Who is the Vindaloo expert here, which recipe do you follow?

Seems this spicy curry dish can be made with pork, lamb or chicken. I was thinking of making it with some ground lamb (potatoes optional). Any one here have some insights?

Vindaloo recipes have been popular on the Internet for a while-- that forum is where I first saw a recipe for it (hot spices cooked in mustard oil -- mustard oil!).

Search groups.google.com under newsgroup name rec.food.cooking (the current name of the same forum as above) for international post-1986 Vindaloo notes.

According to the authorities I've read, "vindaloo" means "with vinegar". It's an Indian dish of Goan origin. Goa was a Portuguese colony for many years, and this dish that is heavy on meat and vinegar resulted from the melding of the South Indian and Portuguese culinary traditions. This got conflated outside of Goa itself with "aloo" meaning "potato", and so potatoes, which traditionally don't belong in a vindaloo, found their way into the dish in overseas restaurants.

These curries are unique in Indian cuisine in that the sour element is provided by vinegar as opposed to tamarind or citrus juice. They're also more meat-oriented than is usual, especially for somewhere as far south in India as Goa. They can be volcanically hot, but no more so, IMO, than a sambar or rasam from the mainstream South Indian tradition.

I'll post my favorite vindaloo recipe when I get the chance.

-Paul W.

According to the authorities I've read, "vindaloo" means "with vinegar". It's an Indian dish of Goan origin. Goa was a Portuguese colony for many years, and this dish that is heavy on meat and vinegar resulted from the melding of the South Indian and Portuguese culinary traditions. This got conflated outside of Goa itself with "aloo" meaning "potato", and so potatoes, which traditionally don't belong in a vindaloo, found their way into the dish in overseas restaurants.

These curries are unique in Indian cuisine in that the sour element is provided by vinegar as opposed to tamarind or citrus juice. They're also more meat-oriented than is usual, especially for somewhere as far south in India as Goa. They can be volcanically hot, but no more so, IMO, than a sambar or rasam from the mainstream South Indian tradition.

I'll post my favorite vindaloo recipe when I get the chance.

-Paul W.

Thanks Paul, very interesting stuff.

It is sobering to contemplate the fact that the potato, the tomato, and all the various hot peppers are in fact from the new world, and none of the above would have been available to Indian cooks before 1492 or later. Perhaps Goa was a port of entry for these exotic ingredients. I have long held the theory that northern Indian cuisine was probably almost identical to Persian food, but the Indians were receptive to different ingredients whereas the Persians were more traditional. Thus Persian food is very savory but rather bland compared to Indian.

Frank

Frank, I'd expect Goanese cooking traditions to reflect the strong European influence of Portugal, the same reason why many Goanese Indians are Roman Catholics and the same reason that Macanese cooking shows the long colonial status (only recently ended) of Macau (I have more direct experience of that). (Here on the Pacific US coast where there are literally thousands of different independent family-run restaurants broadly called Chinese, a good hint at a Macanese connection, which is rare by the way, is tomatoes, e.g. in shellfish dishes, on the menu.) Europeans took greatly to certain "new world" vegetables, and spread them around through colonial influence, even in the new world! (Which is how we have potatoes -- rather than just the sweet-potato family -- in North America; we got them from South America, via Europe and some active cultivation to evolve the species from its S.-American prototypes.) Analogous movement led to popularization of 19th- and 20th-century British shippable foods -- condensed milk is the one that comes to mind, but there are others -- in British-influenced countries with no such traditions previously. (Some people have studied this, tracing points of imperialist contact from such foods -- I think Davidson in his Oxford food encyclopedia has a lot about that.) There were even bizarre reverse cases like the famous episode of bottled British ale designed for shipment to colonial or military populations in India ("India Pale Ale" or IPA), salvaged after a shipwreck near Britain and consequently becoming popular in Britain itself, which is how "IPA" endures as an ale style. If I recall, the original maker was Bass.

I don't know precisely what you mean by Northern Indian cooking but if it includes the former Moghul lands toward the north-west, which is greatly known for its cooking, there's a long and disputed history of diffusion of the rich array of spices used there (coriander, cumin, cinnamon, etc. -- in English, many of them start with C) out of and/or into the ancient Persian Empire. Exactly where some of these spices originated is a question that drew conflicting answers when I consulted Indian and Persian sources about it some years ago but it's evident that the Persian Empire left a lot of very savory cooking in its wake.

