Conference turris::cooks

    This is the tale of a pursuit of a taste - the half remembered taste of
    Vindaloo in Goa 25 years ago...
    
    I started with a recipe from my mother - she collects recipe books, I rather
    fancy, and she turned up a "simple Vindaloo". This calls for a marinade
    consisting of:-
    
    6 small fresh red chillies, seeded,
    2 cloves of garlic, crushed,
    1 cup brown vinegar,
    1 T chopped fresh ginger,
    1 t cumin seeds,
    1 t coriander seeds,
    1/2 t cardamom seeds,
    1 t fenugreek seeds,
    1 t ground turmeric,
    1 T sugar
    
    (where 't' => teaspoon = 5 ml and 'T' => tablespoon = 15 ml, and a cup
    is 8 fluid ounces)
    
    These are then blended in a liquidiser, and 2 pounds of chicken are
    marinated overnight, then pan fried in ghee, then poached in the
    marinade for 30 minutes.
    
    I tried this: as expected it was not at all hot. Further it was too
    sour - probably in balance with the lack of 'hot'.
    
    My wife and I then sat down to think up what to do about it, and made
    several decisions:
    
    Firstly spices get their best taste when lightly cooked first - this
    'raw spice' marinade is just a little too simple for its own good.
    Secondly though overnight marination is needed for the chicken to adsorb
    the flavours of the spices, it is probably too long for the vinegar -
    the meat is almost pickled!
    
    We looked to our cabinets and found two Thai ingredients that we
    decided to use. The first is a paste called Prik Pao (pronounced
    'pow'), that is mainly chilli and garlic, with shrimp paste, and
    tamarind. This is cooked and matured to maximise the taste (though we
    do sometimes make our own, I must admit that mainly we use commercially
    available paste). The second 'ingredient' is a standard Thai condiment -
    thinly sliced chillis pickled in vinegar. 

    Note that tamarind is sour - it reduces the quantity of vinegar needed.
    
    This then is our modified recipe - since it isn't a true Vindaloo
    anymore, we call it:
    
    		"K-P's poultry dinner"
    
    First the marinade (phase 1)
    
    12 red chillis, thinly sliced (but not deseeded, nor deveined)
    4 cloves of garlic, crushed,
    1 cup fresh chicken stock (not from stock cubes - the real stuff)
    2 T chopped fresh ginger,
    1 t cumin seeds,
    1 t coriander seeds,
    3 cardomom seeds,
    1 t fenugreek seeds,
    1/4 t turmeric,
    1 T sugar,
    3 T prik pao.
    
    All the ingredients except the fresh chillis are then blended in a
    liquidiser, and the sliced chillis added. 2 lb of chicken are then
    marinaded overnight (in our case for 18 hours).
    
    Then 2 tablespoons of chillis in vinegar are strained, and the vinegar
    added to the marinade for 3 hours immediately prior to cooking.
    
    Then the pieces of chicken are pan fried in ghee, or cooking oil to
    which an ounce of butter has been added, and put aside for a moment.
    
    The marinade is put in a sauce pan and brought to a simmer, and 2
    teaspoons of fresh ground chilli powder (we roast our own chillis to
    make this truly fresh - if you can only get store bought chilli powder
    use 3 teaspoons) is added, and blended in. The chicken pieces are then
    added, and on very low heat the mixture is simmered, covered, for
    twenty minutes.
    
    A large potatoe is peeled and either parboiled, or more simply roughly
    cubed, and 'zapped' in a microwave oven for 1 minute on high power. The
    potatoe is added to the simmering mixture and cooked for a further 10
    minutes. The drained, pickled chillis are now added, and the mixture
    turned to high heat for 1 minute to complete cooking.
    
    Serve with white rice.
    
    /. Ian .\
    
    (Serves 2 - I consider this to be a fairly mild dish, but ...  :-)
    
    
    
    

    	I created a "vindaloo" recipe one night after buying a jar of
    vindaloo paste at an Indian/Asian grocery store and not knowing what to
    do with it. It's very easy, and my wife has cravings for it at least
    once a week now. Here's what you need:
    
    ~1 lb chicken cut into cubes
    1 large yellow onion chopped
    black pepper to taste
    white pepper to taste
    paprika
    1-2 cloves garlic
    2 tsp vindaloo paste
    1 cup chicken broth
    2-3 Tb butter or marg.
    vegetable oil
    
    	In a heavy skillet or wok, heat vegetable oil (quarter to half an
    inch deep) until hot. Then add chicken and stir-fry until it changes
    color but isn't completely cooked. Removed chicken with a slotted spoon
    and drain on paper towels for later. Dump out the oil. Add butter or
    marg. and heat on medium heat. Add onion, black pepper, white pepper,
    paprika, and garlic and saute until the onion is limp. Add more butter
    if it appears to dry out. Then add vindaloo paste and mix well,
    stir-frying for another minute. Pour in the chicken broth and stir it
    around. Add the chicken and simmer over medium heat for 10-15 minutes
    until it reduces to a thick sauce. Serve with some good white rice.
    
