Coorg Pandi (Pork) Curry

I’d read this recipe many a times but was petrified to attempt it. Reason being, while I’ve cooked and eaten various meats, and offal, all my life, but when it comes to pork, I’d only eaten lots of it. I’d never cooked pork at home. Well, that was about to change coz when a friend mentioned he was visiting the local pork shop, I (bravely) told him to buy some for me. 😊 Once the oink reached me, there was no going back. Now, I had to cook it 😉 

Question: What recipe should I select for my first oink cook?
Fortunately, that decision was a no-brainer. I was extremely inspired by a very dear friend (Keroo) who had attempted a different Coorg Pandi recipe (via You Tube). Another reason being, I had sourced a bottle of Kachampuli Vinegar and was very eager to use it. 😊

This dish is nothing great to look at coz the Curry turns a dark, dark colour (nearly black) but flavour-wise, it’s a frikkin’ bomb! The kind that pleasantly explodes on your palate. 😊

Ingredients:

1½ kilo boneless pork chunks (with fat), wash and cut into 1½ inch cubes
2½ teaspoon turmeric powder
3 heaped teaspoons red chili powder (I used deghi mirch)
7 medium onions, peel and cut into large cubes
11 green chilies, break into 1-inch pieces (I used the long variety that’s not too spicy)
1½ pod garlic, peeled (weight AFTER peeling – 30 grams)
9 tablespoons Pandi Masala (recipe posted below)
1½ tablespoons Kachampuli Vinegar, or to taste
Salt to taste

Method: 

1. Marinate the pork chunks in turmeric powder, chili powder and salt to taste. Give it a good mix. Keep aside for 30 minutes.
   
   
   
   
   
2. Grind the onions, green chilies, and garlic into a smooth paste. Do NOT add any water to grind this as the onions will release quite a bit of its own. (In case you feel the need to add water, please add merely 1 tablespoon, no more) 
   
   
   
   
   
3. Add the marinated pork to a pressure cooker, add 3 tablespoons water (please do NOT add more) and pressure cook for 6 whistles. (IMPORTANT: Immediately lower the flame after the first whistle, and continue cooking on low flame for the next 5 whistles) 
   
   
   
   
   
4. Shut the stove after 6 whistles. Allow the pressure to release by itself and when the cooker has cooled down, open and remove the cooked pork into a large (non-reactive) vessel. (I used a large non-stick pan) 
   
   
   
   
   
5. Put the oink back on heat and when it begins to bubble, add the ground onion paste and give it a good stir and cook for 2 to 3 minutes on medium flame. 
6. Add the Pandi Masala and stir well to ensure the masala is well mixed into the bubbling gravy. 
   
   
   
   
   
7. Continue simmering for 3 to 4 minutes. 
   
   
   
   
8. Add Kachampuli vinegar. Give the gravy a good stir and simmer for 2 more minutes. 
   
   
   
   
9. Adjust seasoning and simmer for a minute more if adjusted. 
10. Serve with pau or soft steamed rice. (I preferred it with soft steamed rice)
    
    
    
    
    

Pandi Masala

11 tablespoons coriander seeds
4½ tablespoons cumin seeds
5 Byadagi Chilies
16 dry red Guntur chilies
1½ teaspoons mustard seeds
3 tablespoons black peppercorns
½ inch cinnamon
2 cloves
A handful of curry leaves
6 grains of fenugreek seeds

Before Roasting

Method: 

1. Roast each of the Pandi masala ingredients, SEPARATELY, until well roasted and quite dark in colour. Please roast each ingredient carefully, tossing them around all the time to ensure they do not burn. NOTE: Roast the curry leaves and chilies well, but not to a very dark shade. Just roast them well, until crisp.
   
   

   

   After Roasting 

   
   
2. As each ingredient gets roasted, keep adding them into a large plate to cool down. 
   
   
   
   
   
3. When the roasted ingredients are cool, dry grind them, together, into a powder. 
   
   
   
   
   
4. This will give you approximately 120-125 grams of Pandi Masala. Cool and store in an air-tight bottle. 
   
   
   
   
   
   

Chef Notes: 

1. Please note, Guntur chilies are spicy. Adjust the quantity of ground Pandi masala that you add to the gravy as per your tolerance. For us, this proportion was perfect! The final result was spicy and tangy without any of us having to use an ice pack the next morning. *evil grin* If you prefer a very spicy blend of curry, I suggest you increase the quantity of Guntur chilies. 
2. Please do NOT use lean pork for this recipe. 
3. The pork is cooked (in the cooker) on low heat, hence, please do NOT cut the pork smaller than 1½ inch chunks as chances are, the meat will disintegrate. Bigger chunks will be fine but do NOT cut the oink into tiny pieces. 
4. When you empty out the pork from the cooker, please remember to use a non-reactive vessel like enamel, stainless steel, or non-stick, as you will be adding vinegar to the gravy. 
   
