Spicy Pulled Pork

Ingredients 

1 tbsp Olive Oil
1kg Pork Shoulder
1 Large Red Onion (finely diced)
3 Garlic Cloves (finely diced)
4 Serrano Chillies (roughly chopped)
15 Cherry Tomatoes (quartered)
Juice of 1 Lime
Handful of fresh Coriander (roughly chopped)

For the Dry Rub
2 tsp Paprika
½ tsp Chilli Powder
½ tsp Cumin seeds
½ tsp Cayenne Pepper
1 tsp dried Oregano
Freshly ground Salt & Black Pepper

Method

1. Add all the ingredients for the dry rub to a pestle and mortar and grind together.
2. Rub the mixture onto the pork thoroughly and leave to sit for a minimum of 2-3 hours (this can also be left overnight).
3. Add the oil to a large pan and brown the pork on all sides, don’t be afraid to let the spices blacken a little on the outside of the pork. It’s all good for the flavour.
4. When the pork is browned, add it to the slow cooker pot.
5. Fry all the other ingredients apart from the lime and coriander leaves over a medium-low heat in the same pan, so they take on the flavour from the leftover pork juices. Stir occasionally, and let it cook for 15 minutes. Add to the slow cooker pot.
6. Add the lime juice and just enough water to go half way up the pork, put the lid on and cook on high for 6-8 hours. You can turn the pork from time to time if you feel it needs it.
7. Remove the pork from the pot and pull it apart with two forks, this should be really easy.
8. Add the pork back to the pot with the coriander leaves, and leave on low for 30 minutes.

Serve with coriander and lime rice or have in tacos with plenty of salsa and guacamole. There’ll be plenty of leftover sauce in the pan, but don’t discard it, it makes a great base for a chilli con carne or a soup.

This is a really versatile recipe so mess about with the dry rub mixture, add more or less spice, or change it up completely. Bear in mind that this is a really spicy dish, so if you’re not a huge spicy food person, use less chilli, or add some honey and fresh orange juice for sweetness to combat the heat. My girlfriend and I really enjoy spicy food and we both agreed that this was pretty damn hot, even for us!