Malvani Pork Curry

This is a culinary adventure outside of my usual comfort zone. We love a good curry around here, and I've dabbled in making some at home at times, but usually based on some sort of convenient shortcut, like a packaged paste or simmer sauce that's quick and ready to use. A friend pointed me in the direction of this lesser known recipe that she learned to make in her family, Malvani curry - this is a dish from coastal SW Indian cuisine, more commonly made with chicken or prawns. I had lean pork loin on hand so I thought I'd use it this time, next time I'm eager to try it with prawns and veggies instead.

Jump to Recipe

The recipe is quite involved and blends numerous flavor components, but the steps are fairly straight forward. My friend pointed me to the Instagram account of Chef Zacharias she follows, who broke it down and demonstrated the steps. This is my adaptation of his recipe using ingredients more readily available in the United States (and which I already had in my pantry).

I gathered all the ingredients (I later realized the ones piled up in the picture above were missing a couple, see if you can spot which ones, heh), then set out to build the flavors of the curry. To give the meat a chance to absorb the aromas of the spices for as long as possible, take care of it first. Cut in bite size pieces if applicable (for drumsticks or prawns leave whole), then salt generously and add the remaining powdered spices - red chili powder, turmeric, ground black pepper, cumin and coriander. Massage the spices into the meat all over, then set aside.

Tip: If you want to do the majority of the work the night before for an easy prep-ahead week night dinner, you can put the meat in the fridge at this stage and let it marinade in the spices overnight.

Next, set out to make the curry paste. First, heat a tablespoon or so of ghee - the grass fed one I had in my fridge packs so much flavor - over medium to medium high heat and add half the chopped onions. In this stage the aim is to get a golden-brown color on the onions as they cook, not a soft sautee. Avoid overcrowding the pan to encourage better browning. Season well, then add the shredded coconut. This is the first spot where I diverged from the authentic recipe the chef described. I didn't have a fresh coconut on hand to crack and shred up, so I used desiccated shredded coconut from my pantry and added a tablespoon of coconut butter (not oil, important distinction) to enhance the flavor and creaminess. 

Continue sauteeing while mixing often so the coconut browns evenly as well, then add the roughly chopped ginger and garlic, followed by the whole spices (coriander seeds, sesame seeds, black peppercorns, cinnamon and cloves). Sesame seeds here are quite unique and I don't recall seeing them before in Indian cuisine, but I love what they do to the overall flavor. I also added a bit of poppy seeds, they weren't included in the ingredient list at all but my friend mentioned them and they sounded like a good idea. Continue mixing constantly while the mixture caramelizes to a deep golden brown to chocolate brown, being careful not to burn it.

Once the desired color is attained, you need to cool and blend the mixture to a paste. Since I was only making this for the one meal, I didn't need it to be a very dense paste, as I would add water when cooking the final dish anyway. What I did to both deglaze the pan and cool down the mixture was splashing a cup of cold water in the pan, then scraping the bottom to pick up all the flavorful bits that had stuck on during the cooking process. I put everything in my vitamix and blended it to a smooth paste, adding more water as necessary for everything to move through the blades.

Tip: At this stage, you can cover and refrigerate the paste along with the spiced meat if you plan to make the final dish the next day, the remaining steps just bring everything together for the final meal.

I did this next step on the sautee function of the instant pot because I used it at high pressure a bit later to finish. If you're doing prawns this is not necessary as they cook pretty quickly on their own. Warm up another tablespoon of ghee on medium-low to medium heat (I used the low sautee setting on the IP), and add the bay leaves to stir up the flavors. If you have green chillies on hand (I didn't, I'll mention my solution a bit later), split them at the tip and add them now. Once the oils start releasing, add the other half of the chopped onions (you can thinly slice as well, depending on preference), season and stir to soften. Add the chopped tomatoes and turn up the heat a bit to cook and reduce the moisture. I also added some roasted hatch chiles since I didn't have the spicy green ones in my kitchen, they rounded out the flavor to balance the tomatoes and added some good heat to the dish. 

When the tomatoes (and chiles) are cooked down and darkened a bit in color, add the curry paste and mix well. Finally, add the marinated meat (if you do this recipe all in one go make sure it sat at least 1-2 hours with the spices) and mix well. Add enough water to barely cover the meat and mix it in the sauce so it's fairly uniform, then set the pot to cook on high pressure for 10-12 minutes with the valve sealed. When the cooking cycle ends, let it naturally release for 5-10 minutes before releasing and remaining pressure. Serve on rice and top with a squeeze of fresh lime and fresh chopped cilantro. I added some greens around mine to brighten up the presentation and add more veggies to my plate. 

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Malvani Pork Curry

Ingredients

1.5 lbs of pork loin

1 tbsp kosher salt 

2 tbsp red chili powder

1 tbsp turmeric powder

1 tbsp cumin powder

1 tbsp coriander powder

2 tsp ground black pepper

2 tbsp ghee

2 medium sized onions

45g shredded desiccated coconut

1 tbsp coconut butter

2 in. fresh ginger

6-8 garlic cloves

2 tbsp sesame seeds

1 tbsp poppy seeds

2 tbsp coriander seeds

8-10 black peppercorns, whole

1/4 stick of cinnamon

3-4 cloves

2-3 bay leaves

14.5 oz chopped tomatoes

1/4 cup roasted hatch chiles

lime, quartered

cilantro, roughly chopped

Method

1. Cut up meat in bite sized pieces, as evenly as possible.
2. Season well with salt, then add all the powdered spices (chili through black pepper).
3. Massage spices into the meat, cover and let sit in the fridge.
4. Chop onions, ginger and garlic.
5. Heat up 1 tbsp of ghee on medium-high heat and add half the onion, mixing to brown.
6. Add coconut and coconut butter, mix frequently to caramelize. 
7. Add ginger and garlic, then whole spices (sesame seeds through cloves).
8. Continue mixing over medium heat until reaching a deep brown color.
9. Deglaze with a cup of water and scrape up any stuck bits.
10. Blend into a smooth paste, adding water as necessary to get an appropriate consistency (think ricotta-like).
11. Heat up 1tbsp of ghee in low sautee mode of the instant pot (or on the stove if not using IP).
12. Add bay leaves and stir for a minute.
13. Sautee second chopped up onion until soft, seasoning as it cooks.
14. Add tomatoes and chiles, and turn up heat (to medium) to reduce liquids and caramelize.
15. Mix in curry paste from step #10, then add meat and just enough water to cover meat.
16. Seal lid and set the IP to pressure cook on high pressure for 12 minutes.
17. Allow to naturally release pressure for 5-10 minutes when done, then release any remaining pressure.
18. Serve on rice with a squeeze of lime and a handful of cilantro on top. Enjoy!

Notes

• The original recipe calls for a whole freshly grated coconut, if you have a whole coconut on hand and the means/patience to grate it, this could enhance the flavor even further.
• The roasted hatch chiles can be replaced with a more authentic use of green fresh chilies, just add in the same step as the bay leaves (#12).
• You can use chicken (bone in) and follow the same steps, or prawns (whole, peeled and deveined) and skip the pressure cooking step, just simmer for a few minutes after adding to the curry sauce.