Top of the Chops

PLUS a nice thing to do with sweetcorn

Hello! Happy Bank Holiday weekend. I hope yours has been fantastic. I stood up for 6 hours and prepared a barbecue for my friends, then proceeded to drink about eleven cocktails which I’m still paying the price for. Nevertheless, today I’m bringing you a pork chop recipe plus a yummy way to enjoy sweetcorn. Summer may be closing, but the good times will continue to roll in the kitchen, I promise you that.

Here’s my thinking. Butter is good. Vindaloo is good. Pork chops are good. Bring the three together, and what do we have? Good, good, good, I think. This recipe came about because I wanted a new way to cook pork chops. I usually cook them kinda Spanish style with paprika and garlic, which is lovely, but as Nancy Sinatra would say: there’s more than one way to skin a cat, you know!

Sometimes you want a hit of curry flavour, but you don’t have the time or the energy to wait for a curry to cook. Pork chops are underrated, and since Vindaloo is traditionally a pork curry, what better way to get flavour and spice into pork quickly, than looking to that curry-house icon?

Vindaloo Pork Chops

This is very much inspired by Vindaloo as I cannot claim it to be anything like the real thing. The onions and tomatoes that would normally be in the curry are served on the side, and the addition of the butter is a quick way to get the spicy flavour all over everything. I hope you like it!

Serves 2

For marinade

1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black peppercorns
4 tbsp malt / cider vinegar
1 inch piece of ginger, finely grated
3 garlic cloves, finely grated
2 tbsp Kashmiri chilli powder

For butter

70g butter, at room temperature
1 ½ tbsp Kashmiri chilli powder
2 cloves garlic 
1 tbsp tamarind 
5 curry leaves
2 cardamom pods
1 tsp black peppercorns
8 cloves
½ tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp coriander seeds
¼ tsp turmeric
¼ tsp cinnamon

For onions (optional)

2 red onions, thinly sliced
3 tbsp malt/cider vinegar
1 tsp black mustard seed

1. First marinate your pork chops. Mix together the sugar, salt, peppercorns, vinegar, ginger and garlic with the kashmiri chilli powder and briefly massage into the meat. Cover, then leave to marinate in the fridge for 2 hours or (even better) overnight.

2. Next, make the vindaloo butter. In a dry frying pan, toast the cloves, cardamom, cumin, and coriander seeds then crush them in a pestle and mortar. Add the Kashmiri chilli powder, cinnamon, tamarind pulp, garlic, turmeric and curry leaves. Mix everything through the softened butter till thoroughly mixed then put in the fridge for at least 1 hour to re-harden. 

3. If you’re making them, pickle your red onions by mixing them with the mustard seeds, and 3 tbsp malt vinegar. Leave for at least 30 minutes or up to 2 days.

4. When you’re ready to cook, bring the pork chops out of the fridge 1 hour before you plan to eat. Get the butter out too. You have a choice now, you can either scrape the marinade off if you like, or leave it on. It burns a bit in the pan but I personally love the flavour.

5. Get your extractor fan on or open a window. In a large frying pan, add a splash of oil and fry the pork chops, starting by browning the fatty end carefully by propping it up with tongs. When the fat is coloured, cook the chop for 5-7 minutes on each side until cooked through. The exact time will depend on the thickness of your chops and how big a bone is in there. Melt half your butter in the pan half way through cooking, and spoon it over the chops to create a lovely pool of sauce. 

6. When you’re happy the chops are cooked, pop them on a plate and add a tablespoon of the butter on top of each chop to melt. You can deglaze the pan with a touch of white wine (the vin- to your -daloo) or water, if you fancy a touch more gravy on the plate.

7. Serve up by plating the chops with a spoonful of the butter (and any juices) and the pickled onions on the side. Enjoy with salad, and Indian bread (I make Manjula’s Tawa Naan). Add some fresh green chillies on the side too if you want extra spice!

NB: I also served this with a mint yogurt/sauce which was my attempt at recreating the one that comes with Babur takeaways. Mix ½ cup yogurt with ½ tsp turmeric, and 1 tsp dried mint. Season with salt and a squeeze of lemon. It’s so simple, but so good.

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I was inspired to make this dish after eating the brunch menu at Bombay Bustle in Maddox Street where corn with black salt and chilli was served alongside fried chicken.

Corn on the cob with black salt and chilli
Serves 2

1 corn cob
1 tsp black salt
1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
Butter
Lime/lemon

1. If using a corn on the husk, remove the husk then cut in 2, down the middle. Boil your corn cobs for 5 minutes or until tender. Next char the corn either directly on an open gas flame, or under the grill, until some kernels start to go black.

2. Finish by taking the corn off the heat, and when cool to handle slice down the middle vertically so they have a flat edge and a rounded edge. Place in a bowl then spread with butter (you can also use the Vindaloo butter above if you’ve made it!). Sprinkle with the black salt, Kashmiri chilli powder and finish with a squeeze of lime or lemon juice to serve.

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To DOOF magazine

I was lucky enough to speak to the wonderful and knowledgeable community of DOOF via an Instagram takeover last week.

It was loads of fun. We talked about how we learnt to cook (which for me was not romantically at my Mum or Grandma’s side, but largely via YouTube videos and WhatsApp messages).

I made some Lithuanian Cepelinai (curd cheese dumplings) inspired by a trip I went on a few years ago with my Dad, to the town my Jewish Lithuanian ancestors left in the 1800s. Lithuania has a disturbing history of pogroms, and during the Holocaust only 5% of Lithuania’s Jews survived.

My attempt at cepelinai - they’re not easy, folks!

We discussed whether cooking in the age of Instagram is the last acceptable form of showing off (answer: yes, but no one’s getting hurt). And we exchanged our childhood birthday dinners, favourite dumplings to make, and things to fry. Soup wontons, and German plum dumplings are first on my list.

I strongly recommend giving DOOF a follow, I’ve learnt about the cuisines of Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Northern China and so much more since my friend Emi put me on to the account earlier this year. Thanks Emi!

See you in a fortnight, when I’ll have a soup and pasta recipe all the way from Melbourne, Australia for you. Have a great week.