Sorpotel
Panaji, Goa, India
A fiery, tangy stew of pork meat, liver, and heart simmered in a dark sauce of toddy vinegar, roasted spices, and tamarind that gets better with each passing day. Sorpotel is never eaten the day it's made. It's cooked days before Christmas or a feast and left to mature at room temperature, the vinegar acting as both preservative and flavor catalyst, deepening into something richer and more complex with every reheat. The dish arrived with Portuguese colonizers in the 16th century (from the Portuguese 'sarapatel') but Goan cooks transformed it beyond recognition, adding Kashmiri chilies, cumin, cloves, and the crucial feni vinegar that gives it a punch no European version ever had. At Goan Catholic weddings, sorpotel is served alongside sannas (steamed rice cakes), beef tongue (lingua), and warm pav. The best sorpotel is always on day three.
Ingredients
- 300 gpork shoulder (cubed)
- 150 gpork liver
- 100 gpork heart
- 0.5 cuptoddy vinegar or palm vinegar
- 8 piecesKashmiri dried red chilies
- 1 tspcumin seeds
- 1 tspblack peppercorns
- 6 piecescloves
- 1 small piececinnamon stick
- 0.5 tspturmeric powder
- 8 piecesgarlic cloves
- 1 inch pieceginger (chopped)
- 2 mediumonions (finely chopped)
- 1 tbsptamarind pulp
- 1 tspjaggery
- 3 tbspvegetable oil
- to tastesalt
Directions
- 1
Boil the pork shoulder, liver, and heart together in salted water until just cooked through, about 20 minutes. Reserve the cooking liquid. Cut all the meat into small, uniform cubes.
- 2
Soak the Kashmiri chilies in warm vinegar for 15 minutes, then grind them into a smooth paste along with the cumin, peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon, garlic, and ginger.
- 3
Heat oil in a heavy pot and fry the chopped onions until deep golden brown.
- 4
Add the ground spice paste and turmeric, frying on medium heat for 5 minutes until the oil separates and the raw smell disappears.
- 5
Add the cubed pork, liver, and heart. Stir well to coat everything in the spice paste. Pour in about half a cup of the reserved cooking liquid.
- 6
Stir in the remaining vinegar, tamarind pulp, jaggery, and salt. Bring to a simmer, then cook uncovered on low heat for 30 minutes until the sauce is dark, thick, and clinging to the meat.
- 7
Remove from heat, let it cool completely, and refrigerate. Reheat and serve the next day (or better yet, on day three) with warm pav or sannas.