Kavarma is a delicious slow cooked stew that is typical of Bulgarian cuisine.
This would authentically be cooked in an earthenware vessel called a Gyuvetche. If you don’t have one by all means just use a cast iron casserole or Dutch oven.
This dish has many variations, feel free to experiment.
If you don’t like pork, use chicken…. But do make it, it is a wonderful main dish.
Kavarma (Bulgarian Pork and Vegetable Stew)
Servings 4
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lbs. pork tenderloin cubed
- 1 onion diced
- 4 leek stems cut into rings
- 5 medium sized mushrooms sliced
- 2 carrots sliced
- 1 red pepper diced
- 2 medium size tomatoes chopped
- ½ cup white wine
- ½ cup sunflower oil divided
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon oregano
- 2 bay leaves
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Make a dry rub with the cumin, oregano, salt and pepper.
- Rub thoroughly all over the pork tenderloin.
- Heat ¼ cup of the sunflower oil in a heavy bottom skillet and brown the pork cubes on all sides. Add in the wine to deglaze the pan, lower the heat to a simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove from skillet and set aside.
- Heat the other ¼ cup of oil and sauté the onions, mushrooms, pepper, and carrots for about 5 minutes. Pour ½ cup water into the pan and cook approx. 10 minutes over medium heat, until the vegetables are soft and most of the liquid has been absorbed. Add in the chopped tomatoes and simmer 5 minutes.
- Combine all the ingredients together and transfer into the earthenware pot, add the leeks.
- Cover the dish with its lid and place in a preheated 250 degree oven for three hours or so.
- You could easily do this in a crock pot instead of the oven.
- Serve hot.
- This recipe is great for left-overs, you may want to double it.