Lots of great information here. I suspect many on the forum are as interested as I am in the subject. You guys gonna update Wikipedia!!!

You guys gonna update Wikipedia!!!

That could be a full-time job (even just for the bits of trivia I've checked on there). (E.g., "Liqueur" only used to describe sugared cordials? Please read a few books. Macaroons first invented 1790s?! Did you check any easily available French reference book, reporting how they were popular in Nancy two centuries earlier? Tintin stories first available in US in 1970s? Oh no! What then were we reading 10 years before, and what was that specialty kiosk in Rockefeller Center selling like hotcakes? And don't get me started about absinthe.) Wikipedia rather symbolizes the Internet, presenting (and even defending) what its contributors happen to know about. If you run into an area that you happen to know even a little more about, then you discover how this differs from professionally researched reference books.

Max, I started as a Wikipedia complainer, when a student submitted a paper with wrong information from there. Then I thought about it and became a Wikipedia contributor, in certain narrow areas of interest. I have also poked around and corrected egregious errors (like the term "Branch Dravidian" in the discussion of a Japanese cult)(Shinreikyo).

Editing existing entries really is quite simple and doesn't take much time.

Putting stuff in from scratch is a longer task and rather thankless.

It was satisfying to correct the wrong information that had shown up in my student's paper.

Frank

Hi Frank, thanks for the advice. I've considered some of that. Certain further factors also impede correcting sincere misinformation. The "Liqueur" case I cited is one where lots of easy-to-find, recent or shallow sources support the misleading entry (which reflects conventional thinking among Net-active US bartenders, many of them under 30 years old). It's one of those situations where only through wide reading do you perceive the problem. Of course a few strong examples might do the trick but who knows? (The "macaroon" case I cited is astounding, because more accurate information is so very widely distributed.)

The "absinthe" case is special -- you've seen my factual postings about the subject elsewhere. In the last 3-5 years, a new population of US absinthe hobbyists emerged (a plurality of them from goth music fan circles, I'm told) who gravitated to particular information sources and who cultivate a specific set of assumptions (many of them accurate, some of them myths) even while purporting to instruct the world about the subject and to demystify it (which other, better-researched sources were doing for the last six decades). I discussed some of this with one or two prominent members of that new community and encountered impenetrable intuitive blind spots (apropos related discussion with Thomas Pellechia late in current "Jancis Robinson" thread, main Wine forum here). The Wiki entry (when I last checked it anyway) seemed to come substantially from that same hobby community and anyway to reflect its unconscious assumptions. The associated discussion forum repeatedly mentioned defending existing content against what were called "vandals" who'd tried to revise it. I don't know the whole story there, and have long considered (and discussed) a serious revision effort (bringing in some powerful sources not yet cited on Wiki) but as you can see, it looks like more than a casual chore. I found (in another case you may know about) that even such a much more responsible body as the New York Times resisted correcting clear but sincere technical errors.

It is sobering to contemplate the fact that the potato, the tomato, and all the various hot peppers are in fact from the new world, and none of the above would have been available to Indian cooks before 1492 or later. Perhaps Goa was a port of entry for these exotic ingredients. I have long held the theory that northern Indian cuisine was probably almost identical to Persian food, but the Indians were receptive to different ingredients whereas the Persians were more traditional. Thus Persian food is very savory but rather bland compared to Indian.

Yes, the distribution by European traders of the trio of vegetable products from the Americas--potatoes, tomatoes, and capsicum peppers chiles (Capsicum sp.)--revolutionized cuisine world-wide. The chile in particular caught on in India and Southeast Asia as an alternative to the indigenous pepper berry.

The Indian subcontinent has been invaded repeatedly over its long history: the Vedic peoples of the Asian steppe, Persians, Alexandrian Greeks, and the Moghuls and British in more recent times. Each group has left behind some of its culinary influence and traditions. The Timurid Turks (aka Moghuls) also ruled in Persia, and hence there is a general similarity in the cuisines of Persia and Moghul cuisine in India. The spices are grown mainly in the south of the subcontinent, and I suspect they're less prevalent in Persian cooking mainly because they have to travel a longer distance to get there (and hence would be more expensive).

The Portuguese certainly left a culinary footprint in Goa, where you find pork and even beef dishes, and dishes made with wine and vinegar.

India seems more to have left a culinary footprint in Great Britain than the other way around. Anglo-Indian cuisine seems to be sort of their equivalent of Tex-Mex in the USA.

-Paul W.

