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Recipe-1 › Curries of the world › Vindaloo

Goa, India

Vindaloo

Goa’s hot, sour pork curry, descended from the Portuguese “carne de vinha d’alhos” (meat in wine and garlic); vinegar and dried chillies give it its bite.

Vindaloo
Same steps, different flavour base Hot

Too hot for you? Use half the chilli (powder, paste or fresh chillies) and leave out the green chillies.

New here? How this page works

Recipe-1 is one simple curry recipe in nine steps: fry onions and green chillies, add your vegetables or meat, add chilli powder and turmeric, then water and salt, and boil. With small changes the same nine steps make curries from all over the world.

This page takes those nine steps and shows what to change to make Vindaloo. You don’t need to read anything else first: every base step is written out below. The changes are worked out on paper from what is typical for this dish; not yet kitchen-tested. Cooked it? Tell others how it went.

Green: the base recipe step (crossed out = do not use it for this dish)Red: what to do instead for Vindaloo

See the full base recipe (with timers and tips) · See all curries on the world map

You’ll need

How many people?4

The amounts change with the number of people; cooking times stay about the same (use a bigger pot for more). Taste as you go: you can always add more chilli or salt, but you cannot take it out.

Main ingredient: 750 g Pork shoulder or belly in large cubes (chicken also works).

From the base recipe

  • 2 Onions
  • Green chillies not used
  • 3 tbsp Cooking oil
  • Red chilli powder not used
  • ½ tsp Turmeric
  • 1 tsp · 150 ml Salt and water
  • Ginger garlic paste not used
  • Cloves, cardamom and cinnamon not used
  • Garam masala (optional) not used

Add for Vindaloo

  • 8–10 Dried Kashmiri or byadgi chillies, soaked
  • 4 tbsp Vinegar (coconut or cane vinegar in Goa)
  • 8 · 3 cm Garlic and ginger
  • 1 tsp · 1 tsp Cumin seeds and black peppercorns
  • 1 tsp A little jaggery or sugar

Leave out

  • Vegetables
  • Garam masala

The nine steps, with the changes

Where a step has a red line, do the red line and not the crossed-out green base step. Steps with only green are done just as in the base recipe.

  1. Base step: do not useCut onions and chillies.

    Vindaloo: do thisSlice the onions; leave out the green chillies (the dried chillies give the heat).

  2. Base step: do not useFry in some oil for around 4 minutes on medium-high heat.

    Vindaloo: do thisFry the onions until golden, about 8 minutes.

  3. Base step: do not useCut the vegetable(s) of your choice.

    Vindaloo: do thisUse the pork, marinated for a few hours in a paste of the soaked chillies, garlic, ginger, cumin, pepper, turmeric and vinegar.

  4. Base step: do not useAdd them and fry for around 4 minutes on medium-high heat.

    Vindaloo: do thisAdd the pork with all its marinade and fry until the paste darkens.

  5. Base step: do not useAdd red chilli powder and turmeric.

    Vindaloo: do thisSkip the chilli powder: the chilli paste does the job.

  6. Keep frying until just before they start browning.

  7. Base step: do not useAdd some water.

    Vindaloo: do thisAdd a little water, just enough to stop it sticking.

  8. Base step: do not useAdd salt.

    Vindaloo: do thisAdd salt and a little jaggery to balance the vinegar.

  9. Base step: do not useBoil until the gravy is as thick as you like.

    Vindaloo: do thisCover and simmer for about an hour until the pork is tender and the gravy thick and dark red.

Serve: With rice or Goan bread (pão).

For meat and seafood, make sure it is cooked through: chicken until no pink remains inside; mutton, goat and beef need long, slow cooking.

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Food marks, as on packaged food in India: vegetarian · non-vegetarian (meat, fish or egg). Dishes with both marks can be made either way.

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