Pork Vindaloo With Potatoes

Method

1. Pat the pork cubes dry with paper towel and season them with half the salt. Wet meat will not brown, and the browning is where this dish gets its depth.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a heavy casserole over medium-high heat. Brown the pork in three batches, 4 to 5 minutes a batch, turning so each piece takes colour on at least two sides. Lift each batch onto a plate. Crowding the pan drops the temperature and the meat steams.
3. Turn the heat down to medium and add the remaining oil, the onion and a pinch of the salt. Cook for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until the onion is soft and going gold at the edges.
4. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for 1 minute, until the pan smells sweet. Do not let the garlic brown or it will turn bitter under the chilli.
5. Return the pork and any juices on the plate. Pour in the jar of vindaloo. Half fill the empty jar with the water, put the lid back on, shake it out and add that too.
6. Bring to a simmer, scraping the base of the pan to lift the browned bits, then turn the heat as low as it will go. Cover and cook for 1 hour, stirring every 20 minutes.
7. While it cooks, peel and cut the potatoes and keep them in cold water so they do not discolour. Drain and pat dry before they go in.
8. Add the potatoes and push them under the sauce. Cover and cook for 35 minutes.
9. Take the lid off and simmer for another 10 minutes to reduce. A skewer should slide into a potato chunk with no resistance, and the pork should give way against the side of the spoon. If either is not there yet, give it 10 minutes more.
10. Taste. Add the rest of the salt if it needs it, the teaspoon of brown sugar if the sour edge is too sharp, or the tablespoon of red wine vinegar if the long cook has left it dull.
11. Rest off the heat for 10 minutes with the lid on. The pork keeps softening and the sauce settles.
12. Serve over basmati rice with yoghurt or coconut cream spooned on, coriander scattered over, and the mango chutney and lime wedges on the table.

Questions people ask

What makes a vindaloo different from other curries?

Vinegar. Most curries are built on aromatics, spice and something creamy or tomato based, with any sourness in the background. A vindaloo puts the acid at the front, which is what the dish inherited from its Portuguese ancestor, and layers the chilli over the top of it.

How hot is a jarred vindaloo sauce?

Hot, and this one says so. Maya's own description of this one runs to black pepper, red and green chilli, vinegar and tamarind. We taste everything we range, and this reads as a proper vindaloo rather than a mild sauce wearing the name. Chilli heat dissolves in fat and not water, so yoghurt or coconut cream pulls it back at the table.

What cut of pork is best for vindaloo?

Shoulder, in 3cm cubes. It has the fat and the connective tissue to survive a long simmer and to give the sauce body as the collagen breaks down. Diced leg will do at a pinch with a shorter cook. Fillet and loin will not, because they are cooked through before the sauce has done anything.

Can you make a vindaloo in a slow cooker?

Yes. Brown the pork and onion in a pan first, cut the added water to 50ml because nothing evaporates under the lid, then give it 4 hours on high or 7 on low with the potatoes in for the last 2.

If you are buying the jar

Maya Kaimal Spicy Vindaloo is $12.95 for a 354g jar, which is one pan of this and nothing left over. The full Maya Kaimal range is the page to watch for what else lands, and the milder end of the same idea is in our older piece on cooking with Maya Kaimal sauces and the chicken tikka masala that came out of it.

On the side, Indian Light Infantry fruit chutney is the sweeter alternative to mango if the heat is hard going, and the rest of the jars and dry goods sit under pantry. Everything is picked and packed by hand in our Corio room in Victoria. Orders placed before 12pm on a weekday are dispatched the same day from our Corio, VIC warehouse, tracked with Australia Post, and shipping is free Australia-wide on orders over $100.