Wild Boar Chorizo Empanadas | A Masinagudi Shoot
Knock, knock.
"We leave in 5 minutes for our shikaar (hunt)," Morning Glory whispered through the crack in the door. I stumbled out of bed thinking to myself that committing to a crack-of-dawn safari the previous night, after downing one too many G and Ts was not a very wise thing.
Hansom Hubby and I were guests at Morning Glory's beautiful Bougainvillea Bungalow, nestled at the foothills of the Nilgiris in the wilderness of Masinagudi, best known for its forests teeming with an abundance of wildlife.
Deer by the dozens, elephants and bison by the tonnes, too many bears to bear, snorting wild boar, preening peacocks, sneaky cobras, mad monkeys and nutty jungle fowl were just some of the fauna that call these forests home. Our grand expedition was to spot as many animals as we could, dawn and dusk being the best times when these elusive creatures show themselves. Perhaps we might even spot a leopard if we were lucky, and a tiger if were extra- extraordinarily lucky.
Minutes later, we piled into the jeep and headed out toward a quickly developing shrimp pink, morning sky. Hansom at the wheel, myself riding shotgun as the spotter, Morning Glory in the back as guide, Morning Glory's little sis, Swee' Pea beside her for decoration and Swee' Pea's Gora (white) husband who held the 'equipment.'
In the old days, the 'equipment' was some form of rifle or shotgun, but today our shooting was of a different variety, involving much evolved and far sophisticated machinery. No guns involved on this shoot, just cameras.
All sleep erased from my eyes now, I stared expectantly through the inky silhouettes of the trees and the rising mist, keen to spot something exotic. I sure felt like a modern day Rudyard Kipling.
"Let's see who spots the first animal," I crowed.
In a moment, Swee' Pea whispered in a trembling voice, "Bison, straight ahead."
Immediate silence in the car as we slowed down to a near crawl. After all, these massive animals were not to be played with. A humungous shadow glowed through the mist and as we got closer four white legs appeared before us. Hah, could it really be a bison so quickly into our expedition? How exciting. Far from, however, as the bison apparition turned out to be an indignant cow who wasn't too happy to be gawked at. "What are you looking at?" she seemed to say. "Never seen such a well endowed cow before?"
Swee' Pea's spotting was soon deeply discounted as she continued to spot hyenas and wolves that turned out to be dogs and jungle fowl that were just the local domestic chickens out for their morning strut.
Suddenly a fantastic flash of spots caught my eye. "Leopard!" I bellowed. "Reverse, reverse, reverse," I ordered urgently.
Hansom threw our jeep into reverse and five sets of eyes peered excitedly in the direction I gestured toward with bated breaths.
Spots, indeed!
Many, many spots!
On a herd of spotted deer.
I was soon relegated into the discount bin of wild animal sightings along with Swee' Pea.
And so our journey continued with no hits but many misses.
A few peacocks did appear from time to time, bringing a dose of colour and encouragement to our morning. But other than that, it looks like we were to return home empty handed. C'est la vie!
With our guard down and the jeep now filled with much noise and laughter as we bounced the last kilometer back to base camp Bougainvillea villa, Morning Glory suddenly screeched, "Wild Boar!!!" And there before us sat the fattest, blackest, most wonderful looking boar that we had ever seen. And we marvelled at this dirty beast, thinking it was the best looking wild animal we had ever seen. We really should be forgiven for being so pedestrian, but that's what happens when one goes on a shikaar and after many hours spots only one half decent wild animal.
Gora pulled out his equipment and shot... a couple of nice photos of the boar. In a different time, we'd be bringing this animal home for lunch, but now, time to head to the market and pick up some pork to cook instead.
Wild Boar Chorizo
Back in the U.S, I find that getting my hands on wild boar meat isn't too hard at all.
Cooked wild boar chorizo is perfect on toast. Also great for tacos, burritos or with eggs.
But when time permits, my favourite way to use wild boar chorizo is to use it as a filling for empanadas and make wild boar chorizo empanadas.
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| Wild boar chorizo empanadas |
Force of Nature sells nicely packaged rolls of uncased ground wild boar chorizo or sausage meat with 100% wild caught feral swine.
The ground wild boar meat comes pre-seasoned with organic apple cider vinegar, smoked paprika, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cloves, oregano and ancho chile powder and salt. Ready to cook.
Once cooked, I was happily surprised that the meat was so tasty and flavorful with absolutely no gamey flavour at all.
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| Wild boar chorizo |
Wild Boar Chorizo Recipe
Ingredients:
☐ 1 large onion chopped
☐ 8-10 large cloves of garlic chopped
☐ 1 large tomato chopped
☐ 1 jalapeno or serrano pepper, deseeded and chopped
☐ Cooking oil
Step by Step Instructions:
- Heat oil in a skillet.
- When oil is hot, add the chopped onions and sauté until golden.
- Add the chopped garlic and sauté for a minute or two.
- Next, add the wild boar chorizo. Break it up with the back of a wooden spoon and stir fry until the meat is almost cooked.
- Add the chopped tomato and jalapeno/ serrano pepper and cook uncovered until the wild boar chorizo is completely cooked.
- Use the chorizo as a stuffing for empanadas.