Pork Chilli Verde

Ingredients

• 1.2 kg pork shoulder, cut into 4 cm chunks
• 600 g tomatillos, halved
• 2 green peppers, halved and seeded
• 3 jalapeños
• 2 onions, quartered
• 5 garlic cloves, unpeeled
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 500 ml chicken stock
• a big handful of coriander
• juice of 2 limes

Method

1. Char the green things

   Put the tomatillos, peppers, jalapeños, onion and garlic cut-side down under a hot grill until blackened in patches, then blend them, slipping the garlic out of its skins. Raw tomatillos taste sharp and green; charred, they turn sweet and smoky, and that is the whole character of a verde.

   15 min

2. Brown the pork

   Season the pork and brown it hard in the oil, in batches, in a heavy casserole. Crowd the pan and it releases water and stews grey — do it in three goes if you have to.

   15 min

3. Toast the spices

   Return all the pork, stir in the cumin and oregano and cook for a minute in the fat until fragrant.

   1 min

4. Long simmer

   Pour in the blended sauce and the stock, bring to a bare simmer, cover, and cook very gently until the pork shreds under a fork. A hard boil tightens shoulder meat rather than softening it.

   2 h

5. Finish

   Take off the lid and simmer another 20 minutes to thicken, then stir in the coriander and lime juice and season. Tomatillo sauce dulls as it cooks and needs that fresh acid at the end to snap back.