Vindaloo Curry Recipes and Information

Vindaloo

Vindaloo is a popular Indian Curry food dish.

It was first brought to Goa by the Portuguese and soon became a pleasing spicy Goan curry meal often served during special occasions. Historically this was a pork dish cooked with plenty of wine vinager and garlic, known as "Vinha d'Alho".

However it soon received the Goan treatment of adding plentiful amounts of spice and chilli. Restaurants often serve this dish with chicken or lamb sometimes mixed with potatoes. Traditional vindaloos curries do not include potatoes, the discrepancy arising because the word "aloof" means "potato" in Hindi.

Want hot Curry? Try Vindaloo !

 Speakers of English have known about this hot curry dish at least since 1888, when W. H. Dawe explained it in The Wife's Help to Indian Cookery, published in London: "Vindaloo or Bindaloo--A Portuguese Karhi.... The best Vindaloo Curry is prepared in mustard-oil.... Beef and pork, or duck can be made into this excellent curry."

The basic component of a vindaloo Curry is the vindaloo Curry paste, often made separately ahead of time. This curry paste is a mixture of hot spices and vinegar, cooked in oil over low heat for a few minutes. One curry recipe calls for cayenne, cumin, turmeric, ground coriander, black pepper, hot mustard powder, ground ginger, and cinnamon. You can make a vindaloo curry by adding this paste to any meat or vegetable dish, such as mutton, lamb, chicken, prawns, or peas pulao. Or how about Goanese Fiery Duck Curry in Vindaloo Sauce?

In contemporary English, vindaloo can mean more than food. A hot young Japanese politician, Ms. Makiko Tanaka, was described by an Australian newspaper as "all vindaloo." And for the World Cup soccer tournament of 1998, a British group calling itself "Fat Les" supported their team with a hit song: "Vin-da-loo! Vin-da-loo! And we all like vin-da-loo! We're gonna score one more than you!" Alex James, one of the singers, declared that it was "a post-modern tribute to multiculturalism."

As Dawe stated in 1888, vindaloo curry is actually Portuguese in origin, though it comes from the Indian subcontinent. The name too is ultimately Portuguese, from the phrase vinho de alho or "wine of garlic." Portuguese sailors brought their garlic-flavored vinegar stew to Goa, which from 1510 to 1961 was a Portuguese colony on the southwestern coast of India. The Goans spiced up the recipe and the name, making it vindaloo in their Konkani language, a member of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. The English tongue has only vindaloo from Konkani.

Lamb vindaloo

A delicious curry in the true Indian style.

Serves 4

Gar am  Marsala

1 teaspoon turmeric
4 tablespoons coriander seeds
2 tablespoons cumin seeds
1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
2 teaspoons cardamon seeds
2 cinnamon sticks, broken up
1 teaspoon whole cloves
2 teaspoons nutmeg
2 tablespoons tomato paste (optional)

Lamb Vindaloo

1 kilo diced lamb
8 large red chillies, chopped
1 cup vinegar
2 teaspoons ginger, chopped
1 clove of garlic, chopped
5 teaspoons gar am Marsala
2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons oil or ghee (clarified butter)
2 medium onions, chopped
1 tablespoon brown sugar

Method:

Gar am  Marsala

In a small fry pan, gently sauté the ingredients except the nutmeg until there is a pleasant aroma. Remove from the heat and place in a coffee grinder. Add nutmeg and blend to a powder-like substance. Place into an airtight container for later use.

This gives you your curry paste for the recipe.

Vindaloo

Soak chillies in vinegar for ten minutes. Place ginger, garlic, chillies and vinegar into an electric blender and puree. Add gar am Marsala and salt, and blend. Marinate the lamb for two hours in the mixture.

Heat the oil in a fry pan and sauté the onions until transparent but not burnt.

Drain the meat from the marinade and gently fry in the pan. You may need to do this in stages. Add the sealed meat to a baking dish. Pour in the marinade and stir. Cover and bake in a moderate oven at 180° for one and a half hours until the meat is tender. Stir in the sugar and service with plain rice and accompaniments.

Recipes for side dishes:

Cucumber in Spiced Yoghurt
Ingredients:
1 medium cucumber, peeled and de-seeded
1/4 cup desiccated coconut
3 tablespoons hot water
2 green chillies, de-seeded and chopped
1 tablespoon salt
2 cups drained yoghurt

Method:
Grate the cucumber. Sprinkle the coconut with the hot water and toss with your fingers, until the coconut is moist. Add the cucumber, coconut, chillies and salt into the yoghurt.

Mint Chutney
Ingredients:
1 cup mint leaves, firmly packed
4 spring onions, cut short
2 green chillies, chopped
1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon gar am Marsala
1/3 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons water

Method:
The easy way to make this fresh chutney is to place all the ingredients into an electric blender and blend it to a smooth paste.

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