Vindaloo

For other uses, see Vindaloo (disambiguation).

Pork vindalho, served in Lisbon, Portugal, in a Goan restaurant

Vindaloo is an Indian curry dish from the region of Goa. It is popular globally in its Anglo-Indian form as a staple of curry house menus, often renowned as a particularly spicy dish, though it is not necessarily always the hottest available.

History

The name Vindaloo is derived from the Portuguese dish "Carne de Vinha d' Alhos", which is a dish of meat, usually pork, with wine and garlic. The dish was originally modified by the substitution of vinegar for the wine, and the addition of red Kashmir chillies (not as spicy but abundant in colour). The dish evolved into the vindaloo curry dish in Goa, with the addition of plentiful amounts of traditional spice and using palm vinegar instead of red wine. Alternative terms are vindalho or vindallo.

Preparation and Variations

Restaurants often serve this dish with chicken or lamb sometimes mixed with potatoes. Traditional vindaloos do not include potatoes, the discrepancy arising because the word आलू "aloo" means "potato" in Hindi.

Vindaloo is a popular dish in many parts of India. In eastern states of India viz. Orissa and West Bengal, the same dish (not referred as Vindaloo) is prepared in marriage parties as well as in home food. The idea behind adding potatoes in lamb curry is that lamb meat is more expensive than chicken in India (three times more expensive than chicken), hence people add potatoes to have more quantity and to make the curry thicker and tastier.^{[citation needed]} According to folklore, a cook added too much salt to the lamb curry by mistake. To balance the salt quantity in the curry, he added some boiled potatoes. Since then, it has become a practice to add potatoes to goat curry or lamb curry in Orissa and West Bengal.

Vindaloo outside of South Asia

Vindaloo has gained popularity in Britain, Germany, the Middle East, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States, where it is almost universally featured on Indian restaurant menus. However Vindaloo served in western restaurants usually differs from the original dish of that name; it is simply a hotter version of the standard "medium" restaurant curry, with additional chilli and including potatoes. In addition the Vindaloo is usually not available with pork, only with chicken, lamb/mutton, or prawn.

Vindaloo is one of the hottest dishes available on the menu where it is served, although some establishments serve a "Tindaloo" in addition, which is another completely different dish originating in Bangladesh. Another hotter curry is the "Phall". These two dishes are sometimes omitted from the menu but can be prepared by special request, because they are too hot for all but a minority of customers.

Cultural References

The popularity of the dish inspired the song "Vindaloo", the unofficial anthem of the England football team for the 1998 FIFA World Cup and it was prominently mentioned in the 1978 punk rock song "I Just Want to Have Something To Do" by American punk rock group the Ramones. It is also the favourite food of Dave Lister in the science-fiction comedy Red Dwarf, and is frequently depicted in the show. It was mentioned on the American TV show Outsourced where the main character Todd was tricked into the believing there was an Indian holiday honoring this dish.

External links

• Recipe for Chicken Vindaloo and Vindaloo Paste
• Goa Food Pork Vindaloo recipe
• Chicken Vindaloo recipe referring to this page on Forkd
• Some etymology and history of the word vindaloo