vindaloo is a bold, authentic Goan-style spicy curry—tangy from vinegar, deep with garlic and spices, and properly hot (but adjustable). This version stays true to its Portuguese-Goan roots: no tomatoes, no cream, no sugar unless you intentionally balance heat at the end.
It begins with the marinade. First using these ingredients:
For the Vindaloo Paste
- 8 dried Kashmiri chilies (or 4 Kashmiri + 2–4 Thai chilies for extra heat) 🌶️
- 6 cloves garlic
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger
- 1½ tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- 6 black peppercorns
- 4 cloves
- 1-inch cinnamon stick
- ½ tsp turmeric
- 2 tbsp white vinegar
They all go into the food processor and make a thick paste that you marinate the chicken in. I prefer bone in thighs, so I skinned them, cleaned the fat off and chopped them into pieces before applying the marinade. They sat in the marinade in the fridge overnight. Thats the best way! Then in the morning, I chopped a big onion and caramlized it before adding just half of a roma tomato chopped to help build the sauce. I added the chicken and browned it a little before adding some broth and half a bottle of spicy vondaloo sauce before letting the whole lot simmer on a very low heat all day.
What happens is that the first flavor you smell is the vinegar. The vinegar-forward aroma is exactly what you want at this early stage. It means the dish is still in its early vindaloo phase—sharp, bright, and angular. Over the next few hours it will round out as:
- garlic sweetens
- onions dissolve into the sauce
- chili deepens
- fat emulsifies
- acidity integrates
Vindaloo almost always smells too sharp midway through a long cook—and then turns magical later. Its pretty hot and so that will be the thing I watch. We like it hot, bet too hot is not good either.
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