Uncle Vishnu's Old Time Goan style BBQ sauce

[hrothgar]

I spend much the weekend in the kitchen putting on a major feast for about 30 friends. The main course was a pair of slow roaster boston butts with an vindaloo inspired BBQ sauce. (This is part of the shoulder of a pig). In any case, I've gotten a LOT of requests for the recipe. Given that I bothered to type it up, I figured that I'd post it here. Hopefully, someone will find this useful

 

A number of folks were asking about the recipe for "Uncle Vishnu's Old Time Goan BBQ sauce". As is oft the case, the recipe varies from batch to batch. However, here is a basic description how to make sauce used yesterday.

 

Please note, there is a fair amount of mustard oil used in this sauce. It can be cut down if you're health conscious. However, given how sparingly people use this, I don't worry about it all that much. (If people are that worried about fat, then they won't be eating the pork to begin with)

 

Also, this is an industrial size recipe. We had enough BBQ sauce for 2x6 pound boston butts, plus all the chicken. I still went home with a couple extra containers.

 

Ingredients

 

Step 1: Vinegar and chili's

 

1 cup White Vinegar

¾ cup Bragg's unfilter cider vinegar

¼ cup red whine vinegar

~16 habeneros

~4 Indian green chillies

 

Put the vinegar in a non reactive bowl. Add coarsely chopped chilies.

Set aside to soak for a couple hours.

 

Step 2: Sweetness

 

2 medium onions sliced paper thin

2 cups shallots, sliced paper thin

6 inches of ginger, sliced into match sticks

6 large cloves garlic, minced

12 tablespoons mustard oil

 

Heat oil in pan. Add ingredients. Carmelize the onions and shallots.

Set aside

 

Step 3: Annoying

 

Remove peppers from vinegar (reserve vinegar)

30 quarter sized rounds of ginger root

12 large cloves garlic

2 medium onions

3 tablespoons mustard oil

1 28 ounce can tomato sauce (pastene seems to work well)

 

Run the first four ingredients through a food processor to produce a smooth paste. Heat mustard oil in a pan. Roast the garlic/onion/ginger/pepper paste in a pan. This is the most annoying step of the entire recipes. A good Indian curry is dependent on the quality of the bhuna. I find that this requires roasting the paste for a long time at medium temperature with lots of stirring. Here, once again, we're working towards caramelized onions.

 

When the onions have caramelized, add the tomato paste. Turn the heat up to medium high. Continue to cook, stirring continuously. You're done when the oil starts to express itself back out of the bhuna.

 

Step 4. The spices

 

~100 finely chopped curry leaves

6 tablespoons cumin seeds

3 – 4 tablespoons mustard seeds

1 tablespoon turmeric

4 tablespoons garam masala

Black and white peppercorns to taste

 

Roast cumin seeds in a cast iron pan. Grind cumins seeds and mustard

seeds using a mortar and pestle or a spice mill. Set aside

 

Step 5. It all comes together

 

Add your spice blend to the roasting bhuna. Mix in the roasted onions

and shallots. Add the reserved vinegar.

 

Add 4 cups stock to the bhuna. (I used goat stock if I have it. Any

low / zero salt commercial stock will do. The amount of stock that I

use is highly variable)

 

Add ½ can peeled tomatos (with basil) (roughly chopped)

 

Add 3 tablespoons tamarind paste.

 

Simmer for a hour for the flavors to mix