Pork Curry with Chocolate

My favorite curry in 2022!

A creamy, comforting dish for cold weather days~

Over the years, I have experimented cooking curry with different ‘secret ingredients’, such as apple, cheese, dried mango…etc. But really, nothing beats dark chocolate. I love the hint of its bittersweetness in curry, and that it also helped thicken the curry.

You can even stock some portion of this mouth-watering curry in freezer for easy meals later. Simply defrost the curry before use, then reheat it in a pot of a steamer. Thin it with a touch of water if needed.

Serve this curry over rice or noodles.

Or better yet, over scrambled egg! I probably had this curry over scramble eggs as brunch for 3 days in a roll. Thinking of it, need to make it again soon~

Servings: 4-5

Ingredients:

1.25 lbs. (567g) pork butt, cut into 1-1.5” chunks

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 onion, sliced

1 tomato, chopped in chunks

2 carrots, peeled, chopped in chunks

2 potatoes, peeled, chopped in chunks

1 apple, optional – peeled and diced

1 bay leaf

1 tbsp unsalted butter

2 tbsp cooking oil

½ tsp salt for the pork

1 tsp salt for the vegetables

More salt to taste for the broth

3.9 oz (110g) Japanese Curry sauce roux cubes – ½ box

1.5 oz. (42g) dark chocolate – better higher than 70%   

(I definitely put more than 50g :P, you can add a little to start)

100g heavy cream

Instructions: 

1.     Marinate the pork chunks with ½ tsp salt for 15 minutes.

2.     Heat up 1 tbsp cooking oil and pan-fry the pork till golden on all sides to seal the juices, no need to cook fully. Remove from pan and set aside.

3.     Melt 1 tbsp butter with 1 tbsp cooking oil in a deep soup pot (I used a 4.2 qt. pot). Stir-fry the onion over medium-high heat till soft and translucent.

4.     Add tomato, carrots, garlic, and apple. Season with 1 tsp salt and cook for a few minutes.

5.     Add bay leaf and pork to the pot. Fill the pot with water till just over the ingredients and bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until ingredients are tender, about 1 hr.

6.     Break the curry sauce cubes into smaller pieces, add to the soup. Simmer without the lid for 10 minutes. Stir from time to time to ensure the curry sauce melts thoroughly.

7.     Mix in dark chocolate till melt, and simmer till the soup thickens.

8.      If needed, season with some salt to taste.

9.     Serve over steamed rice. Delish!

*Note that the curry will become thicker when refrigerated overnight.