If you’ve left your Father’s Day shopping late, head out today and buy a copy of Paul Mercurio’s Cooking with Beer, perfect for dad. This is one of the recipes from the book.

Mercurio’s Pork and Pumpkin Red Curry

I have made this dish a lot as it is one of my favourites and I have used quite a few different beers along the way – Ales and Lagers. I have to say though that I think the Duvel is the best beer I have used for this dish. Its high alcohol works well with the pork sweetness, its malty character works so well with the heat from the red Curry and the hop character cuts the coconut cream so the whole dish is fresh, fragrant, clean and delicious.

Image from Cooking With Beer by Paul Mercurio, published by Murdoch Books.

Ingredients

• Peanut oil
• 1 Spanish red onion – peeled, halved and sliced
• Half a red capsicum cut in thin strips
• 3 tablespoons Red curry paste
• 700g of Pork neck – diced in 4- 5cm cubes – I like my curry meat to be cut in big chunks
• 1 tblsp Tamarind paste
• 1 can of Coconut cream
• 1 bottle of Duvel – a spectacular Belgian Ale that is fruity, clean and unique
• 4 Kaffir lime leaves
• ½ kilo pumpkin cubed
• 3 potatoes – peeled and cut into 8 pieces each
• 8 squash – cut in half
• 2 zucchini – cut in rounds
• Fresh Coriander – chopped

Pre heat oven to 160° fan forced

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In a large casserole dish over medium high heat sweat sliced onions and capsicum in some olive oil until just starting to colour. Add the curry paste and cook for a several minutes until fragrant and well combined with the onions then add the pork and mix well to coat the meat, cook on high for a couple of minutes stirring all the time. Add the Tamarind Paste and stir through well then add the beer and coconut cream giving it all a good stir so as to combine. Allow to come up to a boil before adding the lime leaves, pumpkin and potatoes. Stir all the vegetables through and again let it come up to boil then turn off the heat put a lid on the casserole dish and place in the oven for 1 ½ hours giving it a stir once or twice. Then add squash and zucchini and cook for a further 45 minutes depending on how you like your veggies done.

During the cooking the pumpkin will breakdown completely and it then mixes with all of the cooking juices to make a rich pumpkin sauce!

Stir through some chopped coriander and then serve in big bowls on some rice. Garnish with a little more coriander.

Serves Four