Chicken Vindaloo

Name: Chicken Vindaloo
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: 1kg chicken breast (or 500g chicken breast and 2 potatoes; or pork, veal, lamb or even fish; or tofu for the vegan version; or mild feta cheese for the lacto-vegetarian version); 2 teaspoons ginger and garlic paste; 1 tablespoon coriander seeds (grind them); 1 teaspoon turmeric; 5 tablespoons oil; vindaloo paste; 2 teaspoons black peppercorns; 2 level teaspoons cumin seeds; 1 green cardamom pod; 1 piece cinnamon stick (about 3 cm); 2 bay leaves; 1-3 dried hot peppers (i removed the seeds); 2 tablespoons vinegar (white wine); 2 tablespoons dry white wine; 2 teaspoons brown sugar; 1 teaspoon salt; 3 heaping tablespoons onion paste

January 11, 2011

Chicken Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian Recipes Fasting Recipes Meat Dishes Indian

My favorite among all the Indian dishes I've tried so far! So I invite you all to try it. Yes, all of you, even vegetarians and vegans. Despite the title, this is not a recipe reserved only for carnivores! You can replace the meat with tofu or unsalted feta cheese. In fact, the meat or whatever you put in the sauce is... how to say... almost irrelevant. Sure, it will give a slight characteristic flavor, but the sauce is the foundation. In the end, I guarantee everyone will want another serving of sauce and might even declare, like me: "if I were a vegetarian, I'd want to live in India!" 😉

The origins of this recipe from the Goa region of India actually lie in a Portuguese recipe: "Carne de vinha d'alhos" from which the name "vindaloo" comes. The Portuguese recipe referred to meat cooked with wine and garlic. The Indians adopted the idea, replaced the wine with vinegar, and of course added their fabulous spices, resulting in this spicy curry.

* So far I've tried this dish with chicken, pork, and unsalted cheese (paneer in Indian)

Ingredients

1kg chicken breast (or 500g chicken breast and 2 potatoes; or pork, veal, lamb or even fish; or tofu for the vegan version; or mild feta cheese for the lacto-vegetarian version)
2 teaspoons ginger and garlic paste
1 tablespoon coriander seeds (grind them)
1 teaspoon turmeric
5 tablespoons oil

Vindaloo Paste

2 teaspoons black peppercorns
2 level teaspoons cumin seeds
1 green cardamom pod
1 piece cinnamon stick (about 3 cm)
2 bay leaves
1-3 dried hot peppers (I removed the seeds)
2 tablespoons vinegar (white wine)
2 tablespoons dry white wine
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 heaping tablespoons onion paste

Servings: 4

How to prepare chicken vindaloo

Vindaloo Paste: Put all the spices from black pepper through the hot peppers (inclusive) in a dry pan without any fat. Fry over high heat, shaking the pan often, for about 3 minutes, until they start to smoke lightly. Grind them finely in a spice grinder.
* I used 2 hot peppers
Add the vinegar, wine, sugar, and salt and mix well. Let sit for 10 minutes to rehydrate the spices. Then add the onion paste and the vindaloo paste is ready!
* Only vinegar is used in this recipe (4 tablespoons) but I think you're already used to my aversion to it, so I substituted 2 tablespoons with white wine
Heat the oil in a 30 cm skillet with higher sides. Add the ginger and garlic paste and sauté for 1 minute.
Add the ground coriander and turmeric and sauté for another 30 seconds.
Add the chicken cubes (or whatever meat you chose, including potatoes if you went that route) and mix well. Fry the chicken until it changes color all over.
* Attention! If you chose to make this recipe with tofu, feta cheese, or fish, skip this step; they shouldn't be added to the sauce yet because they cook quickly
** instead, fry the tofu, feta cheese (drained very well) or fish separately in a non-stick pan with very little oil; fry briefly, just until lightly browned.
Add the Vindaloo paste and 250ml water (or chicken stock). Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 1 hour, stirring only 2-3 times. It's done when the oil rises to the surface (which will happen after 1 hour of cooking 😊 ).
* If you chose to make this recipe with tofu, feta cheese, or fish, add them to the sauce in the last 10 minutes of cooking; they just need to warm up
** Toward the end, check the consistency of the sauce and if it seems too liquid, remove the lid in the last minutes of cooking and increase the heat slightly
Serve with boiled rice or roti bread or naan. During the week, when I don't have time to prepare roti bread at home, I use Arabic pita breads that I heat in a pan and then brush with a little butter.