Recipe for Traditional Portuguese Pork Meat with Cumin
Pork meat served with a delicious sauce of cumin and paprika
Posted on Monday, 30th of January 2012 by André Correia
Rojões are a classic of Portuguese home cooking, and every family seems to have their own version of the marinade. This one is my grandmother’s, built around the warm, earthy combination of cumin and paprika that gives the meat both its colour and its character. The trick is patience: letting the pork marinate for the full two hours lets the spices really work their way into the meat, and reducing the marinade down afterwards concentrates all that flavour into a rich, sticky sauce. Serve it the traditional way, with cubed fried potatoes and a simple carrot and lettuce salad to cut through the richness.
Ingredients For 4 people
- 28 oz of Pork Meat
- 2 Teaspoons of Cumin
- 1 Teaspoon of Paprika
- White Wine
- Bay Leaves
- Olive Oil
- Salt and Pepper
Preparation
Cut the meat into medium sized cubes. Put it in a bowl and leave it to marinate for two hours with cumin, paprika, the bay leaves and cover it with good quality white wine. Seasoning can be used to taste, taking into account that the paprika will give the meat it’s beautiful reddish colour while the cumin are responsible for the rich unique flavour.
The preparation is simple, add a drizzle of olive oil to a pot and let it heat well. Add the pieces of meat to the pot and reserve the leftover marinade. Let the meat cook well and the liquids in it evaporate. When the meat starts to sizzle add the marinade and let it evaporate until the sauce is thick and tasty. At that time the meat is ready.
Simply serve it with fried potatoes cut into medium cubes and a salad with carrots and/or lettuce.