Here is the Chicken Vindaloo recipe that I use. It comes from Neelam Batra's book 1000 Indian Recipes. As with many Indian non-vegetarian curry-style dishes, you prepare a wet masala (spice mixture), marinate the meat in it, give the meat an initial browning, then simmer it with additional vegetables, herbs, and spices. There is a final spice garnish. The two things that make this a vindaloo are the use of vinegar instead of tamarind or citrus to add a sour element, and the Goan regional dry spice mixture.

Goan Vindaloo Powder (Vindaloo ka Masala)

1 TBS vegetable oil
10-15 dried red chile peppers
2 TBS fenugreek seeds
3 TBS dried, hulled, split dal (toor dal [pigeon peas], channa dal [chickpeas], or black gram [dhulli urad dal], preferably some of each)
1 tsp ground asafoetida
1/4 cup shredded, unsweetened dried coconut
1/2 cup coriander seeds
1/3 cup curry leaves
1 tsp ground turmeric

1. Crumble the chiles into small pieces. Heat the oil over medium heat in a skillet and stir-fry the chiles until a few shades darker, about 1 minute. Add the fenugreek seeds, dal, and asafoetida. Stir about 2 minutes, until the dal turn a bit golden.

2. Mix in the coconut and stir until golden, about 2 minutes. Add the coriander, curry leaves, and turmeric, and stir about 1 minute.

3. Let the spices cool, then grind them to a fine powder.

This yields about 1 1/2 cups. You can scale the recipe up or down according to your needs.


Goan Chicken Vindaloo (Murgh Vindaloo)

One 2-3 pound frying chicken, skinned and cut into serving pieces (discard back and wings).
1 TBS Goan Vindaloo Powder (see above)
1 tsp garam masala
3 dried red chile peppers, broken
4 large cloves garlic, peeled
1" thick piece of peeled fresh ginger, sliced about 1/8" thick
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
1 tsp salt (or to taste)
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
2 large tomatoes, coarsely chopped
15-20 fresh curry leaves
2 TBS vegetable oil (peanut oil preferred)
1/4 cup cilantro, finely chopped (for garnish)
1/4 tsp garam masala (for garnish)

1. In a food processor or blender, process the red chiles, garlic, ginger, onion, and vinegar until smooth. Add the vindaloo powder and garam masala, salt, and turmeric. Process or blend to a smooth paste. Put into a bowl with the chicken and mix so that the chicken pieces are well coated. Marinate in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, up to 24.

2. Process together the tomatoes and curry leaves into a puree.

3. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and all the marinade. Cook for about 10 minutes, until golden on the outside.

4. Add the tomato puree and cook, stirring as needed, until the chicken is tender and the sauce thick, about 10 minutes. Add up to 1/2 cup water if you wish a thinner sauce. Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with cilantro and garam masala.

NOTES:

Bone-in, but skinless, chicken, omitting the backs and wings, is traditional. You can use pieces instead of whole chicken, and boneless rather than bone-in.

The recipe for Goan Vindaloo Powder makes rather a lot, since you use it a tablespoon at a time. You can scale the recipe up or down as you wish.

You can find curry leaves at an Indian grocery store.

Garam masala is another ground dried spice mixture that's very common in Indian cooking. Each region of India has its own preferences for what goes into it, but it always has cinnamon, cloves, black pepper, and black and green cardamom. Here's a common denominator recipe:

1/3 cup cinnamon (ground or in tiny pieces)
1/3 cup black peppercorns
1/4 cup black cardamom seeds
1/4 cup cloves
3 TBS green cardamom seeds

Roast all the spices over medium heat in a skillet for about 2 minutes, then grind them to a fine powder. NOTE: You can start with ground spices if you wish and just mix them together. You can substitute bleached (white) cardamom pods for green. Black cardamom can be found in Indian groceries. Use only the seeds from the cardamom pods--remove and discard the hulls.


-Paul W.

Thanks, Paul!

Paul, thanks so much for the detailed recipe. You made me go look at my various Indian cookbooks and I have a few comments.

My first Indian cookbook is a small paperback, Harvey Day's "Curries of India" by Jaico Books, evidently printed on high acid paper in 1963 in Bombay. It is probably remarkable that I was able to find ANY of the right spices in Charlottesville, Virginia in 1967 when I was a grad student. But somehow I managed and I even un-earthed some Bombay Duck, know what that is?