    Even with just 2 tsps of vindaloo paste, it'll be pretty hot (hot
    enough for most people).

    After spending a year in England where INdian restaurants abound, I'm a
    vindaloo fanatic!!! I have always had vindaloo with potatoes in it and
    well as pieces of fresh tomatoes. The potatoe idea was right.
    
    Sorry, no recipes.

    
    as an aside "vin" is a corruption of the French word viande (sp?)
    meaning meat, and aloo is from an Indian word meaning potatoe. The dish
    was developed in and around Goa and is the result of cultural mixing
    between the Indians and the European spice merchants. Literally I guess
    it applies to any Indian style "meat and potatoes" dish.
    
    Potatoe (or any starchy equivalent such as rice) acts as a "spice
    moderator" to reduce the perceived heat of the dish.
    
    as for a recipe - if I ever get straight from my recent office move
    I've got one somewhere...
    
    /. Ian .\

    The paste referred to in (.-2) may very well be Patak's Vindaloo Paste
    which comes in about a 16 oz. jar, in two strengths: Mild and Hot.
    Joyce Chen's in Acton stocks these (on shelves in the, um, Northwest
    corner near the freezer cases), and here in New York City you can
    get them pretty much in every neighborhood grocery, Korean Fruit Stand,
    Indian Market, etc.  These save a lot of time, and I certify that the
    Hot variety is lightning hot if you use more than the amount indicated.
    
    Patak's is out of England, somewhere, and God Bless 'Em, I use a lot
    of their products (try the Biriayni Paste, Tikka Paste, and especially
    the Lime Pickles [Achar]. Yee Hah!)
    
    Max
    

    
    Patak's Lime Pickles are wonderful.

Shikar ka Vindaloo - Pork Vindaloo

4lb Pork (boned)
8oz Ghee or cooking oil
4 hot green chiles
4 hot red chiles
8 cloves garlic
4 tbs ground coriander
2 tbs ground cumin
4 tsp black pepper
2 tsp ground tumeric
4 bay leaves
10 cloves
10 cardamons
4 tbs vinegar
2 lemons
2 large onions
4" fresh ginger
1.5 pints of boiling water
2 tbs garam masala
4 tsp salt

Trim away any excess fat from the pork.  Cut the pork into 1" cubes.  Heat the
ghee or oil in a heavy sauce pan and gently fry the pork until it is sealed on
all sides.  Lift it out with a slotted spoon and put to one side.

Now make the vindaloo paste.  Roast the bay leaves and cloves on a baking tray
in a hot oven preheated to 400 degrees for 15 minutes.  Meanwhile, top and tail
the green and red chiles and peel the garlic.  Mince together the chiles and
garlic and grind them together with the coriander, cumin, black pepper, and
tumeric.  Remove the seeds from the cardamon and grind together with the cloves
and bay leaves.  Mix them into the garlic and spice paste and add the vinegar. 
Squeeze in the juice from the lemons.  Mix this paste with the pork cubes.

Reheat the remaining ghee or oil in the heavy sauce pan.  Peel and thinly
slice the onion and fry it until it is just beginning to soften.  Peel and
thinly slice the ginger, add it to the sauce pan, and fry it for two minutes.
Add the pork and fry it for another five minutes.  Pour in the boiling water,
bring to a boil, and simmer for 40 minutes with the sauce pan tightly covered.
Then add in the garam masala and the salt and simmer for another 10-15 minutes
until the pork is tender.
    

    	If I wanted to be a lazy slob and substitute Patak's hot vindaloo
    curry paste for the "scratch" ingredients in (.-1), how much would I
    need? I'm guessing 2-3 tsp. That sound close?

    I have found that Patak's vindaloo paste just doesn't give the right
    flavor.  The recipe that I posted really isn't that much work.

