Recipe : Thevo Chu - Pork with Bamboo Shoot (Nagaland)

I had picked up a copy of Hoihnu Hazel's The Essential North-East Cookbook some time ago, but as is the case with many of my cookbooks, I hadn't really cooked from it. (guilty smile)

My recent experiments with eating North Eastern food at the Assamese Stall in Dilli Haat and the Nagaland Stall on BKS Marg reinspired me to try out this cuisine for myself.

Most of our Manglorean pork dishes are quite heavy on the ground masalas and fresh cuttings. So it ends up sitting quite heavily in our stomachs, especially in summer. North Eastern cooking is much lighter on masalas and hence pork can be eaten without reserving it for a Sunday afternoon.

I have finally found a good pork supplier in Delhi and he gives me the option of regular pork (which is very high in fat), boneless + skinless pork or boneless + skinless + fatless pork. I buy a majority of the 3rd option and half a kilo of regular pork and mix the fat up with the fat free version. This way I can control how much fat I use in my pork dishes. As anyone who loves pork will tell you, fatless pork is absolutely useless. You might as well be eating mutton or beef.

I did tweak the recipe a bit, by adding the spices much earlier than recommended as I wanted them to cook well. I soaked my bamboo shoots for 2 days changing the water every 12 hours, as that is how we use bamboo shoot back home. I used a tbsp of palm vinegar as a tenderiser and to give a hint of a tang. I also garnished with some corriander as I wanted a fresh herby finish to the dish.

Ingredients:
1kg pork
1cup washed and chopped bamboo shoot
1tsp ginger paste
1tsp garlic paste
2tsp red chilli powder
salt to taste

Method:
Wash pork, drain and cut into 2" pieces (I choopped the fat to half the size so it would break down faster)
Place pork in a pan without water or oil on low heat for 5 minutes stirring constantly.
As the pork starts giving out water, add bamboo shoots.

I added the masalas within 5 minutes of adding bamboo shoots although Hoihnu Hazel recommends adding it in the last 5-10 minutes.I also added a tbsp of palm vinegar at this stage.
Cover and cook for one hour on low heat sprinkling water if it dries too much.
While this is usually served dry, I wanted a little gravy, so I added just a little water. Since my lid did not allow the liquid to evaporate, I had a fair amount of curry in the end.

 I sprinkled some fresh chopped cilantro before serving it with hot steamed rice.

 Yum! Soul Food to warm the cockles of my heart :)

The Arunachal Pradesh version of this dish is called Arek. The method for cooking is almost the same, but there the masala is 1 tsp chopped ginger, 1 tsp chopped garlic, 1 medium tomato quartered and 3-4 green chillies.