Sunday, August 31, 2008

Carne de Puerco Con Quimbombo (Pork and Okra)

I am gonna be honest, I am not fond of this dish, I do not like it much, and it is not that it "tastes" bad, it's that I don't like Okra or I simply prefer to eat another dish.

I saw some Okra in the farmers market, and I know there's Cuban dishes that utilize it, even though my grandmother never made any in my presence that I know of, so I decided to buy some Okra I gave my grandmother a call and asked her how can I make Okra and meat Cuban dish that she might know.

So she told me and now I'm making it, but I personally do not like the okra, my grandmother said she never cooked it because she HATES it, that she has bad memories from it every time she sees okra it reminds her of her abusive step mother in Cuba who would cook pork with okra and make it all gooey and nasty my grandma said she would make it all sloppy and gooey then she would lock my grandma up and starve her for sometimes up to 3 days until she would eat the Okra with Pork.

Anyways my grandmother gave me a recipe she said this one is how her Dad made it she recalls and that it was prepared good and not a sloppy gooey mess, that is not my favorite but it's still good if you like Okra so my suggestion, if you like okra make this if you don't skip it.

Ingredients:

-1 pound pork meat cut into bite size cubes (I use pork butt also wash it really well)
-1 pound okra
-juice of 1 lime
-1 medium or small green bell pepper minced
-1/2 a large onion minced
-6 cloves of garlic finely minced
-3 fresh large tomatoes grated to a sauce or 1 can 8 oz. Tomato sauce
-1/3 cup or less dry white wine just a few splashes (optional)
-salt to taste
-black pepper to taste (optional I don't use it here)
-ground cumin about 1/2 teaspoon
-water

Directions:(1) Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, while waiting for it to boil prepare a seperate large bowl with ice cold water set aside, trim the ends of the okra and slice into thick pieces maybe 1 inch thick. Add to the boiling water and boil uncovered until bright green.

(2) Drain it, shock it in cold ice water, swoosh it around for a while,add lime juice, and set is aside.

(3) Now heat olive oil in a pan on medium high, brown the pork meat with salt and pepper, now add a little more oil and sautee onion and bell pepper until translucent about 5 minutes, add garlic sautee until fragrant about 30 seconds to 1 minute, now add a couple generous splashes of dry white wine, add the tomato sauce and about 1 cup of water, season with salt to taste again if necessary and add ground cumin, stir, bring to a boil and simmer on low about 1 hour until pork is tender.

(4) Uncover check if meat is tender with a fork, if so turn off heat and drain okra, pat dry, and fold into the dish your ready, serve with some white rice and maybe some fried plantains.
P.S. I was tired and lazy I didn't take all the pictures I needed for this recipe.

4 comments:

Núria said...

Your grandmom is a walking gastronomic enciclopedia, chico!!! Have to check what Okra is, though.

How could anyone do that to a child? Hope she gets horrible toothaches very often ;D

Nathan said...

Haha, it's okay her step mother is dead now either she got killed during the dictatorship in Cuba, stuck on the Island and had a horrible life because the government confiscated everything, had to run away to USA or Spain, or lived happily being a supporter of the Communist government living of all the confescations and died.

My grandma lost all contact after 60's with the family. (or so she say's she is a mysterious woman)

Anonymous said...

I love kimbombo and I make this often. Even my americanized children and co workers love it. My recepie is a little different but if you make sure to brown the pork well than cook until the meat is tender with good sofrito you will have a dish even okra haters will like.

Nathan said...

hola anonymous,
would you mind sharing your recipe I'd be more than willing to try it out and learn a new or even better way of making it. Mines good but it could be better lol.