The aroma of Anglo-Indian pork vindaloo cooking in my kitchen takes me back to COVID-19 days. The flavour and the aroma were nearly there. I couldn’t wait for a day for the flavours to mature in another eight hours or so. All I could remember was the finger-licking taste of Trina’s pork vindaloo—the best I have ever had. Trina is a very close friend of ours and her mother started a cloud kitchen during COVID. Aunty’s food was just brilliant, but the pork vindaloo was Trina’s recipe, and she cooked. Well, this was nearly the same, and I could not feel more proud.
Kolkata holds a special place for the Anglo-Indian community, known for its fascinating cuisine. My first introduction to Anglo-Indian food was through friends at my Christian school in the early 90s. Their homemade Christmas cakes, kulkuls, and rose cookies were delightful gifts that became the highlight of the season. Over time, I learned their recipes are family treasures, passed down with care. Dishes like pork vindaloo, a must-have at Christmas lunches, exemplify how they adapted European recipes by adding Indian spices, creating something unique yet familiar.
While most people associate vindaloo with Goa’s fiery Portuguese heritage, the Anglo-Indian community of Kolkata has crafted their interpretation of this classic dish. The Anglo-Indian pork vindaloo speaks of a community that has mastered the art of fusion long before it became a culinary buzzword. Unlike its Goan cousin, the Kolkata version incorporates mustard powder, a nod to the Bengali love for mustard, and occasionally tomatoes, which add a subtle sweetness to balance the vinegar’s tang. Like most of their recipes, the vindaloo remains a closely guarded secret, passed down through generations. Their stories of Christmas celebrations in the railway colonies and extravagant club dinners in Calcutta during the British era are strikingly similar.
The Anglo-Indian community’s love for fusion shines in their festive dishes. Created to utilize leftover Sunday roast, Jalfrezi is a stir-fry bursting with chillies and spices. Also, Madras influences are evident in the pairing of ball curry with coconut-flavoured yellow rice. Pork or beef bhooni and pantheras—Burmese-inspired meat-stuffed crepes—add variety to the menu. Each dish is simple yet bursting with flavour, showing the community’s knack for adapting and innovating.
Christmas in Kolkata wouldn’t be the same without the Anglo-Indian touch. And the Anglo-Indian influence has become so ingrained in the community that many Bengalis mistake it for Bengali cuisine, substituting mutton for pork. If you’re not a fan of the Sunday mangshor jhol, are you a fan of vindaloo? And Christmas lunch is incomplete without this robust and hearty pork curry.
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Anglo-Indian Pork Vindaloo
Ingredients
- 2 kg pork belly with skin, cut into cubes
For Marination
- ½ cup malt vinegar
- 2 tbsp garlic paste
- 1 tbsp ginger paste
- 1 tsp red chili powder
- ½ tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1½ tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp garam masala powder
- 2 tsp Kashmiri red chili powder
- 1 tbsp mustard paste
For cooking
- 2 tsp mustard oil
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 2 tsp black peppercorn
- 2 large onion, finely sliced
- jaggery powder to taste
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Marinade the pork with the ingredients mentioned and keep it overnight.
- Heat oil in a heavy-bottomed pan, add mustard seeds and then black peppercorn.
- When they start to splutter, add the sliced onion.
- Fry the onions till they are soft and translucent. Add the marinated pork (should be at room temperature)
- Fry them on high heat for a few minutes. Then cover and cook on low heat. Pork will release water, so you need not worry.
- From time-to time, uncover and give it a stir to ensure nothing is sticking to the bottom.
- If it sticks, then sprinkle hot water. Let the pork cook slowly. Once the pork is soft, add jaggery powder to taste, to balance the sourness from the vinegar.
- Continue cooking till the moisture has more or less evaporated, you have a nice thick sauce with pork fat or oil floating.
- Serve this with rice or coconut rice.