Pork or Beef or Lamb Vindaloo Curry By Dick Smith
Beef Vindaloo
Dick Smith
Pictures by Dick Smith
Here is the recipe for my Vindaloo, it is neither original nor traditional, but I have tried to replicate the original Portugese Vin da ahlo. This as far as my studies have lead me to believe, used the preserved meat that had been transported to the Indian colonies from Portugal in barrels (similar to the British using salt or corned pork and beef) in a wine vinegar. I think it would have been originally far more vinegary, much more like the German Sauerbraten. But I digress, here is my recipe. Serves 6
The word Boti means pieces/cubes, as in cubes of meat.
Ingredients
1 kg. good quality (goulash) beef. It can be made with pork or lamb too.
Dry ingredients
10 green cardamom pods
10 cloves
Spoonful black pepper corns
2 inch piece of cinnamon bark
2 teaspoon of coriander powder
1 teaspoon cumin powder
10 dry red chillies
8 curry leaves (grind only 4)
1 tea spoon of mustard seeds
1 teaspoon of fenugreek
For the Vindaloo paste or marinade
2 large onions
1 teaspoon of course sea salt
Splash or two of oil
Good table spoon of grated ginger
5 large cloves of garlic
100 ml. red wine vinegar
For cooking Vindaloo
Chilli flakes with dried prawns to taste (depends on the depth of warmth required)
1-2 tbsp oil
1 teaspoon of Mustard seeds
Curry leaves
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
250ml of Beef stock, you can use a stock cube (if you must)
Small, 200 gm. tin of tomato purée
Instructions
Grind the dry ingredients in a mortar and pestle, remove husks, then heat in the microwave just a few seconds will do it or the will burn. This releases flavours.
Peel and slice the onions thinly.
Heat oil in a pan and fry the onions until golden to dark brown
Turn heat off, lift onions out and divide into two.
Turn the heat on again and add the garlic and ginger to the remaining oil, frying only for a few seconds, not allowing it to turn dark. Otherwise, it will taste bitter. Turn heat off.
Place ginger and garlic and half of the onions in a mortar, grind to a smooth paste with a pestle.
Add the dried spices, grind again, adding the vinegar. You should end up with a nice heavy paste. You can do this grinding in a small blender, if you do not have a pestle and mortar.
Mix in the other half of the fried onions and beef. Cover and leave in a cold place/fridge overnight.
Next day, heat the oil in a pan, add the mustard seeds. When they begin to splutter, add the curry leaves.
Add the meat and brown it.
Add the tomato pur?e and stock, heat up to boiling (there shouldn?t be too much sauce it should coat the meat).
Transfer to a slow cooker for about 4-6 hours on low (depends on the cut of meat). I boiled some new potatoes cut them into 1/4 and added to the Vindaloo about 1/2 hour before the end.
Serve with rice and chapattis
