Chicken Vindaloo is what unites all spicy food lovers and is a wonderfully fragrant and beautiful Indian curry inspired by the people of Goa. Where is Goa? Goa is one of the smallest states on the southwestern coast of India with long, sandy beaches, forestry, exotic wildlife and suddenly I'm wondering why I'm not there! 🙂 The people in Goa have also shone a light on the popular vindaloo curry so do take your time and wildly enjoy the recipe.
Served here with soft and fluffy naan bread, although as delicious with basmati rice, lentils or crusty homemade bread. Either way, this vindaloo curry is utterly delicious!
What I have done here is appreciate the roots of the vindaloo paste because by gosh it's a power house of flavors and there is nothing better than a whole spice blend. When you taste this vindaloo it has noticeable layer and layers of spicy flavors!
The rest of the recipe I have changed although still sticking with the idea of a vindaloo just adding an extra layer of unbelievable mouthwatering, gobsmacking taste to suit our family.
You can make this curry with pork, lamb or mutton but today I have chicken breasts available and I needed the curry now rather than later so here we are 🙂 Big curry lovers here friends!
Curry is something I grew up on therefore very customary with my curry tolerances much higher than that of my husbands whose pallet is more pasta accustomed. Why am I telling you this? Because if you're familiar with my blog I'm all about "work with what you have" and make it work. Yes this is a chicken Vindaloo curry and with a little adjustment to suit our family. Let me take you through how I make my chicken vindaloo.
How to Make This Chicken Vindaloo
This is the Vindaloo paste used to marinade the chicken and add all the flavor so don't leave it out. It's also the part that makes the recipe authentic.
Vindaloo Paste The first step is to toast the whole spices and add them into a blender, followed by garlic, vinegar and water. Please note that if you don't have whole spices, you can use ground spices instead or use both combined. More on this in the full recipe card below.
Chicken I've used chicken breasts in this recipe, cut into cubes. Pour the paste over the chicken, leave in a sealable container to marinade.
How long to marinade the chicken?
It varies from family to family ranging with anything from 20 minutes to a couple of hours to overnight! I've used the 2 hour mark but you can use what works for you.
An absolutely stunning dish filling your home with beautiful Indian fragrances.
What's the next thing to do? We have the spices toasted and ground and the chicken has marinated for 2 hours now what?
Basically the easiest part of the recipe is now! All you do is fry an onion and you can chop it, slice or even grate it. Add the chicken, tomatoes are optional canned or fresh and so is tomato paste. Add salt, a dash of water and cook your vindaloo till the chicken is done which is about 30 to 40 minutes depending.
HOWEVER remember when I mentioned earlier "make it work for your family?"
At this point, is where I make my own chicken vindaloo version which is;
- spicy and a little hot (heat levels will vary from person to person so adjust the spice amounts in the curry). Full recipe card below.
- the sauce is not watery but also not too thick
- the kitchen smells of a grand Indian curry and everyone will tell you if you're anosmic
- the taste is impressively off the charts delicious and any left overs taste even better the next day!
Let's get started...
Aromatics
I've already added vinegar to the vindaloo paste which I use for the marinade because sticking to the authenticity for the vindaloo paste is important as this is your flavor profile for the recipe. I am all about creating flavor in my recipes as seen in this Slow Cooked Short Rib Ragu (Oven) and now we have layers of it in this recipe.
Onion Cook the onions in a pinch of salt, it will them cook down and reduce moisture. This is especially necessary when making a soffritto and wanting to caramelize the onions.
Garlic & Ginger Add garlic and grated ginger.
Spices Add a blend of light spices. Cook them in.
Tomato paste Add tomato paste, cook it in.
Tomato Add the tomato in two parts with a dash of water.
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Season You always season at the beginning in the middle and at the end. Well at least that's my suggestion.
Wine Add a dash of red wine.
Note: The authentic recipe (Goan vindaloo or vindahlo) adapted by the Portuguese "carne de vinha d'alhos' which translates to meat of wine and garlic - makes me feel a bit more justified in using wine in my adapted version of additional spices and wine in the second half of this recipe.
You now have a thick aromatic sauce and it will be the base for your already flavored and marinated chicken vindaloo! Yesss! Now we bring everything together friends!
You can also watch the video on my YouTube channel.
Ingredients used for the paste that go into the blender
- dried chilies
- coriander seeds
- cloves
- cinnamon
- cardamom seeds
- black peppercorns
- cumin (jeera seeds) or cumin powder
- garlic
- vinegar
- water
Some Notes and Suggestions
Just incase you're wondering what the difference is between regular curry and vindaloo curry: Vindaloo is a blend of chilies, ginger, garlic, vinegar and/or tamarind and spices authentic to Indian cooking. Curry on the other hand, is a family dish flavored by a spiced sauce, originating from south Asia.