5. You may take this recipe a wee bit further by sautéing the meat to a dry consistency, thereby turning the curry into a dry version of Coorg Pandi Fry. This can be served as a starter over crackers, as a filling for puff pastry or in vol-au-vent cases as party finger-food. 
   
   
   
   
   

   

   Coorg Pandi Fry (The Dry Version)

   
   
6. If 1½ kilo pork is a bit much for you, halve the recipe. 
7. I had sourced Kachampuli Vinegar (from Amazon) but if it is unavailable to you, you may substitute it with tamarind paste. The flavour will differ but the recipe will work with that, too. Also, adjust the tanginess to suit your preference. For me/us, 1½ tablespoons of Kachampuli was perfect. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
8. I checked out many recipes on You Tube, and finally homed in on two that I liked. While I mainly stuck to the ingredients and method used in Sidhartha’s Kitchen, the Pandi masala is a combination of Sidhartha’s recipe and another recipe. For the life of me I cannot find the second recipe, nor do I remember the name of the channel. Apologies for that! 
9. You may share the direct blog-link of the recipe/s but do NOT publish my recipes, and/or my photographs, on any blogsite or website without my explicit consent or attempt to pass off my recipe/s as your own. You will be held accountable for plagiarism.
   
   Some more photographs:
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
                                                                 Whole Spices Before Roasting
   
   
   
                                                                    Whole Spices After Roasting
   
   
   

Kando Papeto

Decades ago, my dad spoke of a time when his mum would cook potatoes in ginger-garlic for him. That is why I whipped up this recipe for him. Little did I know at the time, it would go on to be a family favourite, especially for my dad. He loves all kinds of potato sabzi (vegetable), but this one remains his all-time favourite. A note to the Parsi clan.. This recipe is NOT to be confused with the Parsi Kharo Papeto. The flavour profile of this potato recipe differs from Kharo Papeto. 

The literal and simple translation of ‘Kando Papeto’ means, ‘Onion Potato’. No fancy-schmancy name needed for this beaut! 😉 

The onions, the coarsely ground pepper and the adu-lasan (ginger-garlic) are the main ingredients that lend flavour to this dish. Do not toy with the recipe by adding extra spices, or herbs, coz then, you will not be making Kando Papeto, you will be making something entirely different. Just this once, stick to the recipe. No toying! Pretty please!

This one’s for dad! ❤️

Ingredients:

500 grams potatoes, boiled, peeled, and cut into 1-inch cubes
4 to 5 large onions, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1½ teaspoon coarsely ground black peppercorns
2 heaped teaspoons ginger-garlic paste
Salt to taste
4 tablespoons oil

Method:

1. Heat oil in a kadhai/wok. Add cumin seeds and allow to splutter.
   
   
   
   
   
2. Add sliced onions and fry until the edges begin to turn brown. 
   
   
   
   
   
3. Add coarsely ground black peppercorns and sauté for a few seconds. 
   
   
   
   
   
4. Add ginger-garlic paste and salt, turn the flame to MEDIUM-LOW and sauté until the ginger-garlic cooks and releases a lovely aroma. Do NOT allow the ginger-garlic paste to burn. 
   
   
   
   
   
5. Add the cubed potatoes and toss it well, but gently, with the onions. 
   
   
   
   
   
6. Once the potatoes are well tossed with the onions, turn the flame to LOW, cover the kadhai/wok and allow the potatoes to cook for 5 minutes. 
   
   
   
   
   
7. At the 5-minute mark, open the lid, give the potatoes yet another gentle toss.
   
   
   
   
   
8. Check seasoning. Adjust if required. Cover, and cook on LOW flame for two more minutes. Serve! 
   
   
   
   
   

Chef Notes:

