Mexican Pork Short Rib Cactus Stew
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: minutes
Cooking time: 1.5 hours
- 3 cups of cactus (from about 1 large cactus paddle- see this blog post on how to treat cactus). If you don't have access to cactus, use a mixture of capsicum or your favourite vegetables
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 2 onions, peeled and chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
- 500g pork short ribs, cut up
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 400g/14oz. tin chopped tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- Juice and finely grated zest of 1/2 lime
- 1 coriander (cilantro) root, leaves separated from the stem
- 2-3 chillies to taste
- Salt, pepper and 1 teaspoon sugar for seasoning
Step 1 - Firstly boil the cactus for 10 minutes in plenty of salted, boiling water and then strain and set aside. I do this first as I hate washing up and just use the same pot but you can use a different pot and do this while the whole stew is cooking.
Step 2 - Heat the oil in a large pot with a lid and saute the onions for a few minutes until turning translucent and then add the garlic. Then add the pork short ribs and brown a little. Add the chicken stock, tomatoes, tomato paste, cumin seeds, lime zest and juice and the coriander roots chopped into 1 inch pieces (leave the coriander leaves for later) and the chillies. Bring to a simmer and cook for 1 hour with the lid on.
Step 3 - Then add the cactus into the pot and simmer for 30 minutes with the lid off reducing the liquid and making sure that it doesn't catch on the bottom of the pot. Season with salt, pepper and sugar. Sprinkle with coriander leaves for serving.