Chicken Vindaloo
If you’re a fan of spicy food and you’re looking for new Indian dishes to try, you may want to try a Goan chicken vindaloo recipe. Goan chicken vindaloo is a traditional dish that is filling and packed with nutrition and flavor. You can also enjoy the vindaloo with vegetables, beef or lamb, so once you get the hang of making the sauce, you can store it to add to the protein of your choice. Whether you’re an expert in the kitchen or you’re just getting started when it comes to cooking, here are a few practical and helpful tips to help you prepare an impressive Indian dinner.
What Is Vindaloo?
Vindaloo is a popular Indian dish that requires the meat to be marinated in a spicy, vinegar-based marinade. The meat is cooked quickly right before it is served. The marinade is the star of the dish since it gives the chicken lots of flavor and plenty of heat.
To make the marinade for vindaloo, you need vinegar to add a acidic bite to the chicken. Garlic is also a must for this recipe, and you’ll also need to add several pronounced spices such as ginger, coriander, paprika, turmeric, cumin, mustard powder, cinnamon, and a healthy helping of red chili flakes. Be sure to add salt and pepper to taste as well.
Spicing Up the Vindaloo
If you like your vindaloo extra spicy, you can use ghost pepper flakes to make the heat more intense. If ghost peppers are too spicy, you can use cayenne pepper or red chili flakes. You’ll still get plenty of heat with cayenne or red chili flakes, and you can adjust the heat level if you’re serving this dish to children or people with a low spice tolerance level. Balance the spice by using white or brown sugar in the vindaloo sauce. The sweetness of the sugar will also balance the briny taste of the vinegar.
Whisk the seasonings together with vinegar, place chicken pieces in a bowl, and pour the sauce over the chicken. Seal the bowl with plastic wrap and place the chicken in the refrigerator for at least an hour so the marinade can flavor the chicken. For even more flavor, marinate the meat overnight. This is a great make-ahead meal since you can marinate the chicken the night before you want to make it, and the chicken only takes minutes to cook.
Cooking Method
This vindaloo recipe is simple to make and will allow you to get dinner on the table in less than an hour. Keep in mind that the word “aloo” is included in vindaloo, which indicates that there should be potatoes in the dish. However, traditional vindaloo does not include potatoes, no matter what protein you choose to use. However, you can add potatoes to the sauce to make the meal more filling, especially if you’re making the vindaloo vegetarian.
Heat oil on medium heat in a large skillet. Place chopped onion and chili pepper in the skillet and cook these vegetables down for a few minutes. Serrano peppers are ideal for this part of the recipe, but you can use a milder pepper if you prefer. Cook the peppers and onion until they become soft, then add the marinated chicken and stir. Cook the vindaloo for around five minutes, stirring often.
Add tomato paste and stir in about half a cup of water or chicken broth to create a delicious sauce for the chicken. You can also add fresh diced tomatoes to add more texture and taste to the dish. Allow all the ingredients in the pan to simmer for about 20 minutes until the chicken is cooked all the way through and all the flavors have a chance to meld. You can allow the vindaloo to cook for a little longer if you prefer.
If the vindaloo sauce becomes too thick, add some chicken broth or water until the sauce reaches your desired consistency.
Once the gravy is just the way you like it, your dish is done. This entree is especially fragrant and will have your kitchen smelling like an authentic Indian restaurant.
Making Vindaloo in an Instant Pot
You can stick to a chicken vindaloo Instant Pot recipe if you need to cook the meal quickly but don’t have time to stand in front of the stove. Here are a few tips to keep in mind.
Turn on the pressure cooker and set it to saute mode. All all the dry spices to the pressure cooker (i.e. cloves, mustard seeds, cumin, cinnamon, cardamom, red chiles and coriander seed). Saute the herbs for about a minute until they are slightly browned and fragrant. Turn the pressure cooker off and transfer the spices to a grinder. Add vinegar, garlic, ginger, and tamarind to make a paste. Add about three-fourths cup of water to make the paste into a gravy.
Add the curry paste to the chicken and allow the chicken to marinate for as little as 15 minutes and as long as overnight.
When you’re ready to cook the chicken, set the pressure cooker to sauté mode. Add onions and allow them to cook for about five minutes. Add turmeric and salt, then add the chicken. Allow the chicken to sauté for three minutes, stirring often. Add the rest of the vindaloo mixture and about half a cup of water to the pressure cooker. Deglaze the pot and pressure-cook for five minutes. After the chicken has cooked for a few minutes, add some brown sugar to the vindaloo to cut some of the spiciness before serving.
Serving the Vindaloo
You can serve this tasty Indian dish on a bed of rice. Basmati rice goes great with this dish. Garnish the vindaloo with fresh herbs like cilantro or sprinkle some chili flakes on top of the chicken. You can also serve vindaloo with naan to soak up the flavorful gravy. Vindaloo is often served with pav, which is a dinner roll-type bread that is common in Indian cuisine.
It’s also a good idea to serve vindaloo with raita, which is a spiced yogurt that is often a part of Indian meals. The yogurt has a cooling effect and is the ideal complement to a spicy meal. Adding a little yogurt or coconut milk to the vindaloo gravy can also cut some of the spice and make the gravy especially creamy.
FAQ
Chicken vindaloo is a spicy chicken dish that has notes of vinegar. This dish tastes similar to masala but has a more pronounced vinegar-like taste that goes great with hot peppers. The dish is also served with lime to balance the spiciness of the vindaloo gravy.
Vindaloo is considered one of the hottest curries, so you may want to try a chicken vindaloo recipe if you enjoy spicy food. Madras is in the same category of spiciness. If you want a milder curry dish, biryani and korma are tasty options.
Vindaloo is a combination of chili peppers, ginger, tamarind, cumin and mustard seeds. This seasoning mixture originated in Goa. Curry, on the other hand, has origins in South Asia and belongs to the family of entrees smothered in spicy sauce.
Even if you’re following the best chicken vindaloo recipe, the entree can still be too spicy for some friends and family members. If the meal is too spicy, you can try adding more vegetables to the sauce to redistribute some of the spice. Adding coconut milk or cream to the sauce can also reduce the spice in chicken vindaloo. You an also add more of a tangy flavor to the dish by squeezing some lime on top of the chicken to make it less spicy.
Red chilli peppers are traditionally used in vindaloo sauce. If you want to follow an authentic chicken vindaloo recipe, you can include Bhut jolokia. These peppers are also known as ghost peppers are are considered the hottest pepper in the world by Guinness World Records.
