Super simple Pork Vindaloo

Mallika Basu - Super simple Pork Vindaloo

What a fuss erupts when you have a confident, if slightly overrated, view of yourself. The statement I most get these days is that I don't look like a mother of two. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or bad. Is this a very different to the look of a mum of one? How close is it to the look of a dad of two? Which nicely bring me on to my pet hate of the moment. Sweeping statements with sexist undertones. As a marketing and PR consultant I am guilty of some strange things. But the "mom as mom" marketing strategy, as opposed to the "mom as woman" has me totally baffled. Whatever does it mean? Apparently, as a "mom as mom", we like babies, baking and books (parenting ones strictly). While in "mom in woman" mode, you are allowed to be a woman and think about, well, beauty, fashion, going out etc. Since when are we defined by the roles we play, rather than our range of interests? Can we please relegate this garbage to the dustbin of history, along with these other beauties:

  1. Mumpreneur: This is an entrepreneur. It shouldn't matter that she has children and is trying to fit it around them. All entrepreneurs struggle
  2. Political wife: Ever heard of a political husband? No? Me neither.
  3. Stay-at-home mom: As opposed to a going outside mom? Somewhat odd and a huge underestimation of the enormous task
  4. Working mother: My personal favourite. Need I even explain why?
What bugs me the most is that none of these terms works when they are turned on their head. Try dadpreneur, stay-at-home dad or even a working dad. Why would any dad not work, we fundamentally assume. And if they don't they must be one of the latest Scandi-inspired capuccinno dads. Lordie, let this madness not spread the other way... It's just as well I cooked recently for my blog guru, a thoroughly modern man. He is an entrepreneur creating downloadable children's stories, who looked after his toddler for years. Not quite the zesty, headline grabbing catch phrase we are accustomed to, but accurate nonetheless. The fiery recipe is none other than a simple Pork Vindaloo. I have cooked it before. But a Goan cookery website with step by step piccies caught my eye. All this simple Pork Vindaloo recipe takes literally is the whizz of a collection of spices into a masala, a bit of marinating and it just stews away in a saucepan until the pork just falls apart in the mouth. A simple reminder that we can simplify even the most seemingly complicated things, without falling prey to bad habits.

Method:


Chop the pork into bite-sized pieces. I tend to buy boneless pork shoulder and cut the fat off with a sharp knife for this. Cheap, but very tender meat.

Dry roast the whole dry spices: red chillies, cumin, cinnamon, peppercorn, mustard seeds and cloves, Then grind this together all the ingredients bar the salt, turmeric, paprika, oil and onions in a blender to make the vindaloo masala paste. I have two important tips here a) add the turmeric and paprika to the pork separately so your blender doesn’t turn fluorescent and b) don’t put anything that has touched the vindaloo paste into your dishwasher unless you want to stain its other inhabitants acid pink.

Next, mix the turmeric and the paste, into the pork. I tend to do this the night before, so the pork can absorb the flavours by the time you’re ready to cook. When you are, chop the onions into little pieces, get the oil to sizzling hot and saute them until golden. Then add the marinated pork, reduce the heat to medium high and cook covered for about an hour. Just make sure you keep stirring from time to time so the masala doesn’t get stuck to the bottom of the pan.

An hour later, lid off, add salt to your taste and serve your simple pork vindaloo with piping hot Basmati rice, and some yoghurt to douse any chilli flames.

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