Pork Stewed with Vegetables

Preparation

1. You can use whichever vegetables are available at that time of year. Even in winter, when you can’t get zucchini or summer squash, tomatoes and fresh herbs, it is enough to add ordinary potatoes and the pork with vegetables will turn out very well. Meat with potatoes is always tasty, and above all, everybody likes it.

2. Prepare the vegetables and meat. Peel all the vegetables ahead of time. To keep the peeled vegetables from drying out, it is better to put them in cold water. Wash the pork, remove excess fat, membranes and any bone fragments, then cut it into fairly large pieces, a bit larger than you would cut meat for pork with mushrooms. Squeeze the pork lightly to remove water.

   

Frying the meat and vegetables

1. Fry the carrot in oil. Grate the peeled carrot on a fine grater. You could cut it instead, but I like finely grated carrot because it tints the dish slightly and the stewed pork gets a pleasant color. In a large, deep frying pan over medium heat, heat the vegetable oil and let it warm up for 1-2 mins. If the oil is too fragrant, fry 2-3 crushed garlic cloves in it, then discard them. Fry the grated carrot in the oil for 2-3 mins. Carrot colors vegetable oil beautifully.

   

2. Add the hot pepper and pork and fry. Hot pepper pods, as much as you like: remove the seeds and white membranes, chop the pepper coarsely and add it to the carrot. Add the pieces of pork and keep frying over medium heat. To brown evenly, stir the meat and vegetables and don’t cover the pan with a lid. The meat will start losing liquid almost immediately, and it needs to evaporate.

   

3. Add the onion, cut into thick strips, to the carrot and pork. Stir and keep frying until the onion is soft.

   

4. Fry the potatoes with the zucchini. Cut the peeled potatoes into small cubes. Don’t cut them too small, like for Olivier salad, or the potatoes will fall apart during stewing. Add the potatoes to the pan and keep frying everything together. When the potatoes start to get slightly soft, add the peeled zucchini or summer squash, cut into cubes the same size as the potatoes. If the squash has already formed seeds, it is better to remove them.

   

   After adding the zucchini, fry the vegetables and meat for 3-4 mins.

Stewing

1. Season and add boiling water. Salt the dish, season with black pepper to taste, and add 1-2 pinches of ground coriander and 2-3 crushed garlic cloves. Stir and add 1 cup of boiling water (200 ml) from the kettle. Don’t add much water, because the zucchini will release moisture.

   

2. Stew under a lid for 20 mins. Bring the liquid to a boil and cover the pan with a lid. Reduce the heat to the lowest setting at which it still simmers. The dish should not boil hard while cooking, let alone bubble furiously. Use only the minimum heat needed. Cook the pork with vegetables for 20 mins, stirring gently from time to time.

3. Remove the lid and cook off the excess liquid. Raise the heat slightly. All the excess liquid needs to evaporate or be absorbed by the vegetables, and the meat should become tender. In the end, the dish should have practically no free liquid. The potatoes will partly break down and become part of the thick sauce.

   

Serving

1. Divide the pork with vegetables among plates and garnish. If you like, sprinkle the dish with a pinch of coarsely ground dried hot pepper. Be sure to sprinkle with finely chopped parsley.

   

   When serving, garnish the dish with a sprig of herbs, rings of hot or sweet pepper, and halved cherry tomatoes.

   

   Since the pork stewed with vegetables is cooked with potatoes, the dish needs no side dish at all. I suggest only toasted bread, fresh herbs for sure, and, if you like, a spicy appetizer, for example pepper with garlic or very tasty rolls – lavash appetizer with herbs.