Chilies and options:
If you can't find Kashmiri chillies (authentic to this recipe), these are your other best options since regular curry powder is perhaps too hot to replace the milder Kashmiri:
- try your local Indian food/spice shops, they probably have it
- dried chilies (fresh chilies that have been dried)
- combine paprika and cayenne (3 parts paprika and 1 part cayenne)
Spices
Most of them can be found at the spice section of the store except the Kashmiri chili
This recipe calls for whole spices (for the vindaloo paste) but please don't start running around looking for what you don't have, simply use the powdered version (they easier to find).
Do I have to use tamarind and what is it?
Tamarind is sticky type textured fruit (a little like a date paste) that's very prominent in Asian and Indian cuisine so you may even have seen it before in Indian recipes. Tamarind is now the world over ingredient being used in all different kinds of cuisines including Caribbean and Mexican. No you don't have to use it if you can't find it, you can simply add about a tablespoon of vinegar and taste if you want to perfect the recipe. It should have a sweet and sour taste combined. Balsamic cannot be used here but you can use red wine vinegar or even cider vinegar.
What to serve with Vindaloo curry
Serving vindaloo curry with white basmati rice is how it's served in Indian restaurants but you can serve it with any rice even brown rice, my favorite! Here we've served it with soft naan bread that you can make before your start the curry, and while it cooks, roll out and prep you naan for the final rise. Done!
If you make this recipe please don't hesitate to let me know down below in the comments section and if you do make it, then give me a hello on Instagram and share you food creation of the wonderful Vindaloo Curry! Happy cooking everyone!
Must try recipes:
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Chicken Vindaloo Curry
Ingredients
Vindaloo Paste
- 6 Kashmiri chilies OR dried chilies See options below under Note 1.
- 2 tbsps coriander seeds
- 6 cloves
- 1 cinnamon stick broken into 2 or 3 parts
- 4 cardamom seeds
- ¼ teaspoon black peppercorns
- 1 teaspoon cumin jeera seeds
- 6 cloves garlic ginger is optional & not added in this recipe
- ¼ cup vinegar regular white, red wine or apple cider
- ¾ cup water
Chicken curry
- 1 kg chicken breasts cut into cubes
- 5 tbsps. oil
- 1 onion diced (and a pinch of salt to cook with the onions)
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tablespoon ginger
- 1 tsp mild red curry powder or paprika for the color
- 1 /2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 /4 tsp mild curry powder
- 2 tbsps tomato paste
- 1 cup crushed canned tomatoes half of 410g can
- 1 tsp salt to taste
- 1 /4 cup red wine not authentic to vindaloo as substituted with vinegar so please feel free to omit
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 ⅓ cups water
- curry leaves a few in the hand, maybe 6 or so
- chopped coriander to garnish
Instructions
Make the vindaloo paste
- Add the whole spices to a dry pan to toast setting aside any ground spices that you may be substituting with if you can't find whole spices. See Note 2Roast till the aroma fills the kitchen and the spices turn a deeper golden brown. Don't let them burn! Medium heat, stay close and 3 to 4 minutes give and take. Once toasted, let them cool down for a few seconds before transferring to a blender. Add any ground spices you've set aside, garlic, (ginger if using), vinegar and water. Blend.
- Slice the chicken breasts into cubes.
- Pour the paste from the blender over the chicken making sure that it's well coated. Cover with a lid and leave to marinade for 2 hours.
Curry sauce for the chicken
- Heat the oil and add the onions and pinch of salt to cook. 2 to 3 minutes or till the onions are soft and shimmering.
- Add the garlic and ginger. Stir, cook for a minute or so.
- Add the mild red curry powder, turmeric, and mild curry powder. More on this under Note 3. Cook till the spices are cooked in, stir, another minute or so.
- Tomato paste goes in, stir it into the spices while cooking for about 2 to 3 minutes on medium heat. Allow the paste to cook well into the onion and spices.
- Get the tomatoes in, in 2 parts, a little first, stir and mix and then add the remaining tomatoes and salt to taste. Once the tomato juices cook out, add the wine. Cook till evaporated, 2 minutes.
- Return the marinated chicken in the vindaloo paste and add it all into the pot. Make sure to add water to the empty container and toss that in as well. Give everything a good mix.
- Add the sugar, mix, lid on and leave to cook for 30 to 35 minutes. During cooking, keep lifting the lid and give it a stir to make sure it's not sticking. Halfway through, add the curry leaves, stir and continue cooking with the lid on for another 10 minutes.
- In the last 5 to 8 minutes or so remove the lid and cook the chicken vindaloo finish uncovered for any excess liquid to cook out.
- Garnish with fresh chopped coriander and serve with rice or naan.
Notes
- dried chilies (fresh chilies that have been dried)
- make a mix of sweet paprika, smoked paprika and cayenne
- Make sure to find ones that are red not half brown/red and they should also be sealed if buying in a packet form.
- Feel free to take the seeds out for less heat or half and half for a more medium effect and don't forget to wear gloves or wash your hands.
- Soak them in hot water for an hour and you will notice that the skin looks much more less creased.
- If you can't find all the whole spices then use ground. You can also use both whole and ground.
- Feel free to omit the mild red curry powder or paprika from the curry and add it instead to the paste, this is purely for the color.
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