Geera Pork

Geera anything was never in my list of favourite dishes but it is a big deal for Trinibagonians.  It is served in parties, house limes and many other events as "cutters."  Geera is made with different meats such as pork, neck or chicken.  Some people also make it with a lot of pepper and used while consuming alcohol because the pepper helps with the sobering up.  I actually tried this geera recipe and enjoyed it.  I still rather stewed pork though if I had to make a choice between the two.

In St. Vincent, geera was never a number one dish; however, the few persons my mother made it for there, really loved it.  She makes it all the time now at gatherings for church or at her netball games.

Some people use whole geera seeds (cumin seeds) and toast them a bit then add the seasoned pork. While others including myself add the same roasted ground geera, but at the end. My aunts taught me that it was better to add the geera at the end of the cooking to avoid the bitterish taste.  Check out this recipe below I found on www.caribbeanpot.com.

You’ll Need…
3 lbs pork – 3/4 inch cubed
1 teaspoon salt
1 medium tomato diced
1 scotch bonnet pepper (any hot pepper… I used habanero)
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon green seasoning
4 leaves shado beni chopped or 2 tablespoon cilantro chopped
2 small onions sliced (divided)
4 cloves garlic sliced thin or crushed
2 cups water
2 tablespoon lime or lemon juice
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 heaping tablespoon roasted geera powder (cumin)
1/4 teaspoon curry powder (I used a Caribbean style madras curry blend)

Method:

Start by cutting the pork into small pieces, about 3/4 inch thick. Then pour the lime  or lemon juice over it in a bowl and rise off with cool water. Drain well and season as follows: add the tomato, salt, black pepper, curry powder, 1 onion sliced, green seasoning, Chadon beni or cilantro and hot pepper. You can adjust the pepper to your own tolerance. This recipe asks for a tiny bit of curry powder while other recipes will not have that listed. The curry adds the extra level of flavour to the dish while marinating.

Give it a good stir and allow it to marinate for a couple hrs in the fridge. The next step is to heat the oil on medium/high heat (in a heavy pot if you have one) then add the next onion (sliced) and the garlic. Allow that to cook on medium heat for about 4-5 minutes or until the edges start to go brown. Now add the roasted geera powder, but turn down the heat to medium/low so we can cook this for a few minutes without it actually burning.

It should become a bit thick and start sticking to the bottom of the pot… that’s normal. The aroma will be intense, but wonderful! Now it’s time to add the seasoned pork to the pot. Add a few pieces at a time and stir as you go along. You want to pick up all the geera paste created with the pieces of meat, so everything is coated.

Empty the entire contents of the bowl that had the seasoned pork. Now bring it up to a boil, then lower it to a simmer and with the lid on… allow it to cook for about 20 minutes. It will spring up it’s own natural juices. After 20 minutes turn up the heat to high and cook off all that liquid. Takes about 5 minutes. Try to make sure the bottom of the pot is completely dry, then add the 2 cups of water. Bring it up to a boil, then lower to a gentle simmer (covered) and allow to cook for another 45 minutes or so to make it tender). If you find that it’s tender enough for you at this point, turn up the heat and allow all the remaining liquid to burn off. This is usually served without any gravy.