itsnandi

Philosophers' curry

[gastronomy] [recipe] [recipes] [fantasy-cooking]

I had leftover soffritto and green beans, while I wished for curry, but we were also out of rice that day.

The recipe assumes you have no leftovers.

Ingredients

  • 150-200g green beans
  • 200g pork shoulder, thin cubes
  • vegetable stock (powder, MSG is not optional)
  • 100g carrot
  • 150g celery
  • 1 large onion
  • cumin, caraway, nutmeg, green cardamom, white pepper
  • smoked paprika
  • cilantro, mint
  • lime
  • deep frozen, pre-fried potatoes for 2-4 people (750g is fine), they come out the crunchiest

Method

  1. Start with a soffritto, but go 1.5x on the celery.
  2. Separately steam the green beans.
  3. In your favourite huge pan, on high heat, roast the tiny pork cubes. When there’s enough brown add some vegetable stock, salt and white pepper.
  4. Mortar 6-9 green cardamom pods and sift them into the mix. Mortar a tiny piece of nutmeg too. Lots of salt and about as much sugar.
  5. Add 1/4 tsp cumin and 1/4 tsp caraway.
  6. Add the soffritto and the beans to the meat, and rinse the soffritto pan into the huge pan with a bit of water.
  7. Now it’s time to put the potatoes in the oven.
  8. Boil until everything is soft, adding water as it evaporates. At the end, water it up properly so it’s a thick sauce. Add some flour to thicken it.
  9. Fire off, wait 1 minute.
  10. The most important bit, make sure the meat and all is cooked through and the potatoes in the oven should be done last, and done well, potatoes must be crunchy.
  11. Put the sauce and potatoes and the chopped herbs and a bit of the smoked paprika into a bowl that you can shake. Shake it. Check for salt, now’s the right time to adjust. Also add some lime, but it’s also part of the garnish on the plate with some extra herbs, but this is optional.

You’ve got the recipe right if the flavours are really smashing you in the face, the pork and spices provide the basis, the foundation so it’s not collapsing, we are stacking flavour on top of each other. Potato and green beans are the bridge to the refreshing flavour of the cilantro-mint-lime combination. It’s an explosion.