Sunday lunch is almost incomplete for Bengalis without “mangso-bhat“, that is any preparation of meat with steamed rice. Rice is well accompanied with gravy dish rather than a dry one. Generally I used to please our tongues by making usual Bengali Murgir Jhol. Though today I was in search of a different spicy chicken curry with lots of gravy and I ended up with the choice of famous Goanese recipe Chicken Vindaloo. The dish is actually derived from Portuguese recipe, Carne de vinha d’alhos, where meat is marinated with garlic and wine. In Indian version wine is replaced with malt vinegar and red chilies are added as an additional spice. It is best cooked with pork which I wish to try in future. So if you are ready to take the risk of testing a really hot and spicy chicken curry, like me, then just go for it 😉

Ingredients to serve 4-5 :

1. Chicken – 800 gm. (cut into medium size pieces)
2. Potato – 2 (cut into medium sized cubes) (optional)
3. Onion – 4 (large)
4. Garlic – 8-10 large cloves
5. Ginger – 1 inch piece
6. Cinnamon stick – 1 inch piece
7. Cloves – 6
8. Dry red chili – 8-10
9. Black peppercorn – 6-8
10. Turmeric powder – 1 teaspoon
11. Kashmiri red chilli powder – 2 teaspoon
12. Vinegar (white/malt) – ½ cup
13. Salt to taste
14. Cooking oil/Ghee – 2 tbspoon

Procedure :

Soak dry red chilies in ¼ cup of vinegar for at least 30 minutes.

Grind soaked red chilli, garlic, ginger, cinnamon, clove, peppercorn, turmeric powder and red chili powder along with the remaining vinegar to a fine paste.

Marinate the chicken with the prepared paste for 2-3 hours.

Also grind the onion to a fine paste.

Heat oil/ghee in a kadai over medium flame. Add marinated chicken and the onion paste. Mix them well and cook for 10 minutes till the chicken turns whitish in colour.

Then add potato cubes and enough water (approx 3 large large cup) to cover the chicken and potatoes.

As water starts boiling add salt.

Cover the pan and let it cook for 25-30 minutes over low-medium flame.

After that put the gas off and give it a standing time for another 10 minutes.

Serve with plain rice.

Note :

1. Try to use the chicken with little fat.
2. You can also cook the dish without marinating the chicken if you don’t have enough time in hand. In that case mix all the pastes with the chicken at the time of cooking.
3. Increase or decrease the amount of dry red chilies according to your preference.
4. Be sure of using Kashmiri red chili powder which only imparts the colour to dish rather than enhancing its hotness.