Goan Pork Sorpotel Recipe
The Goan Pork Sorpotel is a dish which has a potpourri of meaty ingredients. Cooked in vinegar, the pork is packed with spice and vinegar to clearly last a month or even longer.This recipe for sorpotel talks about Goa's traditional pork gravy dish, common to the Goan community. This dish whose origins lie in Portuguese cuisine, will yield a finger licking foodgasm.
Equipment
- 2 large crockpots (1 for boiling the pork, and 1 for cooking the dish)
- Meat cleaver (for chopping the pork into small cubes) - mine is a Cartini brand
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups refined oil
- 1.5-2 kg pork meat (first boiled in large chunks, then chopped into 1cm sized cubes)
- 250-300 gms pork heart (first boiled in large chunks, then chopped into 1cm sized cubes)
- 350 gms pork liver (first boiled in large chunks, then chopped into 1cm sized cubes)
- 4-6 medium-sized brown onions (finely chopped)
- 3 tbsp sugar
- salt (to taste)
Spices for Pork Sorpotel (to grind the ”masala” with vinegar, no water)
- 4-5 tbsp Kashmiri chilli powder
- 10-12 flakes garlic
- 2 inch piece ginger
- 3 tsp cumin seeds
- 8 cloves
- 6-8 cardamoms
- 12-14 peppercorns
- 2-3 inch cinnamon sticks
- 1.5 tbsp turmeric powder
- 1 green chilli
- A ball tamarind (golf ball-sized)
- 1-2 cups vinegar (Datu-puti cane vinegar, cider vinegar, apple cider vinegar, ideally Goan vinegar if available)
Instructions
Preparation of the Pork Sorpotel
- Clean and chop the pork meat into say 200 gm chunks. Use a meat cleaver for chopping, if available.
- Boil the pork chunks, including the pork heart and liver in a crockpot with say 3 cups of water and minimal salt.
- When cooked, cool the meat before chopping it into 1cm sized pieces. The chopping will seem to take forever, but great patience is required in the exercise.
- In a non-stick wok, heat some oil and fry the chopped pork meat, chopped heart and chopped liver in small batches - and separately - until the meat turns a light brown.
- Leave the fried meat and the remaining boiled (pork meat) water aside, separately of course.
- Grind the "spice or masala" ingredients with 1 cup vinegar. Grind to a fine paste, and ensuring that no water is added while grinding.
- Heat oil in a large non-stick crockpot, saute the finely chopped onions till a golden brown.
- Now add the ground spice paste (or the ground “masala”).
- Fry well again, on low-medium heat for 6 to 8 minutes.
- Drop in the fried pork meat pieces and nicely mix for 5 to 8 minutes, till the masala is well ensconced in the meat.
- Pour the remaining (boiled pork) water, sugar and salt to suit your taste. Let simmer for, say 30 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes to avoid the masala sticking to the bottom of the crockpot.
- Add vinegar and half a cup of water if necessary. Be mindful of adjusting the vinegar-water content, keep stirring till the gravy thickens.
- Turn off the heat. Let cool & refrigerate. The longer the pork sorpotel is stored, the better the taste.
Notes
WHAT IS AUTHENTIC GOAN SORPOTEL RECIPE LIKE:
Sorpotel is ideally eaten three to four days after preparation as it allows the vinegar and the spices time to sink into the dish and release its delicious flavours. Sorpotel goes well with Goan "sannas" or bread or steamed rice. Sannas are made with local toddy and coconut. I have a fondness, or should I say a devotion to “sannas” which to me is like manna from heaven!
Sorpotel is ideally eaten three to four days after preparation as it allows the vinegar and the spices time to sink into the dish and release its delicious flavours. Sorpotel goes well with Goan "sannas" or bread or steamed rice. Sannas are made with local toddy and coconut. I have a fondness, or should I say a devotion to “sannas” which to me is like manna from heaven!