Kikalayi Pork - Kampala Sanctuary Recipe

Kikalayi Pork is a traditional Ugandan cuisine made with mixture of juicy pork and colorful vegetables. This stew can be enjoyed as a main dish at home or added to your seasonal potluck!

INGREDIENTS

• 2lbs of pork
• Salt & pepper
• 4 big tomatoes, finely chopped
• 2 big onions, finely chopped
• 2 carrots, grated
• ½ of a small cabbage
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 green pepper, finely chopped
• 2 Irish potatoes, chopped (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Separate the pork skin/fat from the pork meat, and cut the pieces of pork skin/fat into small pieces. 
2. Cut the meat pieces into bite size pieces with a sharp knife.
3. In a small bowl, make a paste with the black pepper, salt and crushed garlic. Rub the paste on the pork meat and let it rest for 1 to 2 hours, preferably in the fridge.
4. In a saucepan or cooking pot, put all pieces of pork skin/fat and cook it over moderate heat. The pork skin will start to produce oil, keep turning it to avoid it from burning. The pork skin/fat will start changing colour from white to brown as it produces more oil. Cook the pork skin in its oil until it becomes brown and crunchy.  This method removes extra fat from the pork skin and leaves it crunchy. This process will take at least 30 minutes.
5. Pour the natural pork oil that has been generated by the pork skin/fat out into a bowl and place the cooking pot back over the heat. Let the pork skin/fat produce new oil for 1 to 2 minutes and then add the rest of the meat to the skin in the cooking pot. Cook the skin and pork meat together, and continue to stir it to avoid burning.
6. The pork meat will also start browning, turn it on all sides to ensure that all the sides have browned. 
7. Add chopped onions, carrots, green pepper, garlic respectively, cook this mixture for 1-2 minutes until they have become tender, then add the tomatoes to the mixture and cook them until soft and they make a sauce, then add the cabbage, salt, a pinch of black paper and curry powder to taste.
8. Add three cups of water to make the stew soup. Then add in the chopped Irish potatoes to the soup. Cover the cooking pot and bring the stew to a boil. Let the pork boil on moderate heat for close to one hour as you monitor the soup. Let the soup reduce to a level of 1 cup to half a cup, the pork stew is now ready to be served. Enjoy!