As I had a whole packet of Scotch Bonnet peppers left over from the Trinidadian Prawn Curry, I was alert to anything that required a chilli pepper - and Spicy Pork Steaks were on the menu.
I'm now not quite so scared of the Scotch Bonnets. Mine are only small, so it is easy not to over-chilli just by using a half. I am terrible for doing the "I've cut this much off, so I'll use this much, even if it's too much", because I can't bear the idea of the waste. Which is bizarre, because if a recipe says "half a chilli pepper", then (if it won't keep nicely and it's something small) I've no compunction in throwing the other half away. I don't understand myself, sometimes. In fact, in this incarnation, I could easily have used the other half of the Scotch Bonnet as it was hot and spicy, but on a scale of 1-10, registered at around a 4-5.
I love pork in all its different cuts. I am not one of these people who are put off by the presence of fat in meat and can eat a degree of fat, i.e. on a pork chop, or in slow roasted belly of pork. Unfortunately, (for me, that is!) both hubby and son are those sorts of people, so we don't get to have pork very often as all the cheaper cuts are laden with fat.
Every so often, though, I find a recipe that will do well with the pork steaks from our local butcher and I get to have a pork fix. I usually cut the majority of the fat from the chaps' portions and leave the fat on mine - which helps with the overall flavour and gives me a little porky fat moment.
So, when I made the Spiced Chicken Legs by Galton Blackiston recently, it occurred to me that the recipe would potentially be good with pork. So I gave it a whirl, this week.
Regrettably, I had used up all the fresh coriander in the Trinidadian Prawn Curry (forgetting I'd need some for the pork dish), so had to think a little bit sideways.
I used Galton's recipe as a base and differed from it in that I substituted half a Scotch Bonnet pepper for the large red chillies, used orange juice because we'd run out of apple juice (that'll be the Tequila Cocktails that did that!) and included two tablespoonfuls of honey instead of the coriander.
I debated adding a little vinegar and going down the sweet and sour route, but the marinade was all getting a little bit too liquid by then (I should have reduced the amount of orange juice) so opted not to.
However, what turned out was really very nice indeed.
The marinade was certainly hot - no doubt about the Scotch Bonnet in there! - but perfectly acceptable and in the oven, had reduced down to a sticky glaze that coated the pork steaks. When I do this one again (and there will be another time!) I will turn the steaks part way through cooking and baste them with the marinade, to take advantage of its stickiness.
The edges of the pork steaks had caramelised beautifully in the oven too, which gave a lovely flavour to both the marinade and the pork - my favourite bits!
I served the steaks with baked jacket sweet potatoes (and an ordinary potato for son & heir, who has decided he's not keen on sweet potatoes) which had a lime & chilli sour cream dressing, (made by including a finely chopped sweet red chilli & zest of half a lime plus some salt & pepper into a pot of sour cream, so couldn't be easier!) plus some garden peas. Yummy!
HOT AND SPICY PORK STEAKS (feeds 3)
Ingredients :
6 pork steaks
4 tbsp tomato ketchup
2 cloves garlic, grated
1 Scotch Bonnet chilli pepper, minus seeds (or 2 red chilli peppers)
1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
100ml orange juice
2 tbsp runny honey
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper.
Method :
1. In a large bowl, mix together the tomato ketchup, garlic, chilli, Worcestershire sauce, orange juice and honey, to make the marinade.
2. Dunk in the pork steaks and leave to marinade for as long as possible - at least an hour.
3. Pre-heat your oven to 200deg C/400deg F/Gas 6.
4. Fish out each pork steak and lay them into a baking dish. Cover with the remains of the marinade, making sure that each steak is liberally coated.
5. Roast for around 25-35 minutes, until the pork is tender, the marinade has turned sticky and the corners of the steaks have begun to caramelise. It may well be worth turning the steaks and re-coating with the marinade part way through the cooking.
6. Serve.
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At last! I put the Trinidadian Prawn Curry on the menu list - and actually got to make it.
Having done so, all I can say is "wow!". "Some like it hot" is about right - this stuff is almost dangerous, it's that hot. I know my hubby will be saying to himself "well it wasn't THAT bad - I could have gone a bit hotter", but for me it was right on the edge of being too hot (spicy hot, that is!). Having had a little taste of the final product just before serving, I wouldn't have been surprised if it had melted the plastic serving spoon.
