Looking for the best vindaloo curry around? Here you go!
An authentic Goan pork vindaloo curry like this simply has to be tried.
I’ve been lucky to have met and learned from so many talented chefs over the years. It’s been a dream come true for me. To be able to learn such amazing recipes like this vindaloo recipe has made food blogging fun.
I learned this authentic and delicious vindaloo curry recipe when I was invited by Majinder Singh Sarai to his restaurant The 1875 near Leeds.
Don’t look for it. Unfortunately it’s no longer there but I had an pleasure of trying some incredible and authentic food that day.
What a place it was! Nestled upstairs in the Menston train station it was quite literally a hidden gem.
While there I met and cooked with the head chef Vivek Kashiwale. Vivek from Gwalior, a city in the middle of northern India has been cooking most of his life.
Vivek even trained under Michelin starred chef and author Vineet Bhatia for five years. Let’s just say he really knows his stuff. Last I heard, he was working as head chef at a classy restaurant in Dubai.
This is just as authentic and perhaps even better than the vindaloo curry recipe I learned in Goa.
Vivek’s vindaloo curry recipe is about as authentic as they come. I know because I learned pretty much the same recipe while in Goa. I also ate quite a few authentic vindaloos while there.
Goa was the birthplace of vindaloo curry. In the 15th century, the Portuguese controlled what is now Goa and brought with them their Portuguese recipes and ingredients from the new world – the Americas.
The name vindaloo is believed to have come from the Portuguese dish carne de vinho e albos or meat with wine and garlic. The Goans couldn’t pronounce vinho e albos and ended up calling it vindaloo. The name stuck.
One thing the Goans changed when making vinho e albos or vindaloo was that they added a lot of chillies. They loved spicy chillies which had only recently made their way to the Indian subcontinent via the Portuguese.
Roast your spices until warm to the touch and fragrant.
Grind roasted spices to a powder.
Blend the spices with the other marinade ingredients to make the vindaloo paste.
Marinating the meat. This can be done for as little as 30 minutes but longer is better.
I actually fried another batch on top of this. One batch was stirred into the sauce and the other used as a garnish.
The fried garlic should look about like this.
Now infuse the mustard seeds and curry leaves in the oil.
Add the chopped onion and fry until soft and translucent. Then add the tomatoes and some chilli powder.
cover with water and simmer for about an hour or until the pork is nice and tender.
Taste and adjust. I ended up adding a good generous tablespoon more chilli powder.
If you like this Goan pork vindaloo, you might like to try some of these too.
Goan Stuffed Crabs
Goan Chicken Xacutti
Goan Beef Kofta Curry
Goan Beef Croquettes
Goan Mutton Curry
This Goan pork vindaloo recipe was one Vivek wanted to show off. Sweet, sour and just a bit spicy, this vindaloo curry recipe just plain gets it.
In fact, I love it so much I featured the pork vindaloo curry in my second cookbook ‘The Curry Guy Easy’.
Authentic Goan Pork Vindaloo Curry
For best results, allow the pork to soak up the marinade for 48 hours.
Ingredients
- 800g pork leg cut into bit sized pieces
- 2 - 3 tablespoons ghee, coconut or rapeseed (canola) oil
- 1 head of garlic – cloves cut into slivers
- 1 teaspoon brown or black mustard seeds
- 10 fresh curry leaves
- 2 onions – finely chopped
- 3 tomatoes – finely chopped (about 400g)
- 1 teaspoon chilli powder (more or less to taste)
- 2 Indian bay leaves (optional)
- Juice of one lime or more vinegar to taste
- FOR THE VINDAlOO MARINADE
- 3 dried red chillies
- 1 tablespoon cumin seeds
- 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
- 1 teaspoon black cardamom seeds
- 1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
- 5 cloves
- 1 inch cassia bark stick
- 10 black peppercorns
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- 4 green chillies – finely chopped
- 75ml red wine vinegar (plus more if needed)
- 2 tablespoons soft brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon tamarind paste (or another two tablespoon of vinegar)
- 2 tbsp garlic and ginger paste
Instructions
- Start with the marinade.
