Spicy, Hot and Sour Hog
By Andrew Zimmern
I love vindaloo, a traditional Indian curry that hails from Goa. When the Portuguese colonized Goa in the 1500s, they brought with them a dish called carne de vinha d’alho, pork preserved in vinegar and garlic. Goans modified the dish using local ingredients and trademark Goanese flavors, like cardamom, cinnamon and Kashmiri peppers. The spicy, hot and sour dish is often made with pork shoulder, but here, I’m using meat from the leg of a wild boar because nothing is more satisfying than putting your own food on your own table when you took it from the wild. I like to serve it with a rice pilaf, my variation of an old Madhur Jaffrey recipe. It’s the perfect partner for this dish.
Watch this episode of Field to Fire on Outdoor Channel and Tastemade.
Wild Hog Vindaloo with Rice Pilaf
Ingredients
Vindaloo
- 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
- 2 teaspoons coriander seeds
- 5-10 dried red Kashmiri peppers or arbols halved, seeds shaken out
- 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
- 6 green cardamom pods
- 8 cloves
- 1 inch cinnamon stick, cracked with a hammer
- 2 golf ball size pieces of fresh ginger, peeled, and minced
- 12 garlic cloves
- 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar, or more to taste
- 2 pounds wild hog leg, trimmed and cubed
- 3 onions, chopped
- Vegetable oil
- Rice pilaf, for serving (recipe below)
Instructions
Use a spice grinder or mortar and pestle to grind the cumin, coriander, Kashmiri peppers, peppercorns, cardamom and cloves.
Make a paste of the ginger and garlic in a mortar and pestle (or use a microplane to grate the garlic and ginger). Add the mixture to a large mixing bowl and whisk in the vinegar, brown sugar and ground spices. Add the cubed wild hog, and stir to evenly coat hog with the seasoning mix. Marinate in the fridge for 4-5 hours.
Heat a quarter cup of oil in a large dutch oven or poke pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until golden brown and caramelized, about 25 minutes. Add the pork and all the ingredients it was marinating in and brown gently over a medium heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook for one hour, or until the pork is tender. Check on it every 10 minutes and add a splash of water if the liquid is evaporating too quickly.
Once the pork is cooked, season and serve with the rice pilaf.
Basmati Rice Pilaf
- 2 cups basmati rice
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 onion, sliced into fine half rings
- Small handful slivered blanched almonds
- Small handful golden raisins
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2–2/3 cups water or stock
Rinse the rice until the water runs almost clear. After the final rinse, cover the rice with 1.5 quarts of water and let the rice soak for 30 minutes.
Pour the oil into a large saucepan pan or pot that has a tight-fitting lid. Set over medium-high heat and when hot, place the cinnamon stick and the onions into the pan and cook until just turning brown. Add the almonds and stir until they are golden. Add the raisins and cook for just a few seconds.
Drain the rice through a sieve.
Add the drained rice and salt to the pan with onions and spices. Stir very gently to mix and add the stock or water and bring to a low boil. Cover tightly, turn the heat to very, very low and cook for 22 – 25 minutes. Let rest off heat for 5-10 minutes.
Fluff rice gently with a fork and serve. Don’t eat the cinnamon stick.
