Pork Vindaloo served in Soup Curry-style スープカレー風豚肉のビンダルーカレー

This is a serving variation of  pork “vindaloo” curry my wife made. The pork vindaloo she makes has evolved over the years mostly by how the pork is handled. The most recent iteration involves chunks of pork derived from a large skin-on, bone-in “picnic-cut” pork that I separate it into its various components . I cook the pork chunks in chicken broth (Swanson low-salt kind) using an Instant Pot pressure cooker. This cooking method produces by-far the best pork for curry. The meat becomes very tender and the broth is flavorful and contains lots of collagen from the meat. When refrigerated, the broth congeals. Using both the meat and broth in the curry makes this version of vindaloo the best my wife has made. The curry looks thick when it is cold but when it is heated up it becomes rather soupy (not like roux-based curry). This gave me an idea of how this curry could be served. In Japan, there is the type of curry called “soup curry*” which originated in Sapporo, Hokkaido 札幌, 北海道, my hometown. It became popular as a variation of Japanese curry in 2000s.

I served this curry as a light lunch and did not want to have rice with it. So, instead, I sauteed some vegetables in the manner similar to the one used to make Sapporo soup curry.  I had green beans and asparagus, both briefly steamed and skinned Campari tomatoes.Since I made “dashi-maki だし巻き” Japanese omelet, I also added a piece.  Even without rice, this was a quite filling lunch. We like this presentation. Especially, the sauteed tomato added a nice fresh taste with some acidity.

*”Soup curry” was reportedly invented in Sapporo (in a small coffee shop) in the 1970s and then spread throughout Japan in 2000s. The curry flavored soup was not thickened and vegetables are in relatively large pieces and separately deep fried without batter. The meat is usually bone-in, skin-on  chicken legs but can be any kind of meat. Rice is served separately unlike other Japanese curry in which the curry is served on the top of the rice (hence, the name; rice curry or curry rice) We had soup curry when we were in Sapporo sometime ago. It was good but that particular dish was not outstanding. The one we made here was much better.