- Place all the spices except the turmeric in a dry frying pan over medium heat and roast until they become fragrant and warm to the touch but are not yet smoking.
- Transfer to a plate to cool slightly and then pour the spices in a food processor with the turmeric and blend to a fine powder. You could also use a pestle and mortar but that's a lot more work.
- Add the chillies, vinegar, tamarind paste, brown sugar, garlic and ginger and blend to a smooth vindaloo paste.
- Put the pork in a large bowl with the marinade and stir well to combine.
- Leave the pork to marinate for eight to 48 hours. The longer the better. No time for that? No worries. Marinate as long as you can. It will still be delicious.
- To finish
- When ready to cook, heat the ghee or oil in a saucepan, large frying pan or wok over low heat.
- Add the garlic slivers and allow to cook gently for about 10 minutes. It is important not to burn the garlic so watch carefully. The garlic should be soft and only lightly browned as photographed above.
- Remove the garlic from the saucepan and set aside.
- Using the same ghee/oil, heat you pan over medium high heat until the oil is beginning to shimmer.
- Add the mustard seeds and when they begin to crackle, stir in the curry leaves. Fry for about 15 seconds until the curry leaves are very fragrant and then toss in the chopped onions.
- Fry for about 5 minutes over medium high heat until the onions are soft and translucent. Sprinkle a little salt over the onions. This will help release moisture from them.
- Add the chopped tomatoes, chilli powder, bay leaves and the pork with its marinade to the pan and then pour in just enough water to cover.
- Leave to simmer for about an hour until the pork is very tender. You may need to add a drop more water while simmering.
- When the meat is tender, the sauce should taste amazing. Adjust spicing adding more salt if needed and more chilli powder if you want.
- Stir in the cooked garlic.
- squeeze the lime juice over the top and serve.
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Dig in!
Nejat
Sunday 22nd of January 2023
I made this recipe with double the amount of pork because I batch cook . I just doubled up on all the ingredients and swapped the red wine vinegar with cider vinegar and added a tablespoon of smoked paprika and a tablespoon of Kashmiri chilli powder which i ground from pods. Marination was 24 hours not 48 as recommended.but will do next time. I can honestly say this curry is up there ! Next to my favourite Sri lankan curry ! Truly a masterpiece! Dan is a genius 🙏
Dan Toombs
Monday 23rd of January 2023
Thanks very much, glad it all worked for you. Dan
Christina Harcar
Saturday 5th of November 2022
I made this for the first time and it was amazing. I served it with raita and coconut poori (and basmati rice and vegetable sides, of course) to help balance the heat for my palate (I have mostly eaten Kashmiri or Punjabi dishes before this.) Thank you!
Dan Toombs
Sunday 13th of November 2022
Great to hear you enjoyed the recipe. Nice choice of sides too. Thanks very much. Dan
Rosie
Saturday 24th of September 2022
Brilliant recipe thank you so much! I cooked mine in the slow cooker.
Dan Toombs
Friday 30th of September 2022
Great to hear, thank you for letting me know. Dan
Paul Sharples
Saturday 6th of August 2022
This is off-the-scale delicious! I cooked it for 8 hours in a slow cooker, let it cool and enjoyed it reheated the following day. Simply epic!
Dan Toombs
Tuesday 9th of August 2022
Really good to hear, thanks for letting me know. Dan
Erik
Saturday 23rd of July 2022
Hi Dan,
thank you very much for the recipe. We had the Pork Vindaloo for dinner yesterday and it was the best Vindaloo I had outside Goa! Next time I will add a little more Chili as I was a bit careful yesterday. Also made the quick Naans from your website, they worked very well. I have just ordered some of your books. Keep up the good work! Best regards, Erik
Dan Toombs
Tuesday 26th of July 2022
Thank you so much for letting me know and for ordering my books. Dan