This is my first pork dish here. It is very rare that I cook with pork at home and in general its not a meat which everybody enjoys. I myself am quite difficult and choosy when I cook and eat with pork, its just that nowadays I have seen more useless pork meats around then ever before. An other factor is the fat amount, and I am the type of person who detests chewing for minutes on a wobbly pieces of fat, surely I am not the only one who thinks like that!
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A small trip to the Mapusa market some time back enabled me to come across a beautiful, tender, boneless, lean piece of pork fillet, which is by the way also known as pork tenderloin. This part of the pig is one of the most prized and valued by cooks all over the world. I found a nice picture in the wikipedia/wikimedia archives which describes where the different meat cuts are situated.
The Pork fillet is situated in the center, here described as number 8.
The pork fillet with potatoes and mushrooms recipe was passed over by my mum, several years back and I thought it to be fitting to share it with my readers now. This recipe is quite simple and quick to prepare, you just have to be careful that you don’t over cook the meat! The flavors can be described as homely and warming, my husband loves it for its simplicity and because it reminds him of Austria and since I am going soon to Europe, leaving my husband behind, I thought of him and made him a nice pot of this recipe.
- 1 big pork fillet (tenderloin) ~500 gm
- 1 big Onion - cut into thin slices
- 10 garlic pods - half amount chopped
- 700 g cooked Potatoes - peeled and quartered
- 500 g Mushrooms - cut into thin slices
- ½ Tsp Cumin
- 1 Tsp Marjoram or Oregano
- 1 Maggie Cube
- 3 Tsp Olive Oil
- 250 ml Water
- 2 Tbs liquid Cream
- Start by rinsing the pork fillet and remove the membrane skin and fats if there are any. Cut the meat into 2 halves and cut with a knife in small wholes randomly into the meat pieces, so that you can push in 5 whole garlic pods. That's going to season the meat from inside.
- Grab a big high pot and throw in the cut Onion, Potato, Garlic and Mushroom pieces. Mix it all well and place the 2 meat halves inbetween. Season with the above mentioned ingredients and cover it all well with oil.
- Keep the pot on medium heat for 2 minutes, mixing with the cooking spoon inbetween well.Now pour in the water, liquid cream and mix it carefully all again well. Cover and let it cook for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, you just need to take out the meat and cut it into serving size strips and serve hot with the mushroom, potato and the sauce.
Tiracol Fort – North Goa
Well, well… I had promised you all, already some time back, a little trip to the Tiracol Fort in Goa. Before you get to see the pictures, and I know you all prefer the photos, I ll share some facts about this barely known Goan heritage building.
Tiracol, also known as Terekhol, is situated at the far northern end of Goa, right next to the neighboring state of Maharashtra. Its quite isolated because one has to use the ferry to reach there and there are barely any tourists roaming about those hills, as I had mentioned here. You have to imagine it took me 5 years to decide to finally check it out and I am glad that my husband took me to visit the fort the other day, because its quite a classy, peaceful place with a gorgeous view. The Fort itself was turned recently into a Hotel, we didn’t reside there but it seems the prizes where around 10000 INR per night (~180 $), BUT even though its a Hotel, anybody can go in and check the Fort out.
The Fort was build in the 17 th century by a Hindu maharajah and was taken over later on by force by the Portuguese roman catholic colonialists (More about the story here).
The Fort entrance
Wondering what’s in the Trunk or what used to be in it.
The St. Andrew church isn’t open to the public, unfortunately.
You can walk down to the the cliff shores and chill there…
… or you can sit on top and get a drink or two and enjoy the wonderful view.
Looks majestic and ancient – “A Saudosa Memoria” in Portuguese and Konkani.
The tiny Tiracol Village beach and cemetery.
The way back we found some green fields. Green fields in April/May, in Goa!
Crazy right?!
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Beautiful photography and a very exotic (to me) dish means a fabulous post 😀
Thanks!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
My hubby loves pork dishes too, he would love this dish!!! What a lovely mix of flavors, definitely homey:-) Sending Hugs, Terra
Thank you for sharing the amazing photos! The pork dish looks gorgeous and as as big fan of pork I would love to have it to day for dinner.
I also don’t eat that much pork, although my dad made it a lot growing up. This sounds delicious!! And your trip looks amazing. How I want to visit Goa!!
I’m a big fan of tenderloin – I always just sear the outside and then finish it off quickly in the oven. It’s such a delicious piece of meat. I never tried it cooked any other way… especially not like this. Thanks for the idea, I’ll have to be more adventurous with my tenderloin cooking!
I loved the pictures of Fort Tiracol – it looks such a calm, relaxing place. I bet just sitting there looking out at that view is a real experience!
Wow. Those destination photos look amazing!
so.. ready to come to goa? ^.^
Your blog and your pictures make me feel like a complete stranger to Goa.. although I am goan! I am missing home!!! and lovely recipe for your pork 🙂
have fun in europe hunny