Part of learning is failing. Sadly in life I’m used to failing. This was such a dish sadly. I think it’s important to showcase your failings otherwise you will never learn. I knew instantly my mistakes whilst cooking this dish. I’m more upset about the waste of money. When money is precious you can’t afford to waste food. The meat I used was pork neck from Morrisons which was £3.47 for 750g, whilst that may not sound much it’s not the point. We did try to eat the dish but most of it was sadly binned.

I knew the errors straight. 1. Not reading the recipe prior to cooking. Time was short and I wanted a quick meal, I didn’t spot the pork needed a long marinade, garlic had to be cooked slowly for 20 minutes then later in the dish the pork was slow cooked for an hour. Because I then had to rush the dish cooking at a higher temperature than it should have been the flavours didn’t come through. 2. I didn’t have enough red wine vinegar for the marinade so I used a bit then topped it up with malt vinegar…..fail.

Ingredients- 800g of pork cut into small pieces, 3 – 4 tbsp of rapeseed oil, a whole bulb of garlic cut into slivers, 1 tsp of mustard seeds, 10 curry leaves, 1 onion finely diced, 2 tomatoes finely diced, 1 tsp of chilli powder, 2 bay leaves, pinch of salt.

Marinade – 1 tsp of chilli powder, 1 1/2 tbsp of ground cumin, 1 1/2 tbsp ground coriander, 1/2 tsp fenugreek powder, 1/2 tsp of ground cloves, 1 tbsp of ground pepper, 1/2 tsp of turmeric, 3/4 tsp of ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp of ground cardamom, 4 green chillies finely diced, 5 tbsp of red wine vinegar, 2 tbsp of brown sugar, 1 tbsp of tamarind paste, 3 tbsp of garlic and ginger paste.

Method –

Mix all the ingredients of the marinade together. Add the pork and leave it for 30 minutes or overnight. This was my second mistake. I didn’t have enough red wine vinegar so I used what I had plus malt vinegar….dish did taste to acidy.

Pork added to the marinade.

Heat the oil in pan over a low heat. Add all the garlic slivers and gently cook for 20 minutes. Once they are cooked remove them to a plate leaving as much oil as you can. This was my second mistake. I turned up the heat and tried to fry the garlic too quickly 😞

Once the garlic has been removed add the mustard seeds to the hot oil.

Once the mustard seeds start popping add the curry leaves. Give them a good stir and cook for 30 seconds or so.

Add the chopped onions and fry for 5 minutes until them become nice and translucent.

Add the chopped tomatoes, chilli powder, bay leaves and the pork marinade.

Mix well and add enough water to cover the meat.

Slow cook this for an hour. The water will reduce and meat will become nice and tender.

The sauce will thicken nicely.

As the sauce has cooked down and add back in the garlic. Mix well then serve.

I served mine the precooked steamed rice.

Finished dish that was eaten reluctantly.

Dish was a failure. I should be used this. When I look back I’m littered with failings and yet I don’t learn.

Recipe taken from Dan Toombs.

Thanks for reading.