WTSIM Indonesian: Tinoransak (Spicy Pork Stew)

Description:
Indonesian food is so much more than beef rendang, satay, fried noodle or fried rice. Each province has its own specialty and the taste can be very much different from the other area. From sweet to savoury and hot. From plain to very much spiced up. Not mentioning that each household may have their own way of cooking the same dish. Some of the Indonesian foods are also influenced by other ethnic groups such as Indian, Arabic, Chinese, Portuguese and Dutch due to the trading and the colonialization era with them.

When I saw Mbak Arfi's post about this event, I thought it would be a good time to try a new recipe that I would like to try since a few months ago. The dish is called Tinoransak which means pork cooked in spices. The dish is from Manado in North Sulawesi. The dish may not look appetizing because of the green chillies, but... you have to taste it! It is very mourish... mouth watering dish.

When I asked my fellow blogging friends, there are so many variations of this dish. Some people may use lemon basil leaves and some may use herbs that I have not even seen them in my life. It's just those herbs only available in that area and not commonly used in the other provinces. The dishes from this region are dominated by tons of chilli, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, lemon basil and screw pine leaves besides the basic shallot and garlic.

I adapted the recipe from Seri Masak Femina Primarasa: A la Resto Manado. I didn't crush the spices with mortar and pastle, but I only sliced the spices as the fragrant will still be amalgamated to the dish. I also adjusted the chillies so that it does not burn me inside out!

This post is also available in http://14byreginab.blogspot.com/2008/09/wtsim-indonesian-tinoransak-spicy.html.




Ingredients:
600 g pork neck, cut into 2 big chunks
750 mL water

250 g (2 medium) Spanish onion, peeled, halved then quartered and sliced coarsely
2 cloves garlic, chopped coarsely
5 big green chilli, sliced lengthwise, deseeded and sliced
4 cm ginger, peeled and finely grated
0.5 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp salt
12 kaffir lime leaves
3 lemongrass, white part only and bruised
3 Tbsp canola oil


Directions:
Simmer pork in water on low heat for 15 minutes in a small pot. Meanwhile, prepare the spices.

Turn of the fire and take out the meat from the water. Cut the meat into pieces, about 1.5x2x3 cm.

Heat up oil on a saucepan and saute the spices until fragrant and tender. Add the meat to the seasoning. Then, add half of the simmering water or just enough to cover the meat. Cook until the stock is reduced to quarter or meat is tender.


Cook's Note:
- Cooking time depends on the cut of meat. If using tender lean meat, do not cook too long. Also, do not add to much simmering water, otherwise, it will be soup when the meat is tender. The dish should have a little bit of gravy by end of cooking.
- Bottled lemongrass is very much milder in comparison to the fresh lemongrass. I think it was just a waste to use the bottled lemongrass since the fragrant is not there at all. I still keep the green part of the lemon grass as it's better than the bottle lemongrass to flavour the dish. I keep the lemongrass in the freezer as it keeps longer.
- I used Spanish onion to replace shallots due to the high cost of shallots.
- The dish can be made with other meat such as beef, lamb, chicken or fish.