Pork and cabbage stew!

My mother grew up in a small Greek village where most of the families kept animals such as chickens, goats and pigs. When it came to the slaughtering of a pig, the villagers had to find a way to preserve its meat for the winter, so they would boil it in big marmites and keep it in tins of its own fat, or in large amounts of salt.

The village gardens were always full of fresh seasonal produce and so a freshly picked cabbage with this preserved salty pork, together, made the perfect winter dish for a cold night. Here is my mother’s recipe:

Ingredients:

  • 1 kilo of pork (a tender cut like leg)
  • 1 medium cabbage (about a kilo) -diced
  • 1 large white onion -diced
  • 200ml tomato juice
  • 1/2 teaspoon spicy chilly flakes
  • 80ml olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon flour
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

  1. Boil the pork until soft.
  2. Set aside the pork to cool (do not empty away the water). In another pot, add the olive oil and onion, and sauté until glazed.
  3. Add the cabbage and stir for 5-10 minutes.
  4. Set aside 100ml of the pork broth and add the remaining broth and pork to the pot and let simmer on medium heat until the cabbage becomes soft.
  5. Add the tomatoe sauce, chilly flakes, salt and pepper and cook on high heat for 2-3 min.
  6. Add the flour to the 100ml pork broth you set aside earlier and stir. Add this to the pot and cook for a further 2-3 minutes.

Kali orexi!