Vindaloo Who?
You might be surprised by this, but here goes anyway. I’m not a fan of Indian food. There. I said it. I’ve tried! I just couldn’t get past the smell of Indian curry. Or my unfortunate exposure to bugs in any given Indian restaurant. To be fair, I tried three different Indian restaurants. In three different states! I feel justified in my dislike.
But then the Instant Pot happened. That and my spice collection has gotten pretty sophisticated in the past half a decade or so. Hubs and I were pondering what to do with a chuck roast one night. Stew? Boring. Pot roast? Blah. I grabbed my instant pot cook book. Thai curry? Perhaps. And then I saw it. Vindaloo. I ran my hand over the page. Should I try it? What if bugs suddenly appear? That’s ridiculous I told myself.
The recipe said it was spicy. I happen to like spicy and so does Hubs. He protested the long list of ingredients. Pshaw! I have everything on that list! He got to work cutting the bone out and I gathered all the spices. Off we went! I have to say, it was pretty spicy. I couldn’t stop eating it. It’s not very glamorous to look at, but we haven’t stopped talking about it since we made it.
I’ve since gone down a winding path of vindaloo recipes that seems neverending. The book said this was the British version of vindaloo and that makes sense to me now. What’s going to happen?! Will butter chicken be next?! What’s the story with masala?! Why does ghee exhist?! Can tandoori happen without the tandoori oven?! Why are curry leaves green, but the powder is yellow?! Why?! Tune in next week for As My Curry Burns.
This recipe came straight from the book Instant Pot Obsession by Janet A. Zimmerman. I would hug her and love her and call her my squishy if I ever met her in person.
Beef Vindaloo
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 medium onion sliced we chopped it
- 4 garlic cloves minced we used 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper this is pretty hot and we like spicy...feel free to cut it in half or omit it
- 2 teaspoons curry powder the yellow kind...I'm clarifying because I did not know either
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger we like more punch so we used ginger paste here
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon we upped this to a half teaspoon
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 cup chicken stock we used beef broth
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar
- 2 lbs boneless beef chuck cubed
Instructions
- Select saute on the Instant Pot and add the oil and onion. Cook until the onion becomes translucent, about 10 minutes, stirring frequently. (her book says 2 to 3 minutes....it's not.) Add all the spices and cook for about 3 to five minutes, making a paste.
- Add the vinegar and beef stock, stirring until everything is combined and reduce the liquid for about 10 minutes (her book says to "desired consistency"). Add the beef and stir to coat all the meat. Press the cancel button and lock the lid into place.
- Select the manual button and press the plus or minus buttons to get to 25 minutes on high pressure. After cooking, naturally release the pressure for 15 minutes. Press cancel. Then, quick release any remaining pressure and unlock and remove the lid.
- Either serve right away, or continue to saute using the steps above to further thicken the sauce. (we didn't thicken it this time, but we did the first time we made it and I personally prefer the sauce to be thicker) I served mine with buttered jasmine rice. Enjoy! (get her book...we love it!)
Careful. Indian Curry is an addiction. BTW, I thought you enjoyed the curry that you had at our place. Guess you must have lied. Now research curry powder and make your own. Huge difference…like canned stock vs homemade. Bugs aside, I think Indian chefs have some of the most refined palates in their utilization of spices. BTW, if you buy dry goods at an Asian store…particularly Indian pulses, rice and flours it’s a good idea to store them in glass jars and/or nuc them when you get them home. The bugs are real and I have fumigated my pantry more than once…not here, but back in Minnesota before I realized how they arrived. Thanks for posting the recipe too. I’m always looking for stuff to do with beef and Indian. There is so little beef consumed that recipe ideas are few and far between. Apparently, only Sikhs eat it.
Last time I checked, your house isn’t an Indian restaurant nerd. I don’t find I’m drawn to Indian curry like I am Thai curry, which I am shamelessly addicted to! I think my next Indian adventure is going to be with hawaij, though. I’ll make the spice blend myself for sure.