At Wickedfood Cooking school’s latest pop-up restaurant in Sunninghill Johannesburg, we served a home made pie with a spicy adobo pork stew accompanied by a raspberry coulis. They turned out to be a huge success, no doubt the quality of the ingredients playing a big part. We went with a hot water crust pastry lid over the rich pork stew, which complemented the overall pie very well. Here is the spicy pork stew recipe we included in the pie.

2T oil

2 medium onions, chopped

750g boneless pork shoulder/leg, cut into 3cm cubes

1 bottle lager beer

5 jalapeños, de-seeded and chopped

3T adobo sauce (see below)

2t ground cumin

Salt and pepper to taste

• Heat a large heavy bottomed pot until very hot. Rub oil over the meat and fry pork, in batches if necessary until browned on all sides. Transfer pork to a bowl and set aside.
• Reduce heat to low, add onions and stirring to scrape up browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Cover and cook stirring occasionally until onions are golden brown, about 10mins. Add the fried pork, beer, jalapeños, adobo sauce, cumin, salt and pepper and stir until combined. Simmer, covered, stirring occasionally until pork is tender, about 1½ hours. To thicken add pre-made roux (2 parts butter and 1 part flour) and cook for a further 20 minutes until thick. Season to taste.

 

Adobo sauce

4 hot Thai chillies, de-seeded and de-veined

6 dried jalapeños

¾ cup water

2 cloves garlic, peeled

1 ½ t apple cider vinegar

¾ t salt

¼ t ground cumin

• Pre-heat oven to grill. Toast Thai chillies until fragrant, about 1 minute
• Soak jalapeños in hot water until they are soft, about 30-45mins. Drain and discard water.
• Put ¾ cup water in a blender with all the chillies and remaining ingredients, Blend until smooth adding a little more water and vinegar in necessary.
• If you like a smoother sauce, pass through a fine sieve.