Because I have learned more about the Farsi language and Persian cooking in the intervening years I will have to say that Harvey Day's recipes are very recognizeable to the Persian cook (Koaftah e.g.). It is a confusing book because it contains 3 complete paginations, and there is in fact a simplified Vindaloo in part 2.

Second was "The House of India Cookbook" by Syed Abdullah, 1966 Follett. It falls open to the Vindaloo recipe which was tailored to the American taste ("To be correct, a vindaloo should be quite hot, but we have omitted the cayenne pepper...").

Third, "Indian Cookery" by Dharamjit Singh, which has a recipe closer to yours. 1973, Penguin. "Here are recipes for that lusty Western Indian pork preparation marinated then cooked in vinegar. The dish is traditionally made with pork, but is equally good with fatty duck or goose. ... The recipe for pickled vindaloo can be used for venison, boar, or game meats. It is extremely appetizing, and a useful standby [for sandwiches etc.]"

Finally, "Indian Cooking" by Madhur Jaffrey, Barron's 2003. "The Hindus and Muslims of India do not, generally, eat pork -- but Indian Christians do. This dish, with its semi-Portuguese name suggesting that the meat is cooked with wine (or vinegar) and garlic, is a contribution from the Konkani speaking Christians of western India. Vindaloos, which may be made out of lamb and beef as well, are usually very very hot. You can control this heat by putting in just as many red chilies as you think you can manage. Serve mounds of fluffy rice on the side."

Frank

One other small comment. There is a "constellation" of ingredients in the recipe you cite that are very common in South Indian cooking quite separate from the Goanese aspects of the dish.

Curry leaves, asafoetida ("hing") and urad dal, or lentils as a flavor ingredient are very widespread. I have to observe that the combination of asafoetida and curry leaves can be fairly described as "stinky" without a really negative connotation. I am pretty sure that people who don't like "stinky" cheese might be a little offended by asafoetida. Personally, I rather like both.

But there is a grad student on my floor who is from some part of China where they use either Hing or something similar and he has dishes with that spice for lunch EVERY SINGLE DAY and it honestly reminds me of dead crabs decaying on the beach at low tide in the town where I grew up. Feh!!

How do you perceive it? I think it is safe to say that anyone attempting this or ANY south Indian recipe should be careful to take a light touch with the asafoetida. I suspect, without having done a check of the etymology, that it isn't a complete accident that the word "fetid" is there inside the name of the spice.

Frank

Asafoetida or "Merde du Diable" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asafoetida

Frank,

By upbringing, I'm a New England Yankee. You'll be hard-put to find anyone further from the South Indian cultural tradition.

So regarding asafoetida.

If you uncap a container of the spice and take a sniff, "The Devil's Shit" is indeed a most apt description of the obnoxious odor.

But, in the tiny quantities it's employed (1/8 tsp per dish), it provides a positive and indispensable contribution to the dishes in which it's an ingredient.

Hing (Indian term for asaphoetida) is an integral and indispensable part of South Indian cuisine. Including Goan.

I'm trying to think of a counterpart in Western European cuisine (a stinky substance that nonetheless contributes to the synergy of the whole dish), but I really can't think of any (perhaps it's my Western blind spot showing). The role of shrimp paste in Thai cuisine is similar to that of hing in Indian cooking.

Asaphoetida, as used in South Indian cuisine, contributes what I consider a positive and indispensable flavor to the dishes. Take out hing, and you've taken out part of the heart of the cuisine's flavor profile.

-Paul W.

One other small comment. There is a "constellation" of ingredients in the recipe you cite that are very common in South Indian cooking quite separate from the Goanese aspects of the dish.

Curry leaves, asafoetida ("hing") and urad dal, or lentils as a flavor ingredient are very widespread. I have to observe that the combination of asafoetida and curry leaves can be fairly described as "stinky" without a really negative connotation. I am pretty sure that people who don't like "stinky" cheese might be a little offended by asafoetida. Personally, I rather like both.

Yeah, I definitely see where you're coming from.

Take a look at where Goa is located on the map, and it is hardly a surprise that Goanese cuisine has as its mainstay traditional South Indian seasoning elements: curry leaves, coconut, LOTS of dried red chiles, roasted dals, and yes, asaphoetida (hing, in Hindi).

To be sure, curry leaves and hing give a distinct and assertive South Indian aroma and flavor to a dish.

So there you are. Take it or leave it. Removing curry leaves and hing from South Indian dishes is like removing olives and olive oil from Spanish or Italian cuisine. You just can't do it without destroying the basic structure of the culinary tradition.