1. Please do not cut the potatoes larger than 1-inch pieces as you need them to absorb the flavour of the added pepper and ginger-garlic paste. Feel free to cut them smaller, if you are sure you won’t mash them when you toss them. 
2. To ensure the potatoes don’t turn to mash when you cut them, after peeling, store them in the fridge for an hour or two. I usually boil potatoes a day ahead and store them in the fridge. This ensures I get perfect cubes when I cut them. 
3. The reason I suggest you begin adding the coarsely ground pepper when the edges of the onions begin to turn brown, is because the onions will continue to fry to a deeper colour as you continue sautéing the pepper and ginger-garlic. By the time, the ginger-garlic cooks, the onions will have achieved the correct colour and consistency, half fried brown, and, the other half pinkish/translucent (as seen in the photograph). 
4. Please feel free to increase or decrease the pepper and ginger-garlic paste quotient depending on your tolerance of the spice but as there is no other spice, masala, or flavouring, I would suggest you not reduce them too much unless you are cooking this for your kid/s. 
5. At the end of the cook, if you see oil at the bottom the kadhai, spoon out the potatoes into your serving bowl and use the oil for any other dish. It barely has any spices; hence the oil will work with anything you cook. 
6. I would suggest you not be stingy with the oil, in fact, if you feel the need to add more while frying the onions, do so, and get the extra oil out once the dish is done. The flavours will not come together well if the potato-onion mixture is too dry, hence the suggestion for oil. 
7. Ideally, as always, to ensure you don’t bruise or mash the potatoes, I would advice the use of a spatula to toss these babies. 
8. Please use boiled potatoes for this recipe. Don’t go with raw ones. 
9. Just this once, the onions will work as your garnish. Please do not add any herbs like parsley, or coriander leaves, to this dish. It will overpower and mess up the peppery-ginger-garlic flavour profile. 
10. You may share the direct blog-link of the recipe/s but do NOT publish my recipes and my photographs on any blog-site or website without my explicit consent or attempt to pass off my recipe/s as your own. You will be held accountable for plagiarism.

Some more photographs:

Sabudana Khichdee 2.0

After having cooked Chef Mandar Madav’s Kanda Poha (recipe on blog), I had been pestering him, for a foolproof Sabudana Khichdee recipe. For those of you who don’t know Mandar, he is Executive Chef at the Conrad Centennial, in Singapore. I’ve had the most amazing food when he was Executive Chef at Conrad-Pune. We lost him to Singapore. ☹ Lucky buggers! 😜

Getting back to the recipe… Why 2.0, you wonder? That’s because I have already posted a workable recipe of Sabudana Khichdee. And though, this one is very similar to the first, for all the tiny (important) changes incorporated, I felt this one turned out better. Feel free to give both recipes a try and opt for the one that works best for you. 😊 I did make teeny-weeny changes, but this recipe is all Mandar, and it’s stellar. Follow it to a T and rest assured, you’ll have a khichdee with pearls of sabudana (sago) separate and ‘khila-khila’, just as they should be. 

Chef Mandar Madav, heartfelt thanks for allowing me to constantly trouble you for this recipe and for sharing it so generously and so perfectly.

Ingredients:

2 cups filled to the brim (or 300 grams) sabudana (sago) 

2 cups water, filled to the brim (for prep)
30 ml milk
1 cup peanuts
½ cup peanuts
20-25 curry leaves
3 medium sized potatoes, cut into 1 cm cubes
½ tablespoon cumin seeds
5 green chilies, cut into 1 cm pieces
4 tablespoons ghee
Salt, to taste
1 tablespoon sugar 
A handful coriander, chopped

Prep: 

1. In a pan, roast 1 cup peanuts, ON LOW HEAT, until the peanuts turn a few shades darker and emit a beautiful nutty aroma. (Also, at this point the thin covering of the peanuts will loosen up.) This should, ideally, take 10 to 15 minutes. Do NOT rush this. 
   
   
   
   
   
2. Remove the peanuts onto a plate. Rub the peanuts in the palm of your hands and discard the outer covering from all peanuts. ALLOW TO COOL.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Once cool, grind the peanuts (please check video for ground peanut consistency) and keep aside, in an airtight box. 
   
   
   
   
4. Approximately 10 to 11 hours BEFORE COOKING, gently wash the sabudana three or four times, until the water runs clear. (like you would for rice) 
   
5. Lay out the washed sabudana in a large thali. (Most recipes tell you to use a bowl, TRUST ME, go with a deep stainless-steel thali). 
   
   
   
   
   
6. Pour 2 cups water (480 mils) water filled to the brim to cover the sabudana. To ensure there are no mistakes or confusion about the sabudana-water proportion/ratio, I repeat, I used the cup measurement FILLED RIGHT TO THE BRIM for the sabadana and for the water. No confusion, right? 
7. Add the milk, give it a gentle stir. 
8. Cover and leave the sabudana aside for a minimum of 10 hours to a maximum of 11 hours. (I usually soaked the sabudana from 11.45 PM to 10.30 AM – room temperature – do NOT put it in the fridge) 
   
   

IMPORTANT: While you can prep the peanuts well in advance, you need to decide on what time you plan to cook the Khichdee, as the soaking time for the sabudana will mainly depend on that. That’s it; prep done!

Method:

1. Take a LARGE colander and to that add the sabudana that have been soaking for 10 to 11 hours. The sabudana will have absorbed all the water and would have doubled in size by now.
   
   
   
   
   
2. Heat ghee in a large non-stick pan/kadhai. 
   
   
   
   
   
3. Add the half cup of peanuts, turn the flame to low and fry the peanuts until it emits a nice toasty aroma. When done, remove the peanuts from the ghee and keep aside. Please do NOT rush this, fry them on low heat. 
   
