I am attempting to make the Shan Korma Recipe & Seasoning Mix recipe for a friend but am unsure if I can use the meat I purchased. I purchased 'Pork Shoulder Blade Steak Thin.'
The package just says meat with bone (recommending rids, saddle chops, & shoulder chops). Can I just use any meat with bone?
Thank you so much for any help!
Pork is quite unusual, but not unheard of, in Indian cuisine. This is so particularly for dishes that arose from the Mughal empire, which was strongly influenced by Arabic and Islamic traditions, where pork is uncommon, if not forbidden by religious edict. Korma dishes are one such dish, being part of the Mughlai cuisine.
Red meats such as sheep (lamb, hogget, but particularly mutton), goat or sometimes beef or deer are much more commonly used in these sorts of dishes.
Having said that, most of the packet mixes, such as you linked, are suitable for any sort of meat that you like, and there's nothing to forbid you using whatever suits you other than dietary restrictions for you or your friends/family. Your pork bones, or even chunks of any meat without bones should be fine for this mix.
The type of your pork cut might mean that it comes out a bit tough without a long and slow cooking time (more than an hour or two) as it will contain a fair bit of connective tissues (gristle etc.), but will be suitably tasty. In future I'd recommend that you get a cut that is recommended for shorter cooking times such as cutlet, steaks or chops.
I agree with the answers given by bob1 and user3486184 but I'd also like to add that the product image for the Shan Korma mix, shows what appears to be two chicken legs, and various other bits of meat that look like chicken to me. It's quite common for recipe videos made by Indian chefs to tell you to use a whole chicken, cut into pieces. If you plan to purchase more meat, I'd personally recommend bone in chicken thighs, as they are cheap, filled with flavour, and are easy to cook.
I also wanted to add a tip for cooking curry recipes that use a lot of yoghurt in the "gravy". When you add the yoghurt to the hot gravy, it can split quite easily. So you should make sure to stir it into the gravy thoroughly, and continue stirring until the gravy has come back up to temperature. Otherwise the yoghurt can split, leaving little white specks of cooked protein in the sauce. It doesn't really effect the taste of the finished dish but some people think it makes the dish look less appealing.
Blade steak pork would be a good cut for stewing. Thin cut isn't ideal - best would be larger chunks of meat that could handle longer slow cooking time. With thin cut, you'll end up with something with good flavour but the texture might be a little soft.
Some meats for korma include lamb, beef and pork (but it's best to ask about dietary restrictions if you're making it for someone else). Because you cook it for a long time, tougher cuts are ok.
