Pork with chick-pea (and navy beans) curry 豚肉と雛豆のカレー

This is another curry/stew made from the trimmings of skin-on and bone-in large pork butt roast we have been getting. As usual, after removing the skin and bones, I made two roasts; one for barbecue in the Weber and another for simmered pork. The remaining meat was cut up for stew. I simmered the stew meat ahead of time in chicken broth and kept it in the refrigerator with the broth. I then commissioned my wife to make something from it. She consulted her trusty Indian Cookbook by Madhur Jaffrey. The original recipe was supposedly pork chops with chickpeas. But as indicated above the pork stew meat was substituted for the pork chop. In addition by mistake, my wife opened a can of navy beans as well as a can of chickpeas. So navy beans were substituted for some of the chickpeas. (Note from Wifey: Both cans showed white beans on the label and I was concentrating on the inventory control of using the cans with the oldest expiration dates. I didn’t notice the cans were for different beans until I opened them) So as usual the ordinal recipe was basically “advisory”. This is not spicy hot but lots of spices went in. Like other curry, I served this over rice, with blanched broccoli and Japanese curry accompaniments, rakyo (white items in the picture below) and fukishinzuke (red one).

Since we precooked the pork in the broth, it came out extra tender. The combination of navy beans and chickpeas worked well.

As usual, I ask my wife to provide the recipe.

Ingredients
1 can of navy beans
1 can of chickpeas
3 garlic cloves
1 1/2 inch cube of ginger sliced
3 Tbs. chicken stock
1/4 tsp. cardamom
4 bay leaves
1 inch cinnamon stick
3 medium onions peeled and coarsely chopped
1 Tbs. ground cumin
1 Tbs. ground coriander
1 Tsp. ground turmeric
3 medium tomatoes peeled
3 parsnips peeled and cut into pennies (original recipe called for potatoes)
1 Tbs. salt
1 cup of mushrooms sliced
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper or to taste 

Directions:
Put the ginger, garlic, and chicken stock in a food processor with a blade. Pulse until it forms a paste.
Put several Tbs. oil in a frying pan. Add the cardamom, bay leaves and cinnamon. Heat until the spices bloom and become fragrant. Add the onions and stir until they are partially caramelized. Add the ginger garlic paste and stir until the garlic smells fragrant and the mixture has been incorporated with the onions. add the cumin, coriander, and turmeric stirring until they become fragrant. Add the parsnips (or potato) and tomato. Mash the tomato. Cook gently until the parsnips become soft. Add the beans and the stewed pork with the liquid in which it was cooked. Cook for 20 minutes until all the flavors meld. If the curry looks too soupy reduce it on low heat until the desired consistency is reached.

This was a pretty good curry. The mixture of chickpeas and navy beans worked out well. They absorb the flavor of the spices and add a creaminess to the curry sauce. The pork was deliciously tender. The parsnips added their characteristic sweetness. Although the curry was not hot (my wife forgot to add the cayenne pepper) it had multidimensional layers of flavor. A great way to eat pork trimmings.