Yes, without question it's an acquired taste. But it's one you should make the effort to acquire. I say this from experience, both with hing and with Thai fish sauce. The latter I found really revolting at first, as one who loathes fish and seafood in all nearly all forms. Now I appreciate what it brings to the gustatory table. I also appreciate, or at least tolerate, what shrimp paste contributes to Thai curry pastes.

IMO, Thai fermented mudfish definitely crosses the line into grossness. But I accept that it's my New England meat-and-potatoes outlook that's speaking there. Still I feel no compulsion to cultivate a taste for this aspect of Thai cuisine, however much I may admire the rest of the cuisine.

Curry leaves, I think, are pretty acceptable to a Western palate. Hing (asaphoetida) decidedly is an acquired taste. If you're easing yourself into South Indian/Goan cuisine, by all means reduce (or eliminate) the asaphoetida at first.

But I'd advise throwing 1/8 tsp into the dish (about the amount per dish from the Vindaloo Powder) to get an integral part of the authentic flavor.

Similarly, if you hadn't figured it out from the ingredients, Murgh Vindaloo is supposed to be blazingly hot. You can reduce the peppercorns and chiles and still have a palatable dish, but you're not being authentic. The recipe I posted is at the low end of the authentic heat scale, actually.

I said earlier that potatoes in the dish weren't authentic. On later research, I find that addition of diced potatoes is widely recommended for those who wish to tame the heat of the authentic dish. So go ahead and add them. This is a stew, after all, and hence a lot of latitude is permissible regarding ingredients.

So the essential elements of vindaloo: vinegar, curry leaves, asaphoetida, dried red chiles, black peppercorns. You can't really say you have the real dish, if you omit any of them. You may have a delicious dish, but it's not a real vindaloo.

Leave out the hing, if you must, but please keep the curry leaves.

If you just plain can't find curry leaves, throw in a bay leaf or two (I'll probably be cursed for several successive incarnations by Indian purists for suggesting that!). But it's not really the same thing.

-Paul W.

Hing (Indian term for asaphoetida) is an integral and indispensable part of South Indian cuisine. Including Goan.

I'm trying to think of a counterpart in Western European cuisine (a stinky substance that nonetheless contributes to the synergy of the whole dish)

Valerian root or its extract (source, I imagine, of the name valeric acid, which I can attest is vile-smelling -- Frank will probably know it). Although to my knowledge, Valerian is used in Western tradition mainly as an herbal sedative medication.

Southeast Asian (e.g. Thai) fish sauces have very much the role outlined above. In concert with the other ingredients, they're essential to many dishes such as Thai curries -- you notice their lack. Yet a little of it goes a long way, and (as former Chinese-studies scholar turned Asian cookbook author Hugh Carpenter put it in a class I took 10 years ago) "the bottles should come with a warning label, 'Gringos: do not smell contents.' Because if you do" -- he became stage-serious and stressed each word -- "you will go insane." A faint Western cousin is the anchovy-tamarind sauce we call Worcestershire.

(Finally in random literature, I believe I've usually seen the spelling "asafoetida" or as usually simplified in the US, asafetida. You may know the related word "fetid" (foetid). I've mostly seen it mentioned in non-cooking contexts and I understand it was once an herbal medicine too.)

Well, I don't know if I was clear enough. I live 15 minutes from "Little Bombay" on Oak Tree Road, where on the weekend the saris are out and the sidewalks are stained with Paan. I can get any conceivable Indian ingredient, and I have curry leaves in the hydrator of my fridge and Hing in my spice rack, and in fact a jar of urad dal on the shelf. And piles of dried red chilis...

Cheese isn't an "ingredient" in the sense that Hing is, but certainly there are some people who can relax and enjoy that "pied d'ange" odor and other people who can't. As I said, I enjoy both French cheese and South Indian spices.

I suppose I should have a talk with that grad student and find out what that awful stench is in his food, since he eats his lunch near my office and warms it up in my microwave and I have had to endure it for years now. I haven't figured out how to ask the questions without seeming rude. It probably isn't Hing, it may be some sort of rotten shrimp paste as Max implies...

You would think that he might take a break and eat a damn peanut butter sandwich or a cheeseburger once in a while... Perhaps rotten shrimp paste is addictive?

Frank

Rotten fish sounds like shrimp paste. Asafoetida has its own distinctive aroma, pungent to be sure but nothing like rotting fish. But that is exactly how Chinese shrimp paste smells.

