
Sri Lankan spicy pork curry is an extremely popular day to day recipe and one close to my heart from my own flavor town Colombo. My mom never cooked pork at home. When I got married and realized how much my husband loved eating spicy pork curry and how good my mother-in-law was at cooking it. Bright red, steamy, saucy, and such gourmet in an everyday curry. Absolutely delicious. So, no pressure!
Little by little I mastered the technique of making a great flavored spicy pork curry and I am happy to share my recipe with you today. The curry seasoning for my spicy pork curry can be made ahead of time and go in the freezer and use it whenever you need. To cut down cooking time, we can make the pork in a pressure cooker as well. My spicy pork curry recipe works in stove top, Instant pot or in oven equally well.
Choosing the cut for a flavorful spicy pork curry
To get the intense flavor of my version of pork curry, we need to use some bone and fat along with meat. This red curry inspired Sri Lankan spicy pork curry is a one single dish, you do not have to think too much about buying a specific cut of pork. It is an easy cookout of dinner without a lot of planning ahead. This recipe works well for bone in pork chops, picnic shoulder, Pork ribs or pork butt.
One thing we do have to be careful about is how much fat we need to trim off from the meat. Little fat makes it flavorful, but a lot of it will make the curry overly greasy and not appetizing. For a good curry and a good balance of flavor in the sauce we need marbled fat in between muscle intact. Trim off the skin and any thick layer of fat under the skin if you have any.
Little bit more about cuts of pork meat.
To prepare the meat for curry, Rinse the meat under cold water and cut it into bite sized cubes.
Making the curry powder base for the pork curry
One of the reasons why this spicy pork curry is my personal favorite is because it gets better as time goes on. Whenever I can, I cook a big batch and save some in freezer for next time I am craving some delicious red spicy pork curry.
You could easily make the spicy pork curry powder blend using my home blend red curry powder and black curry powder, if you have been following my recipe blog. However, today I am going to describe how to make the spicy pork curry seasoning from scratch. I know there is a long list of spices in this recipe, however each one contributes to flavor color and aroma. I always try to give ingredients to make a little extra curry powder that can go in the freezer in a zip tight bag and be used when you need curry in hurry.
Snapshot of the cooking process




Sri Lankan Spicy Pork Curry
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp salt to taste
- 1 tbsp coconut vinegar
- ¼ black cumin seeds
- 2 tbsp Spanish paprika
- 1 tbsp black curry powder
- 3 tbsp red curry Powder
- 1 tbsp tamarind paste
- 2 Malabar Tamarind /Brindle berry optional
- 1 inch stick of cinnamon
- 1 tbsp crushed ginger and garlic
- 2 medium red onions
- 2 red Thai chilies
- 2 inch stalk of lemongrass
- 5 Curry leaves
- 3 lb Pork cut of meat your choice
- 4 lb. pork pork butt, shoulder works best
Instructions
- Trim off the outer layer of fat and cut the meat as evenly as possible. Leave a little bit of fat and bone intact. Rinse, drain and set aside.
- Make a paste using all spices and herbs except onions. massage into pork and cover let it marinade 30 minutes.
- Slice onions thin. Crush ginger and garlic and bruise lemongrass. Set it aside.
- Heat a saucepan and brown the pork in batches. In the same pan caramelize onions until golden brown. return the browned meat back in to pan and add enough water and stir everything.
- Cover and cook on medium low until pork become tender and sauce becomes thick to coat the spoon.
- Enjoy over rice or pasta.
7 responses to “Sri Lankan spicy pork curry is gourmet of everyday cooking”
It does not indicate how much of pork for the inguru given
Hi recipe is for 4 lb. of pork. Pork shoulder or butt, or stewing or braising cuts work best.
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That’s a lot of ingredients , sounds delicious though…
I would love to try that one day 😜
I promise you ingredients are worth it
You can now request a custom made recipe kit for this curry or sign up to make it a lesson 🙂