Chicken Vindaloo

The Vindaloo style of cooking is of Goan origin. It can be cooked with any meat. Vindaloo is a popular Indian dish in Goa. The dish has gained popularity in Britain, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand, where it is almost universally featured on Indian restaurant menu.

Chicken Vindaloo

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoon cumin seeds, whole
• 1 teaspoon peppercorns, black
• 1 teaspoon cardamom seeds
• 1 cinnamon (3 in stick)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon black mustard seeds, whole
• 1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds, whole
• 5 tablespoon white wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar, light
• 10 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 large yellow onions, peeled and cut into; half-rings
• 6 tablespoon water
• 1 ginger, fresh (1-inch cube), peeled; and coarsely chopped
• 10 garlic cloves, peeled and coarsely; chopped (or less)
• 1 tablespoon coriander seeds, ground
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric, ground
• 2 lb chicken breast (boneless), cut into; bite-sized pieces
• 8 oz tomato sauce /Tomato Puree
• 1/2 lb new potatoes, peeled and quartered   
  
  
  Method
  
  
• Grind cumin seeds, black pepper, cardamom seeds, cinnamon, black mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds together in a spice grinder. In a small bowl, combine ground spices, vinegar, salt, cayenne pepper and brown sugar. Set aside.(vindaloo paste)
• Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Fry onions, stirring frequently, until they are a rich, dark brown. Remove onions with a slotted spoon and put them in a blender. Turn off the heat, but do not discard the oil. Add about 3 T water (or more if necessary) to the onions and blend until you have a smooth paste. Add this onion paste to the spices in the bowl. This mixture is the vindaloo paste.
• Put the ginger and garlic in a blender to a smooth paste.
• Heat the remaining oil in the saucepan over medium heat. When hot, add the ginger, garlic paste. Stir until the paste browns slightly. Add the coriander and turmeric. Stir a few seconds. Add the chicken, a little at a time, and brown lightly.
• Add the vindaloo paste, tomato sauce/tomato puree and potatoes to the chicken in the saucepan. Stir and bring to a slight boil. Cover the saucepan, reduce heat to low and simmer for about an hour, or until potatoes are tender. Serve over rice or with Indian Bread.
  
  
  
  
  N.B:
  
  * Nearly every Indian restaurant serves something called Spicy chicken curry,that it calls Chicken Vindaloo, but the dish varies greatly from place to place. This recipe is a modification of a vindaloo recipe that appears in Madhur Jaffrey's "Indian Cooking" (Barron's 1983).
  
  * Don't undercook the onions. They should be cooked until dark brown. If the onion paste turns out gray rather than brown, then the onions were not cooked enough.
  
  * This dish is very, very hot. It may not seem so at first, but the spices have a cumulative effect that builds up over the course of the meal.