    Sorry for the 18 month delay in responding.  The label recommends 2
    tablespoons, and I use three. I've found mild, hot and very hot
    varieties available. The "hot" should just about do it - I have found
    that I can't hack the "very hot", and I LIKE hot food.
    
    Jack Rhine has posted the "from scratch" edition, and I intend to try
    it on a weekend. But if you want vindaloo in a hurry, Patak's is the
    way to go. I have nothing but admiration for Jack's culinary ability,
    but I have to disagree with his opinion of the result - I can't tell
    the difference between the Patak preparation and the restaurant dishes
    found here in NYC on East 6th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues:
    Little India.
    
    Maybe they're cutting corners and using Patak's in the kitchen :-)
    

    Mark,  I let you know next time I am in New York and we can visit
    Little India!!  It has been a long time!!
    
    Now does anyone have a Tindaloo recipe.  Tindaloo makes vindaloo seem
    mild.  

    Quite ironically, I've got homemade chicken vindaloo sitting in the
    refrigerator here at MRO2, just waiting to be nuked at lunch.
    
    When I make it I use an onion to add some body to the vindaloo paste.
    I've found most recipes to be overly vinegared, having learned that
    about 1/2 cup is plenty. (The vindaloo at Sweetheart in Worcester is
    my baseline.)
    
    As for heat, I'm kind of, um, masochistic. The batch sitting in the
    refrigerator started off with 150 thai peppers.... serves 4.
    
    I can post my recipe later if anyone would like it.
    
    Edd

With 150 thai peppers in it, you have to refrigerate the stuff?

--PSW  :-)

    > With 150 thai peppers in it, you have to refrigerate the stuff?
    
    Yeah, but micro-waving it does seem kind of redundant...;^)
    
    Maybe my taste buds are shot, but it just doesn't seem that hot. I
    suppose it could be the thais losing some of their potency in the 
    freezer. (No problem, I've got 100+ plants in the backyard...)
    
    Edd

    	Yeah, but I bet the setting on the thermostat in the refrig has to
    	be increased everytime that stuff is put in it?!  
    

I asked in the Latin notesfile how to translate the motto 
"Chilli to Excess".

Here, Edd, I think you need it more.


;^)    ;^)    ;^)


Sheridan
:^)

    As hot as mine is, it's still not up to Sweetheart's...
    
    At most places I've eaten vindaloo (most recently Taj of India) the
    phrase "make it VERY hot" parses to "throw in a second chili". At
    Sweetheart, the cook and I have the same interpretation.
    
    Edd
    
    PS - Is the "V" in "CAPSICVM" really a V, or shoudl it be Anglicized
         to "U"?
    
    
     

    In [one of] the era[s] of the Roman Empire, U and V were the same
    letter which ultimately evolved into two letters.
    
    ed

    
    So Edd, if you're waiting for someone to ask you to post your Vindaloo
    recipe, I'm asking ..... ^)
    
    Larry
    

This recipe is adapted from one by Madhur Jaffrey. She uses less vinegar
than I, and only recommends 2-3 chilis. (Ha!)

It's not quite what I get at Sweetheart, but I find it delicious...

Edd

			Vindaloo

2 tsp whole cumin seeds
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp cardamon seeds (seeds, not pods!)
3" cinnamon
2 tsp whole black mustard seed
1 tsp fenugreek seed
1/4 c white wine vingar
2 tsp salt
1.5 tsp brown sugar
1 large onion, peeled and sliced
1.5 c water
1" chopped fresh ginger
1 whole clove garlic, peeled
1 TBL coriander seed
1 tsp turmeric
chili pepper to taste (I don't suggest novices try 150 thais!)
1/4 c oil
1 lb chicken breast cut in 1" cubes (Or fish, shrimp, lamb...)
2-3 potatoes cut in 1" cubes
1 tsp saffron threads if the letters TFSO mean nothing to you.
    
Grind cumin, chilis, peppercorns, cardamom, cinnamon, mustard and fenugreek.
Add vinegar salt and sugar.

Fry onions until clear, just turning brown. Remove from heat and place in
blender with a spash of water. Puree. Add vinegar/spice mixture and remaining
spices.

Add chicken, potatoes and enough water to cover. When chicken appears white
on outside, add spice mixture. Cover and simmer. Watch carefully, you want
to let some of the fluids boil away but not dry. Should take about an hour
until the potatoes are cooked.

Edd

TFSO??????

Sheridan
:^)

    Saffron is BIG bux. Not the type of thing one buys if their future
    financial picture is "iffy"...
    
    Edd