It's an Aarti Paarti

Aarti Sequeira,

the winner of the latest

The Next Food Network Star,

has been busily supplying her

followers with Americanized-Indian

or Indianized-American recipes.

I'm not sure which it is.

I guess as long as they are tasty it doesn't matter?

However,

one recipe caught my eye.

That recipe was her

Pulled Pork with Mango BBQ Sauce.

The trick was whether I could get this past my picky husband.

Well, it looks good.

But does it pass the taste test?

First off we have the ingredients for the meat and the rub.

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon paprika

2 teaspoons kosher salt

Please note that this is not a Boston Butt.

No, a Boston Butt would have cost several dollars more

and was essentially the same cut of meat as the one I bought.

The benefits to me were that the meat was already cut

and that it cost less.

I did have to cut around the bone to get to the meat.

So, heads or tails.*

*The only Boston Butt shoulder at my grocer was also bone in.

The meat has been cut and rubbed.**

People, get your minds out of the gutter.

We are talking food here!

On to the next step.




Aarti's recipe calls for :

1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 onion, finely minced
2 tablespoons minced ginger
1 Serrano pepper, thinly sliced

(seeds discarded if you don't like it spicy)
Kosher salt
2 cups mango puree***
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons molasses
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce



***My regular grocery store didn't have

mango puree, so I got a bag of frozen mango.



I added about a cup of water to the frozen mango

and pureed it in my blender.****



****To the best of its ability.



The seeds pop and sizzle.





Then the chopped onion, grated ginger and chopped

dried Serrano pepper were added to the pot.



These were cooked gently for a few minutes.







Then the remaining sauce ingredients were added.







Finally,

the meat was placed in the dish.


This simmered for about three hours.

Then the meat was removed and shredded with forks before

being returned to the pot.

After tasting we decided that it needed a pinch more salt.

Done.

But, it was still a bit flat.

But what did it need?

We decided it needed some sweetness

to highlight the flavors.

In the end we used about

1/2 cup honey to sweeten the sauce.

And that was just what it needed.

Allow the sauce to reduce.

Top with a pickle and serve.



Final thoughts:

the sauce should have had more time to reduce

and it would have been perfect.

And, if you didn't know that it was

a mango sauce you wouldn't know it was a mango sauce.

Get it?

In other words,

don't ask, don't tell.

It's all good.