Chicken Vindaloo or Goan Chicken Vindaloo

Chicken Vindaloo or Goan Chicken  Vindaloo is a popular chicken dish from Goa. Whenever I talk about Goa, I become nostalgic. So many memories comes in my mind and I go back to my good old bachelor days.. Ha ha…who doesn’t love his/her bachelor days!😉

We are all aware about the Portuguese colonial era in Goa and the Portuguese rule lasted for almost 450 years. Hence, the Goan culture is lot more influenced by the Portuguese culture. Goan cuisine has also Portuguese influence. This is how one culture influence another.

Vindaloo is a dish where any meat or seafood is cooked with chilli and vinegar based gravy. Sometimes vegetables are also used in vindaloo. Meat could be of any type starting from chicken, mutton, beef or pork.

There is a Portuguese dish Carne de vinha d’alhos. It means meat with wine and garlic. Pork is predominantly used as meat. History also says that Portuguese sailors preserved their meat with garlic soaked in wine vinegar. Gradually, the dish was more customized by local Goans and the Indian interpretation of the dish became Vindaloo.

Most of the coastal cuisine contains lot of coconut in their food and Goan cuisine is not an exception. However, this particular dish Chicken Vindaloo does not contain any coconut or coconut milk. This may be because the dish is totally adapted from the Portuguese cuisine where there was no use of coconuts in the original dish.

Chicken Vindaloo contains a good amount of vinegar. It tastes quite similar to pickle as it has vinegar and spices like mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds which are used for making of pickles in India.

Last week while I was cooking chicken vindaloo I was not sure how my family members will accept the dish. To my surprise it was a super hit. Though the gravy contains dry red chillies and black peppercorns but somewhere vinegar and tamarind neutralizes the pungent taste and gives a tongue tickling taste. Avijit says why didn’t you cook it earlier? I said I cooked it earlier (my initial blogging days) but something did not go well and it didn’t turn out a ‘wow’ dish. Even our daughter enjoyed it thoroughly.

This is the last weekend of the year 2018, so if you are planning a party at home, you can surely try this Chicken Vindaloo to treat your guests. Now check how to prepare Goan chicken vindaloo at home.

Preparation time: 1 hr
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Servings: 4
Chicken Vindaloo or Goan Chicken Vindaloo

Chicken – 500 gms, curry cut
Onions – medium 2, finely chopped
Dry Red chillies – 5 to 6
Garlic Cloves – 7 to 8
Ginger – 1 inch
Mustard Seeds – 1 teaspoon
Cumin Seeds – 1 teaspoon
Coriander Seeds – 11/2 tablespoon
Clove – 3 to 4
Green Cardamom – 2 to 3
Cinnamon – 1 inch stick
Black Peppercorn – 7 to 8
Fenugreek Seeds – 1/2 teaspoon
White Vinegar – 1/4 cup
Vegetable Oil – 1/4 cup
Tomato Puree – 1/2 cup
Turmeric Powder – 1 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Tamarind Paste – 1 tablespoon
Sugar – 1 teaspoon

Procedure

1. Soak the dry red chillies in vinegar for almost one hour.
2. Dry roast coriander seeds, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, black peppercorns, cinnamon stick, cardamom, clove and after cooling them take into a blender and blend them to dry powder.
3. Now add ginger, garlic and soaked chilli along with the vinegar into the blender and make a smooth paste and add tamarind to this paste.
4. Marinate the chicken pieces with the prepared paste for approximately 1 hour.
5. Heat oil in a pan and fry the chopped onions until they are golden brown in colour.
6. Next add the marinated chicken and add little turmeric powder and cook under medium flame by covering with a lid. Stir in between.
7. After cooking for 10 to 15 minutes, add the tomato puree and cook until the raw smell of tomato is gone.
8. Add sugar and salt as per the taste.
9. Next add one and half cup of water and allow the chicken to cook for some more time. Once the gravy turns thick switch off the gas and serve it with plain rice or any Indian bread or bun.