Beef Vindaloo Recipe
We’ve been going crazy for curries in the Chili Pepper Madness household, and any sort of “vindaloo” recipe is usually a first choice. My wife, Patty, has really developed a taste for it and you don’t know how happy that makes me. It’s gotten to the point where she actually requests it for special meals. BONUS! Because I LOVE a good Vindaloo!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
I’ve shared with you recipes for Chicken Vindaloo and Lamb Vindaloo, and now I have for you a version made with beef that gets huge flavor from my Vindaloo marinade. It cooks low and slow in the pan until the beef is fall-apart tender. It has loads of flavor, a nice level of spice, and plenty of HEAT because I’m also using ghost pepper powder to season things up. You can skip the ghost peppers if they’re too spicy for you. Or add extra! I know how crazy you are, my chilihead friends! “Vindaloo” is very often made with pork, though any meat is good for vindaloo. Try it with pork, goat, beef, chicken, even potato and/or chickpeas for a vegetarian version. It’s all good! Even though it has transformed in its travels around the world, most styles still offer that spice level and flavor we all crave. Portuguese sailors brought it to India, where the locals adopted it and transformed it with local ingredients, including the addition of dried chili peppers and other spices. As Vindaloo spread to other regions, it continued to change as locals adopted new spices. Let’s talk about how to make Beef Vindaloo, shall we? Add in the tomato paste and give it a quick stir, along with about 1/2 cup of water or chicken broth to form a sauce. Vinegar is hugely important, as is garlic. Then we add in all of our pungent spices to make this dish top notch, including paprika, ginger, coriander, turmeric, mustard powder, cumin, cinnamon, and a healthy dose of spicy red chili flakes. I’m also using ghost pepper powder from ghost peppers I grew in my garden. I dehydrated them then ground them into powder. It’s very hot this way. You can skip them if ghost peppers are too hot for you. Learn how to dehydrate chili peppers for making chili powders. You can use this blend to make your own Vindaloo Curry Seasoning to use anytime you’d like. Refrigerate the beef for at least 1 hour, though you’ll get better results if you let it marinate overnight. You can very easily prep this recipe together the night before and let it sit in the refrigerator until dinner time the next evening. When you’re ready to cook, just pop it out of the fridge and get cooking. Super easy weeknight meal. Next, add the onion and peppers and cook them down a few minutes to soften them up. I used spicy serrano peppers here, though you can use milder peppers for a version with less heat. Jalapeno peppers are always a great option. Also add in salt and pepper to taste. Reduce heat and let the whole pan simmer at least 30 minutes, until the beef cooks through and the flavors develop. You can let it simmer longer if you’d like. I usually go 40 minutes or longer. The main thing is to let the beef soften up to your personal taste. If the sauce becomes too thick, just stir in a bit more water or broth until it reaches the consistency you prefer. BOOM! DONE! Serve it up over rice with some fresh herbs and extra spicy chili flakes. Spice it up, my friends! If you enjoy this recipe, I hope you’ll leave a comment with some STARS. Also, please share it on social media. Don’t forget to tag us at #ChiliPepperMadness. I’ll be sure to share! Thanks! – Mike H. Other popular ingredients with Vindaloo seasonings are garam masala, mustard seeds, ground black pepper or ground cloves. Feel free to include those if you’d like. You can also adjust the seasonings ratios to your own preference.
Adjusting the Heat and Spice Levels
As mentioned, this is an extra hot recipe because of the ghost peppers. Even without ghost peppers, vindaloo spice mix can be pretty spicy for some. If you’d like to keep the heat to a minimum, omit the ghost pepper powder and go easy on the cayenne. Cayenne has a decent level of heat. If you’d like to up the heat factor a bit, you can add more cayenne. You can also experiment with amounts of ghost pepper powder or flakes to your own preference. If it gets TOO spicy, serve it alongside this Traditional Indian Raita recipe, which is made from spiced yogurt. It has a nice cooling effect.
