Chicken Vindaloo

A Vindaloo is what you could call a real mans curry as it seems to be a badge of honour to eat the really hot Vindaloo.  But the thing is that it is not supposed to be that hot really, you can if you like make it hot but really hot by using very hot chillies.  A Vindaloo is more of an aromatic intensely flavoured affair rather than a just hot.

Ingredients

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp coriander seeds

5 black peppercorns, left whole

2 green cardamom pods

2 cloves

1cm/½in piece cinnamon

1cm/½in piece ginger, peeled and chopped

7 garlic cloves, peeled and left whole

3 fresh red chillies

3 tbsp rice wine vinegar

Pinch salt

350g/12oz diced chicken barest

100g/3½oz diced leg meat

65ml/2½fl oz vegetable oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

For the authentic spice mix, you need to grind up the spices as best you can.  Now if you have a spice grinder you can used that but if you do not try crushing them under a heavy pan. Or what you can do is like I do crush the spices as best as I can and then put them on a food processor with the garlic, ginger, chillies and rice wine vinegar. Turn it on and blend it all in to a paste.

Now that you have this spice blend the next thing to do is add it to the meat and work it all in to the meat so that every thing is well covered.  Then cover and leave in the fridge for at least 1 to 2 hours longer the better over night is best.  The vinegar starts to help working the flavours in to the meat.

When you are ready to cook add the oil to a frying pan and heat up. Add the onions and cook until soft, and starting to brown a little.  Then add the chicken and all the marinade.  Stir it over cooking the meat evenly.  As it cook you might want to add a little water to the cooking as it might dry out but apart from that do not add any more liquid , from beginning to end it should take 30 to 40 minutes.

Serve with rice, yogurt and cucumber dressed in limejuice, perfect for a night in front of the television.