   
   
   
4. Add the cumin seeds to the same ghee and allow to splutter.
   
   
   
   
   
5. Add cubed potatoes, give them a stir, cover and cook until they are cooked to 90% doneness. 
   
   
   
   
   
6. Open the lid, intermittently, and give them a stir, a couple of times, while they are cooking. 
   
   
   
   
   
7. Add curry leaves, green chilies, salt and give it a stir. 
   
   
   
   
   
8. Add the sabudana, the ground peanut powder and sugar. Give it a mix.
   
   
   
   
   
9. Take the vessel off the stove, with a spatula, toss the sabudana mixture gently, but well, to ensure the sabudana and the ground peanut powder come together evenly. 
   
   
   
   
10. Put the sago back on the stove, on HIGH FLAME. 
11. Add the fried peanuts. and cook for a minute. Also, check seasoning at this point and adjust if needed. 
12. Do not cook the sabudana for more than a minute on HIGH FLAME. Give it a few tosses, to ensure it heats evenly. (Please check Chef Note No. 8, and the video attached above, as regards to the correct way of tossing/stirring the sabudana) 
13. Turn the stove off after that one minute of high heat cooking. 
    
14. COVER the vessel for 4 minutes (at least) and allow it to accumulate steam from within. 
    
15. Open the lid after the marked 4 minutes. Add chopped coriander leaves and give it a gentle stir/toss. Serve!
    
    
    
    
    

Chef Notes:

1. The difference between the first Saudana Khichdee recipe posted by me and this one is really tiny and yet, those very tiny changes, as suggested by Chef Mandar, made a world of difference.
2. Chef Mandar’s recipe called for 1 medium potato, the Bawi in me, used 3 medium potatoes. Chef Mandar’s recipe requires chilies to be cut into 1 cm pieces. I cut 3 chilies finely and 2 chilies into 1 cm pieces. At most times, I prefer to chop all 5 chilies finely (I prefer that). Whole fried peanuts are not a part of Chef Mandar’s recipe, but we love them. These are tiny changes are incorporated by me but the recipe is perfect and works beautifully. 
3. Please ALLOW the roasted peanuts TO COOL before you grind them, or you may end up with a soggy, clumpy peanut mix. 
4. The ground peanuts are essential as they tend to soak up the wee bit of extra moisture (if any) of the soaked sabudana. This will ensure the sabudana does not turn lumpy or clump up. 
5. VERY IMPORTANT: At the end of the cook, leave the pan covered for 3 to 4 minutes as it allows the starchy sabudana to sort itself out. This is quite like how we leave cooked-steamed rice when we want each grain to be separate. The same method works here. 
6. I used the Badadana Sabudana. Do NOT opt for tiny variety of sabudana pearls. 
7. I used a spatula all throughout the cooking process as a curved spoon would most likely damage the delicate sabudana pearls. In case you don’t have a spatula, please use a FLAT wooden spoon (the one you would use with a non-stick pan). 
8. The best way to mix sabudana while cooking is to go in from the sides of the pan and toss the sabudana into the centre of the pan. Do that from all sides of the pan to keep mixing and tossing the sabudana. This ensures they don’t get smashed. 
   
9. This recipe and the finer points are mainly penned IN SUCH MINUTE DETAIL for people who are fed up with clumped-up sabudana. I humbly bow to experts who have been making sabudana for decades and can cook this recipe blindfolded. 
10. There are many variations to this recipe. A few examples to this would be… The use of raw, cubed potatoes instead of boiled, adding a touch of turmeric powder and the use of finely grated coconut as garnish. The variations vary from region to region. 
11. The cup I used is a regular measuring cup. For clarity… The maximum marking on the cup shows 200 mils but if you fill it right to the brim, the amount goes up to an exact 240 mils; the Universal measurement of one cup (Please, let’s not get into the US - UK measurement argument). I suggest you fill the cup for sabudana and water right up to the brim (as did I) to avoid any confusion. Theek hai? 😉 
12. The photographs are a mix as regards to spoons, plates, etc., coz I have clicked pics every time I cooked this. I've lost count of the number of times I've recreated this in my kitchen. 
13. As mentioned at the onset, the original recipe belongs Chef Mandar Madav. The photographs, though, belong to my blog, Kenzy’s Kitchen Korner. You may share the direct blog-link of the recipe/s but do NOT publish my recipes, and/or my photographs, on any blogsite or website without my explicit consent or attempt to pass off my recipe/s as your own. You will be held accountable for plagiarism.
    
    Some more photographs:
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    I served hot Sabudana Khichdee to my family, but I had too much work in the kitchen hence I finally sat down with it 2 hours later. I could not help but shoot this video to show you the texture. Even after two hours, the sabudana pearls were fluffy, yet separate. :)