and ginger. I’ve mentioned why earlier. If you want to make half the amount, halve everything, and use a small cardamon, and a smaller bay leaf.

If you are using lean meat, by all means add some oil to the Mangalorean Pork Curry.

Storage: If you’re making the Mangalorean pork curry in the evening, you could keep it outside for the night — you don't have to store it in the fridge. You see, when you let the curry rest for some time, all the oil rises to the top, and this forms a barrier between the curry and the air, so it wont get spoilt. So don’t pour out the film of oil that settles on top — when you know you're going to keep it for a while, that is.