Mind you, having said that, it wasn't an aggressive heat. The chilli effect (a combination of ginger, black pepper, medium curry powder and Scotch Bonnet pepper) was certainly well rounded and didn't immediately grab you by the back of the throat and threaten to throttle you. It developed in your mouth and those different sources of flavour seemed to affect different taste buds. I thoroughly enjoyed it (as did everyone - including son & heir) even though I had to bail out slightly before I'd finished. Son & heir was quite happy to take care of any leftovers I might have had, so nothing got wasted!
This was the first time I'd used a Scotch Bonnet pepper in anything and, if I'm honest, I was a little bit scared of it. Mind you - get this - when I opened the cellophane wrapper, there inside, happily marching around taking bites out of my peppers, was a caterpillar! Kudos to you, little caterpillar, you must have cast iron insides! He's now marching around inside a bin bag, feasting upon veggie peelings and probably considering ordering a takeaway, just to get some spice.
I was alert to the warnings about getting Scotch Bonnet all over my fingers, then not rubbing my eyes, so I used a couple of freezer bags over my left hand while the right hand did the chopping. A wise precaution, I think, as I don't own any rubber gloves. As with all chillies, I did my usual "tongue test" in that I cut a tiny piece off and just touch it to my tongue to test the heat of the chilli. I find it's always worth knowing, so that you can judge how much (or how little) to use. I was surprised to find that (because these Scotch Bonnets aren't terribly juicy - I don't know if that's true of all of them) my tongue didn't immediately burst into flames, so I used the prescribed half a pepper, minus seeds.
Having assembled the spice paste and incorporated it with the prawns, I looked at what was left to prepare and, for the life of me, couldn't really see how it was going to turn into a curry. It was at this point that I began to worry - but if you're making it, nil desperandum! The process is so quick and so simple that it's almost like watching magic unfold before your eyes. The end result isn't (of course) much like an Indian Curry as we know them, but it is a curry all the same - just with a different texture, a looser sauce but amazing and complex layers of flavour.
My only error with this curry was to use poor prawns. Not prawns with holes in their shoes, you understand, but peeled, cooked, small prawns. I can see that it would be far, far nicer with an arm and a leg's worth of juicy, raw Tiger or King prawns. My little prawns - even though the cooking process was so quick, suffered for having been cooked a little too long and weren't exactly rubbery but were headed that way.
Still, I'd be very curious to see how this spice mix translated to a chicken curry - and may very well investigate that next.
So, in essence, I can't recommend this curry highly enough. Just so long as you can cope with a hot chilli experience - and don't try to tamp down the chilli, it just isn't worth it as this curry is meant to be hot - and you can afford the prawns, go for it! You'll be glad you did.
TRINIDADIAN PRAWN CURRY (feeds 3)
Ingredients :
For the spice mix :
1 tsp ginger, chopped finely or grated (I used a ginger paste)
a medium onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, sliced
half a red pepper, chopped
1 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
1 large sprig fresh thyme (I used 1 tsp dried)
1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
1 small stick celery, chopped
10ml white wine vinegar
pinch ground black pepper.
For the curry :
1-2 tbsp medium curry powder
1 tbsp vegetable oil
500g shelled prawns (I used 300g frozen North Atlantic Prawns, which wasn't a good idea)
1 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
half a small celery stick, chopped finely
half a Scotch Bonnet pepper, seeds removed and chopped finely.
Method :
1. First thing to do is to make the spice mix. So, into a food processor, place the ginger, onions, garlic, red pepper, coriander, thyme, parsley, celery and vinegar. Blend until smooth.
2. Place the prawns into a large bowl and add the spice mix. Stir to combine and leave to marinate for 30 minutes or so.
3. Blend the curry powder with around 125ml of water - enough to make a slack paste.
4. Heat the oil in a wok or deep frying pan over a medium heat and fry the curry paste for around a minute, stirring all the time to ensure it doesn't burn.
5. Add the prawn mixture to the pan and cook for around 3-4 minutes until the prawns are changing colour and the spice mixture has softened.
6. If necessary (I didn't need to), add enough water to make the sauce and continue to simmer for 2-3 minutes until the prawns are cooked and tender.
7. At the last minute, stir in the coriander, celery and chilli.
8. Serve with some kind of flatbread (roti or chapati) and steamed rice.
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