Pork and pork liver boiled, diced small and cooked in a hot, sharp sauce of chilli, spice and vinegar — a Christmas and wedding dish, made days ahead.
What makes it sorpotel
Pork meat and fat with liver, boiled then diced small.
A red masala of chilli and spice ground in vinegar.
Made ahead and left to mature.
Where it comes from
Sorpotel shares its name and roots with sarapatel, a Portuguese dish of offal that also travelled to Brazil. Goan Catholic families made it from pork, liver and sometimes heart and blood, cooked with a vinegar and chilli masala.
It is traditionally made several days before a feast and reheated each day, and nearly everyone agrees it tastes best on the third. It's eaten with sannas, soft steamed rice cakes raised with toddy.