Chicken Vindaloo
Warning: Parameter 2 to wp_hide_post_Public::query_posts_join() expected to be a reference, value given in /home/yirese5/public_html/wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php on line 287
What are the first things that come to your mind when you think of Indian food?
Flavorful, spicy, aromatic, vegetarian are the words popping to me and they are also the reason I am always drawn to Indian cuisine.
I enjoy eating and cooking Indian dishes at home! Chinese food and Indian food share a lot of common spices so a lot of times I can turn my Chinese pantry to Indian pantry immediately. And did I mention that I grew up eating flavorful and spicy food in Sichuan? That just makes me such a natural Indian-food-lover!
So what’s an Indian recipe doing on a Chinese recipe blog?
One of my 2014 New Year resolutions is to cook and share more comfort food from around the world. So for the first post of the year I’ve decided to share my all-time favorite Indian dish called Chicken Vindaloo.
For those of you have not had this dish before, chicken vindaloo is an addicting spicy, sour, and tangy curry dish originated from Portugal. This dish has the word chili written all over the place. The medium thick gravy is packed with all kinds of chili ranging from green chili to dried chili to chili powder to chili paste. It’s a paradise for chili fanatics!
Chicken vindaloo is very popular in the States and served in most of the Indian restaurants I’ve been to. Many people refer this dish as one of the fieriest Indian dishes served on menu but to me this dish is more than just being spicy. I’ve tried a handful of chicken vindaloo from different restaurants and every one does it slightly different.
I prefer my vindaloo spicy enough to make me sweat a little (but not cause any stomach upset) and with a good blend of spices that are not necessarily overwhelming. I know the real deal in Indian (yet to try) doesn’t include any potatoes but I actually love those potato chunks so much I can totally skip the chicken J
If you love spicy and flavorful Indian food, you should definitely try this Chicken Vindaloo dish! Even if you can’t handle much heat, you can still make it mild spicy by decreasing the amount of chili used. Also you can use other kinds of meat such as lamb and beef instead of chicken. You’ll not believe how delicious this is until you try it yourself!
Step by Step Illustration
Chicken Vindaloo
Yield: 4 servings
Prep Time: 12 hours
Cook Time: 45
Ingredients:
- 1.5lb chicken breast, cubed
- 1lb potatoes, peeled and cubed
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- several dry chili
- Fresh chili for garnish
Marinade Paste
- 1tsp coriander seeds
- 1tsp cumin seeds
- 1tsp mustard seeds
- 1tsp black peppercorns
- 1 cardamom
- 3 cloves
- 1 1” cinnamon stick or 1tsp cinnamon powder
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 8 garlic cloves
- 2 1” ginger slice
- 1 medium onion
- 2 fresh chili
- 1 – 4tbsp paprika (adjust the amount according to your own taste)
- ½ cup white vinegar
- 1tbsp salt
- 1/2tbsp sugar
Directions:
- Toast the coriander, cumin, mustard, peppercorn, clove, cinnamon, and cardamom in a pan until you can smell the aroma. Grind the toasted spices in a spice grinder or using mortar and pestle
- Combine the ground spice with the rest of paste ingredients in a food processor. Process the ingredients until a smooth paste is formed. This paste will be used to marinate the chicken
- Mix the paste with cubed chicken and let it marinate for a few hours or overnight for the best result
- Heat over 2 tbsp of oil in a heavy skillet or Dutch oven. Sear the marinated chicken until both sides are brown. Remove the chicken
- Add the chopped onion and dry chili to the skillet and cook until translucent
- Stir the chicken back in and add 350ml of water. Bring to boil and continue to cook for 10 minutes
- Add the cubed potatoes to the chicken. Bring to boil and simmer with cover on in low heat for about 25 minutes or until the potatoes are soft. Stir occasionally to prevent from sticking. The sauce should look like a runny gravy at the end
- Turn off the heat and garnish with some fresh chili and lime wedges. Serve it with steamed basmati rice
Warning: Use of undefined constant rand - assumed 'rand' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in /home/yirese5/public_html/wp-content/themes/yireservation/single.php on line 72
Warning: Parameter 2 to wp_hide_post_Public::query_posts_join() expected to be a reference, value given in /home/yirese5/public_html/wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php on line 287
been looking for a nice recipe of this to try. Thanks for sharing this.
Simon
Holy moly…so good. I used all powder spice (half the amount) and it still came out wonderful. I can’t wait to try another recipe.
So happy to hear that the chicken vindaloo turned out good! This is my go-to dish at Indian restaurants! Thanks for checking out the recipe!
Hi Yi, your chicken vindaloo look awesome. I’d tried prawns vindaloo but yet to try with chicken. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
Have a great day.
I love spicy food but the long list of ingredients usually put me off from trying unless I can get prepared curry paste from the market…your dish looks delicious!
Thanks for visiting. Yes this dish requires quite a few recipes but it’s all worth the effort though.
