Pork Vindaloo from Simon Majumdar

Recipe from our good friend Simon Majumdar - made by Chef JJ with his Sous Chef Terry

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Here are all of your ingredients

Two Pounds of Pork Shoulder

Whole Spices of Cardamom, Cinnamon Sticks, and Cloves

Ground Spices: Ginger, Turmeric, Ground Cumin, Chili Powder, and Ground Coriander Seeds

Serrano Chili's, 4 cloves of garlic, 2 inches of fresh ginger

Coconut Milk, Sugar, White Vinegar, Kosher Salt, One white onion

Cut the Pork into 2 inch pieces

Add your 1/2 cup of vinegar. Traditionally palm vinegar was used, on the ships the vinegar came from the pork being shipped in wine, and the wine turned.  Distilled vinegar will work, as will any wine (white or red) vinegar.  But for today, we just used plain white vinegar. 

Next take the ginger and slice it. 

Pretty easy that even JJ can do it. Of course, I can always sew up a cut if I have to. 

 JJ also smashed up and cut the garlic and now JJ is putting them all into his food scraper

In go the garlic and ginger to a small food processor 

To help the ginger and garlic into a paste JJ is adding a sprinkle of kosher salt and about 2 tablespoons of water. These add a bit of friction to help break up the ginger.

We cut up some serrano peppers. We like it hot, so we left in the seeds and pulp. Most would prefer to take those out carefully.  These are added to the paste we made of the garlic and the ginger.

This paste is added to the pork shoulder that has been sitting in the vinegar

The whole spices, cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves are added with some salt and sugar to a nonstick pan on medium heat.  JJ is wafting the air and as soon as the ingredients are fragrant he takes them off the heat. 

Once the spices are fragrant, they are taken off the stove. Placed into a spice grinder (in this case a coffee grinder) and ground.  The aroma from this is amazing. You will have to break up the cinnamon stick to get it to fit into the grinder.  Since Uncle Simon is allergic to coffee we have a special spice grinder just for him.  

These ground up spices are added to our marinade for the pork. JJ is taking the last bits of them out using a brush (in this case a silicon one)

Remember all those dry spices, we put them out on a plate and JJ is adding them to the mix: 1 teaspoon each of Turmeric, Ground Cumin Seeds, Ground Coriander Seeds, Ground Ginger, and Chili Powder. 

Now JJ is mixing them all together. This is like second nature for any 7 year old. He is massaging all those ingredients and the pork together. Spices, vinegar, and pork. Once everything is coated, we are done - unless you like playing in the mud. But this is better than any mud castle. 

Covered with plastic wrap and placed in the refrigerator for two hours. It can go longer if you wish, but two hours allows better penetration of the meat with vinegar. Or as JJ would say, "The vinegar serves to denature the proteins on the surface of the pork."

The white onion is diced and placed into a Dutch oven that has some oil that has been heating over a medium heat. 

We don't want the onions to burn, but to speed up the process a bit of kosher salt and some sugar are added. JJ says, "The sugar helps the Maillard reaction of the onions, quickly combining with the proteins on the surface. The salt, just gets some of the surface water out of the way for the reaction to speed up."

 The pork and all the marinade are taken out of the refrigerator, and as soon as the onions have started to turn brown the pork is added to the pot.  JJ is keeping his head away from the inevitable rise of steam. JJ says, "Safety first in the kitchen." 

Now add the coconut milk and keep this on a low heat for three hours. Use real coconut milk, not coconut water.  Often you can find this in a can, or a milk container in the dairy section. "The coconut milk will calm the heat from the chilis, forming a covalent bond between the capsaicin and the proteins in the coconut milk away from the pork surface." -Chef JJ

Three hours on the lowest heat possible.  Put over some rice and you can see how the chef likes it.

Pork Shoulder 2 pounds
Onion - white, 1 whole - will be diced

Vinegar 1/2 cup  - any white would do, distilled, palm, or white wine
Ginger 2 inches
Serrano chili's 4
Garlic 4 cloves
Coconut milk 2 cups (the real thing not the water)


Whole Spices

Cardium 5 cloves
Cinnamon 2 sticks
Cloves 5 whole cloves

Ground Spices

Turmeric 1 teaspoon
Ground Cumin Seeds 1 teaspoon
Coriander Seeds ground 1 teaspoon
Ginger, ground 1 teaspoon
Chili powder 1 teaspoon
Kosher Salt 1 teaspoon
Ground Sugar 1 teaspoon


Cut the pork into 2 inch pieces

Cover the pork in the vinegar

Dice the ginger and smash the garlic.  Remove the seeds and pith from the chilis.  Blend together in a food processor after adding a teaspoon of Kosher salt and a tablespoon of water.  Once blended add to the mixture.

Heat a nonstick pan.  Add the whole spices - you can add a teaspoon of sugar and salt to it.  Once it becomes fragrant remove and grind in a spice or coffee grinder.  If you don't have whole spices it is ok to use ground spices and just add them.

Put the ground whole spices and the ground spices into the pork and vinegar.

Massage the mix into the meat.

Cover with plastic and put into the refrigerator for two hours.

---------- Once Two Hours are Finished

Head a dutch oven and add oil (canola, grapeseed, or olive) - 2 tablespoons. Once shimmering add a diced onion.

Pinch of kosher salt and sugar on the onions and stir.  Once the onions are brown add the Pork and all the vinegar.  Careful - it will steam some vinegar.

Add 2 cups of coconut milk.

Close the lid and simmer for 15 minutes.

After fifteen minutes remove the lid and cook for another 3 hours.

Serve over rice.