What is Vindaloo?

Vindaloo is a spicy hot curry dish from Goa, made with coconut vinegar and lots of hot red chili pepper
'Vinho de alho', is an old Portuguese Pork preserve in Vinho (Red wine vinegar) cooked with a lot of Alho the garlic. With time, the dish evolved with south Indian west coast cooking spices and evolved into 'traditional Vindaloo'. It is evolving again into 'modern Vindaloo'

Evolving in to Traditional Vindaloo

1. The preserve became almost like a pickle, I call it a Pickling Marinate. Mustard oil, whole pickling spices (Cumin seeds, Coriander seeds, Fenugreek seeds, Black mustard seeds, Pieces of Cassia, Cloves, Black Peppercorn, Black Cardamoms), and salt are added.
The popular Pippali in the pickles was replaced with whole red chili pepper.
In addition to vinegar, two other souring agents Tamarind and Sumac were added.
Fresh onions, ginger and lots of fresh Garlic is added.
Jaggery was added to cut the sourness.

2. Pork with a lot of fat is chosen for the dish. Pork is marinated in earthen pot with the Pickling Marinate
3. The process to make Vindaloo followed the traditional process to make Indian curries.
-The pork was removed from the Pickling Marinate and browned in Pork fat Pork-fat gave the dish a unique texture.
-The Pickling Marinate was ground and made into a Masala paste. The Masala paste was cooked like any other curry Masala in Pork fat till the fats started to separate and onions were translucent to brown.
-The browned pork, fried Masala paste were cooked together with needed water till the pork was tender. The dish is not soupy. The thick gravy is just sufficient enough to cover the pork pieces.

Modern Vindaloo

Nowadays, restaurants have added their own signatures
1. As a show of respect to Moslems, the Pork has been replaced with Goat, Lamb, Chicken, and Prawns. Pork fat is replaced with Ghee to maintain a compromised texture.
2. The coconut vinegar has been replaced with wine vinegars. Chicken Vindaloo uses white wine vinegar, and Lamb Vindaloo uses red wine vinegar
3. Some restaurants add coconut milk for texture
4. Some restaurants add potatoes, perpetuating the mistaken impression that Aloo in Vindaloo stands for Potatoes
5. Some restaurants add Tomatoes to mimic North Indian Curries
6. Sumac has almost disappeared.
7. Jaggery has been replaced with brown sugar.

Oldest Spicy Hot Dish

Chili pepper was introduced by Portuguese traders during 16th century. With this came the development of Vindaloo dishes in Goa. I believe Vindaloo to be the oldest dish using chili pepper in India. I can only offer a circumstantial evidence
1. The time period when Portuguese traders brought Chili pepper to India
2. The time of colonization of Goa by Portuguese
3. 'Vinho de alho', is an old Portuguese Pork preserve in Vinho (Red wine vinegar) cooked with a lot of Alho the garlic.
It is believed that Indians added a lots of curry spices and newly discovered hot red chili pepper to the preserve. Eventually, the meat marinated in the preserve and the preserve itself were cooked together like a traditional curry sauce ingredients
In a way it is similar to Balchao also introduced by Catholic Portuguese.

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