Pork Tongue Yellow Thai Curry

Pork tongue, well tongue in general, is such a diverse meat to cook with, it has an almost fatty succulent greasy taste to it that is somewhat hard to describe. You can prepare tongue like a classic roast with bay leaves and cloves or you can work tongue into a meatloaf or curry, as I have below, it is so versatile. I hope you will try this recipe and let us fella's here at the Huckleberry Hog know what you thought, what you liked/disliked, etc... Do enjoy. 

Ingredients:

1 pork tongue

1 medium potato

2 medium carrots

1 medium onion (or ~3 shallots)

5 chilies 

1 tsp. minced galangal

½ tsp. minced ginger

1 tsp. minced garlic

1 stalk lemongrass, diced into 5-6 pieces with the rougher outer layer and root piece removed

3 kaffir lime leaves

½ tsp. turmeric

½ tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. ground coriander

¼ tsp. shrimp paste

560 ml. coconut milk

2 tbsp. diced blanched almonds

1 tsp. salt

3-5 tbsp. peanut oil

50 ml. cold water

Making It:

1.) place the tongue in a pot large enough to hold it comfortably. Fill the pot with water until the tongue is completely covered. Add 1 tsp. of salt to the pot. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a medium boil for ~1hr., or until the tongue is fork tender. You can let the tongue boil while you make the curry sauce so that it is hot when you add it to the sauce.

2.) in a small (“Magic Bullet”) blender add the peanut oil, galangal, ginger, garlic, chilies, onion, turmeric, cinnamon, coriander, shrimp paste, and 50 ml. water. Puree this mixture.

3.) place the puree in a deep frying pan and heat slowly to warm the mixture. Add the coconut milk to the puree and stir thoroughly to combine the elements into a consistent sauce. Once the sauce is to the consistency you desire add the lemongrass pieces, almonds, carrots, and potato. Allow this mixture to low simmer for ~40 minutes. At the 30 min. point add the kaffir lime leaves and continue simmering. If the sauce gets to thick you can add a little water and simmer to reduce until the vegetables are desirably soft.

4.)  Once the tongue is tender remove from the water and peel the coarse outer layer off, removing any tough bits as necessary. The whole tongue is edible. If you wanted to, you could leave the outer layer on, though this layer can be tough and oddly textured. Slice the tongue very thinly against the grain and add the pieces to the simmering pot of curry to further tenderize and take on the flavour.

7.) Before serving, remove the lemongrass segments and kaffir lime leaves. Serve the curry over rice. I like to serve it with naan or some other bread, whatever you prefer.