Bhaja Moshla and Stout Pulled pork

Apart from pork belly this and pork belly that, the other porcine food item you can’t seem to go five minutes without hearing about, is pulled pork, especially when the said pulling has happened into a sandwich. Add the words ‘cuban’, and ‘food truck’ somewhere in the vicinity and you may have a mob if not a cult on your hands!

So, here is another offering at that altar with an Indian twist. And with the tried and tested kitchen implement Indians have loved forever, but seems to be making a wider comeback – the Pressure Cooker. With a rub of the spice rub ever present in Bengali kitchens (though I’m sure no two recipes are the same) – Bhaja Moshla. I’ve tried variants – with and without fennel for instance – but this stock one I use is toasted and ground cumin and dried red chili. That, and a can of guiness with some stock vegetables for flavour created that beautifully braised pork with that sauce (reduced to a glaze) in the image up top….

…..and then, as the name suggests, it was time to pull the pork into the sandwich. In another great meeting of Bombay and Calcutta, Priya had baked a fresh batch of pao, and the two worked beautifully together, with the fluffy pao with all its air pockets soaking up that beery, sweet and spicy sauce. A sprig of fresh coriander and some pickled red onion to cut the richness of the pork, and think we have something for a food truck – if that’s ever on the cards! 🙂

Aniruddha