-Paul W.

Max, in view of your comments, I found this recipe, called Portuguese, interesting:

Vindaloo
Take six ounces of lard, one tablespoonful of
bruised garlic, one of ground garlic, one of ginger,
two teaspoonfuls of ground chillies, one of roasted
and ground coriander seed, half a teaspoonful of
cooked cumin seed or three bay leaves, a few
peppercorns, four cloves, four cardamoms, six
small sticks of cinnamon, half a cupful of vinegar,
and two pounds of pork, beef, or duck. Let all
simmer over a slow fire for two hours, or till the meat
is perfectly tender.

NATIONAL VIANDS A LA MODE
RECIPES COLLECTED BY MRS DE SALIS,
AUTHORESS OF THE A LA MODE SERIES OF COOKERY BOOKS '
HOUSEHOLD WRINKLES' 'FLORAL DECORATIONS' 'NEW-LAID EGGS' 'DRINKS ' ' DOGS ' ETC. '

Let them bring stomachs; there's no want of meat, sir:
Portly and curious viands are prepared
To please all kinds of appetites'

MASSINGER, LONDON
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
AND NEW YORK : 15 EAST i&* STREET
1895 A H rights reserved

The OED's first reference is:

1888 W. H. DAWE Wife's Help to Indian Cookery 65 Vindaloo or Bindaloo{em}A Portuguese Kárhí... The best Vindaloo is prepared in mustard-oil... Beef and pork, or duck can be made into this excellent curry.

The Dawe's book is listed in Google Books, but there are no extracts.

OED gives the etymology as:

[Prob. f. Pg. vin d'alho wine and garlic sauce, f. vinho VINHO + alho garlic.]

Max, in view of your comments, I found this recipe, called Portuguese, interesting: ... .

The OED's first reference is:
1888 W. H. DAWE Wife's Help to Indian Cookery 65 Vindaloo or Bindaloo{em}A Portuguese Kárhí... The best Vindaloo is prepared in mustard-oil...

Amazing! Thanks for posting.

In the early and middle 1980s, thousands of people (most of them initially in US and Canada) began posting favorite or very successful recipes from all manner of sources (including invention) to the food newsgroup net.cooks (now called rec.food.cooking). I later learned that some of these recipes were very authentic or authoritative, but of course it varied. You didn't need Internet access to use newsgroups (because of the secondary "UUCP" network of store-and-forward machines, all you fundamentally needed was a computer, a phone modem, and knowledge that the facility existed). Unfortunately those early years are spottily (like, 1%) archived on Google now, but at the time I saved many appealing recipes including on subjects like beef jerky (popular!), low-effort high-payoff dishes, and novelty items. (I hadn't known, for instance, that you can make respectable and non-allergenic waffle batter by just whirling rolled oats with water in a blender.)

One recipe "novel" to me was an introduction to vindaloos (not, unfortunately, in link above, and not at hand right now). I haven't ever cooked it, but looked at it in awe. It contained a lively set of ingredients similar to Paul W's expositions above, but in the beginning of the recipe, you cook the seed spices in plenty of mustard oil. (Just as in simple Indian-recipe "curries," I've started by cooking seed spices in ghee, e.g. until the mustard seeds "dance" as one Indian author advised.) Then you add the rest of the spices, and some pureed partly caramelized onions, and that's the spice base for the stew. In sounded delicious, but serious.

Seems this spicy curry dish can be made with pork, lamb or chicken. I was thinking of making it with some ground lamb (potatoes optional). Any one here have some insights?

Bob:

As Paul indicated there is the British Indian Bangladeshi version and the less common Goan version.

In the UK Vindaloo pretty much means a hot chilli sauce.

In the Goan tradition pork is the standard.

I'll have to ask my Goan mother for her recipe.

Well, since I discussed the topic here, I will report further on it.

The Chinese guy with the smelly lunches is graduating and leaving. So I took the opportunity to ask him about his food (in a friendly way). He says that he is from near Shanghai, and his food is cooked "Shanghai style." I told him that I had eaten at a nearby Shanghai style restaurant but had never smelled anything like his lunch -- which smells that way every day.

We had a kind of communication breakdown, it was basically "what smell??" but I don't think it can be shrimp. He did say there was some kind of soy product that is used in the food he eats.

It would be interesting to figure this out but I don't know enough to extrapolate from what he told me to the actual name of the spice or ingredient that smells so bad.

Frank