Courtney's Curried Spleen with Vegetables and Cracklin'

I couldn't find a spleen recipe besides the one I already made, so I created one up on my own, using my 1972 copy of the Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery recipe for basic Ceylonese curry as a rough guide. I was motivated by people who have suggested cubing various organs and making otherwise normal curry with them, and decided to try this with the spleen. When I cleaned the spleen, the fat just looked too good to waste, so I made cracklin' from it to use as a topping. Courtney's Curried Spleen with Vegetables and Cracklin'
Ingredients:
(Makes about 4 servings)
1 - 2 pig spleens, or a veal/beef spleen. Enough potatoes and carrots to make 2-3 lbs total (see pic above)
1 - 2 Yukon Gold or similar waxy potatoes (see note above)
3 - 4 medium carrots (see note above)
2 lg cloves of garlic
1" piece fresh ginger
1/2 yellow onion
4 md - large button mushrooms
1 t curry powder
1 t coriander
1 t turmeric
1 t mustard powder
1/2 t cayenne
1/2 t salt
1 bay leaf
1" piece of cinnamon
3-4 drops lemon or lime oil (I used lime)
2 c coconut water (found in the juice section in most supermarkets) or coconut milk
2 T ghee
1 t ground cloves
1 t Chinese 5-spice powder (or allspice or something similar)
Coarsely cube the potatoes, onions and carrots. Mince the ginger and garlic. Quarter the mushrooms.

Clean the spleen (pictures here). Cube the spleen and add to the vegetables (see picture above) Throw away the vein. Cut the rest of the fat into 1/2" - 3/4" pieces.

Mix the curry powder, coriander, turmeric, mustard powder, cayenne, and salt. Add the bay leaf and piece of cinnamon to this mixture.

Make the Cracklin. Melt the ghee in a saucepan. When hot, add the cut up fat. Saute over medium-high heat until the cracklin' is crispy. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.
Turn the saucepan heat down to medium. Add the spleen, vegetables, ginger and garlic and saute 1 min. Add the mixed spices and the lemon or lime oil and combine well. Stir-fry for 4 or 5 minutes, until very nicely fragrant. Pour in the coconut water. Bring just to a boil and then turn heat down to a low simmer. Cover and simmer until everything is very tender, about 1-1/2 hours or so. Remove lid if necessary during last half hour of cooking so that juices reduce to about half, as shown in picture above.

When the curry is done, the sauce is reduced, and the spleen and veggies are tender, remove from heat and stir in the cloves and allspice. Serve, sprinkling the cracklin' on top. If you are serving this for one initial meal plus leftovers, either store any remaining cracklin' separately or just use it all for the first meal (do not mix it in, as it will become soggy).

Eating notes: This was the best curry I have ever made, and among the best I have ever had. All the spices melded well together. The spleen was tender and still tasted like spleen. Adding in the cloves and allspice at the end made my decision not to increase the cayenne sensible. And making the spleen fat cracklin' has converted me to doing the same whenever I have "waste" fat around. The hardest part was not scarfing it before dinner was done.