Great NY’s resolution, my husband and I love Chicken Vindaloo and so glad you shared this. Yours looks fantastic and so tasty! I haven’t tried making this at home but did make butter chicken so hanks for sharing this vindaloo and can’t wait to try it Yi 🙂
I LOVE SPICY and I know that I would LOVE THIS DISH. nice work!!!
I LOVE SPICY. and i know I WOULD LOVE this dish! Nice work! 😉
My husband and I love Indian food, but we don’t like spicy food. So, we usually skip the vindaloo and go straight for korma or tikka masala. Your vindaloo looks amazing and definitely very spicy. I will have to pass on this one, but I am dying to see all your comfort food recipes around the world.
Such a delicious and comforting chicken dish…looks really tasty Yi.
I look forward to see all the dishes from around the world…
Have a great week and thanks for this awesome post 😀
Thanks Juliana. You have a great week as well!
This looks so yummy, great new years resolution 🙂
Love the combination of spices in this dish.
Vindaloo is such a great curry and makes any type of meat tastes great!
Thanks Simon. I am going to try the pork version soon!
I absolutely LOVE chicken vindaloo. There is this fantastic Indian restaurant by my house, and I almost always order it. Sadly, I have never tried making it. This has got to change, thanks for the recipe 😉
Thanks for stopping by. Hope you get to make it!
I love vindaloos as well. I love both Chinese and Indian food and visit both countries often on business. (I always eat some Indo-Chinese food in India, and find that Chino-Indian food has been getting popular in Beijing at least).
One quibble is that a real Goan vindaloo doesn’t contain potatoes! The name comes from the Portuguese ‘vindalho’ which simply means a dish made with lots of vinegar, and has nothing to do with ‘aloo’=potatoes in Hindi. Nothing wrong with that, of course, bu a different dish. The link below tells about this, and more about this dish that is interesting, and also has my very favorite recipe for it, made with pork belly. It is easy and delicious. Traditionally vindaloos are made with mustard oil (heated to smoking and cooled). For this recipe, where the fat is mostly from the pork (it is almost a confit, and the fat carries most of the flavor), I add some mustard powder (1/2 tsp) when the pork is browed some at the end. As a ‘confit’ it keeps practically forever in the refrigerator.
http://blog.sigsiv.com/2010/09/goan-pork-vindalho-pork-vindaloo.html
Excellent recipes at that site.
I love your site, and have made several ‘keepers’ like the seaweed eggdrop soup that have entered my comfort food stable. Thanks!
Hi Vjbortolot, thanks for the link to the pork vindaloo. That site is great and I can see myself cooking a lot recipes from there. I agree that potatoes are not used in the authentic version but for some reason I love the potatoes in that rich vindaloo sauce so I kinda adapt the recipe a little bit. Thanks for visiting!!
Looking at the 朝天椒，I believe this chicken vindaloo is fiery spicy indeed! I enjoy Indian food a lot too, and used to cook them quite often at home. Looks like it is time to do that again.
yup I made an extra spicy version for myself! it was really good 🙂
That looks delicious! Isn’t there a TW beef stew that is similar that look? I’ll have to try this sometimes Indian food can be too spicy for me.
http://www.thelovelyshack.com
Hi Jen, thanks for stopping by! Yes this is one of the spicier Indian dishes but if you make it home you can probably reduce the heat. It’s funny that you mentioned about the TW beef stew. I was actually craving for some good beef stew noodles last night so I made some at home. Yum!
That looks delicious! Isn’t there a TW beef stew that is similar that look? I’ll have to try this sometimes Indian food can be too spicy for me.
Your chicken vindaloo looks fabulous. I think the only country in Europe where Indian food is really hot is UK. Otherwise, they adapt hotness so that the European clients are not scared… There is only one restaurant in my city where they dare serving super hot dishes.
Thank you Sissi. Maybe you can consider making this at your kitchen:)
Looks super flavourful and delicious!
Oh Yi, i can’t wait to try this. I love Indian food and really need to stock up on more of the requisite spices. Never knew this originated in Portugal!
Thanks Abbe. Please let me now how you like it!
I love Indian food! And make it at home, although probably not as often as I should. I’ve made several vindaloo dishes, but oddly enough never Chicken Vindaloo. Your recipe looks great, and it’s a good idea to use vinegar as the sour ingredient rather than tamarind – something I don’t always have on hand. Good stuff – thanks.
Thanks John. I also like vindaloo with lamb which is very popular as well.
I have just recently starting eating (and loving!) Indian food. I can’t wait to try making my own – this chicken vindaloo looks amazing! Now I need to go buy a bunch of spices!
Thanks for stopping by Cate.
oh that looks REALLY hot!!! I love Chicken Vindaloo though, I have a cup of plain yogurt on the table ‘just in case’. GREAT new year resolution!!! I think learning to make dishes from another part of the world can give an idea how to improve your everyday favorites…
Great idea on having plain yogurt handy when eating this dish! Yes I agree that learning new dishes helps me continuously refine my cooking!