Indian cuisine is a powerhouse of various spice mixtures and seasoning blends adding up to their traditional dishes. Vindaloo curry powder is a spice mixture known for its iconic hot and spicy note.
Introduced to the Goan region of India’s Southwestern coast by the Portuguese in the early 15th century, Vindaloo curry powder is characterized by a robust hot and spicy note. The spice blend is very flavorful but does not call for many exotic ingredients. It has a lot of red chiles and other spices like cinnamon, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, green cardamom, etc.
So, let’s move on to the rest of the article as we hope to bring you a simple recipe to make your own vindaloo curry powder at home!
What Is In Vindaloo Curry Powder?
This curry powder is an interesting spice blend as it is influenced by Portuguese but also possesses the identity of Indian cuisine. This specific curry powder is highlighted among other curry powder types because it holds a great deal of heat and spiciness.
People use Vindaloo curry powder to make the traditional Vindaloo curries popular in the Southwest coast regions of India. Vindaloo curries are also famous among European countries, especially in the UK.
One of the main components of this spice powder is the red chiles. Most recipes use a type of hot chile pepper along with a few more staple spices like coriander seeds, black peppercorns, cumin seeds, cinnamon, green cardamom, etc. The evolution of this curry powder has even resulted in cooks adding a dash of cayenne pepper and paprika to give it more flavor and color.
How To Make Vindaloo Curry Powder At Home?
1
cup5
minutes5
minutes15
minutesYou may find different products of vindaloo curry powder under various brands. But, most of them contain additional ingredients like preservatives and color additives. Thus, many might not give you the feeling of real vindaloo you need. Try our simple homemade vindaloo curry powder recipe and feel the difference!
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Ingredients
- Spices & Herbs
10 10 Dried Kashmiri red chiles
8 pods 8 Green cardamom
20 20 Black peppercorns
1 piece 1 Cinnamon stick (take about one 4-inch piece)
2 tbsp 2 Coriander seeds
1 tbsp 1 Cumin seeds
1 tsp 1 Yellow mustard seeds
1 tsp 1 Fenugreek seeds
1 tsp 1 Turmeric powder
1 tsp 1 Paprika powder
2 tsp 2 Garlic powder
1 tsp 1 Ginger powder
2 2 Bay leaves
Equipment
1 Small PanShop This!
1 Spice GrinderShop This!
1 Air-tight Container/ JarShop This!
Directions
- Wear kitchen gloves and break the dried red chiles from the top of their heads to open them. Discard the membranes and seeds as much as possible. This will prevent your curry powder from becoming excessively hot.
- Set aside the red chiles until needed.
- Then, keep the pan over medium-low heat and add the whole spices (cumin seeds, coriander seeds, black peppercorns, mustard seeds, cinnamon, green cardamom, fenugreek seeds, and bay leaves).
- Let these spices dry roast until fragrant, add the torn dried chiles at the end, and let them toast with other spaces until smokey. Do not let your spices burn.
- Remove the spices from the pan and transfer them to a separate plate. Let them rest for about 5 minutes to cool down.
- Put the dry roasted spices into the jar of your spice grinder along with turmeric powder, garlic powder, ginger powder, and paprika powder.
- Blitz until you get a fine, smooth powder. You could also grind the spices into a coarse powder depending on your preferred texture.
- Use your spice mixture immediately with your dishes or store it in a well-fitting glass jar/ container.
Tasty Notes and Suggestions by SpiceRally
- If you can’t get dried Kashmiri red chiles, you can substitute them for dried cayenne peppers or ancho chile peppers.
- This spice mixture is originally a bit more hot than regular curry powders. But, if you think you need less heat, you can adjust the usage of dried red chiles and black peppercorns accordingly.
- If you prefer using ground spices instead of the whole, you might not need to dry roast them. Just go ahead and mix everything until well combined. But we highly recommend using the dry-roasted whole spices to make this.
- You may also take black or brown mustard seeds instead of the yellow ones.
- If using paprika powder, go for sweet paprika if you only need the color. But going with hot or smoked paprika will offer your spice blend more depth and flavor.
- Storage- You can store this spice blend in an air-tight container and keep it with the rest of your dry spices and blends. This will keep it flavorful and aromatic for up to three months.
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What Are The Other Possible Ingredients That We Can Use To Make This Curry Powder More Flavorful?
Depending on your taste preference you can add a few more spices to upgrade the flavor and depth of this spice mixture. They are as follows:
- Cayenne pepper powder
- Fennel seeds
- Star anise
- Curry leaves
- Salt
In addition to these elements, commercially made vindaloo curry powder productions might also contain the following ingredients:
- Tomato powder
- Poppy seeds
- Allspice
- Dried onions
- Dried celery
- Some options might also contain artificial flavor additives, preservatives, MSG, traces of nuts, and color additives.
Shelf Life and Storage Of This Spice Blend
The aroma, flavor, and overall quality of this curry powder will last longer if you can store it in a glass air-tight spice container. This doesn’t require refrigeration since it will stay well with other dry spices and herbs in your spice cabinet.
However, you must keep it out of reach of direct sunlight, heat, and moisture. This spice blend can stay well for about 1-2 years if store-bought. But most homemade blends will remain in their freshest state for three months. Like most spice blends, this will also lose its potency over time.
How To Use This Curry Powder?
As mentioned earlier, this spice blend is mainly used to flavor up traditional vindaloo curries such as Chicken Vindaloo, Lamb Vindaloo, and Seafood Vindaloo. However, in addition to this, our topic leader is versatile and flavorful enough to go into various other dishes.
Here are some of those interesting ways to incorporate this spice mixture into your daily cooking:
- To spice up sauces, dips and gravies
- Adds a zesty kick to rice, noodles, and pasta dishes
- You can use as a base for hearty stews and soups
- Boosts the flavor of savory batters when included in pinches
- It adds an amazing spiciness to starchy vegetables and egg dishes.
- Works as a flavorful seasoning for meat and seafood
- Adds depth to ground meat mixtures and stuffings
What Are The Alternatives You Can Use Instead Of Vindaloo Curry Powder?
If you’re used to the shop-bought powder, making your own batch at home is the best bet as an alternative. In addition to this, you can for secondary options such as:
- Vindaloo curry paste
- Other types of curry powder
- Garam Masala with chile powder
- Tandoori Masala
- Sambar powder
- Tikka Masala powder
FAQs By SPICERALLY
Although vindaloo curry powder derives from the broad niche of “curry powder”, it is much different from what you usually use as “yellow curry powder” or “regular curry powder”. The main difference between these two is the heat level. Vindaloo is hotter than regular curry powder due to its larger content of red chiles. Moreover, our topic leader may also contain ingredients like salt, poppy seeds, tomato powder, etc., which we don’t usually get in a classic curry powder.
Even though this spice mixture is a common culinary ingredient in India, sometimes you may have trouble finding it outside of the country. If you’re living somewhere like the USA, you can try this product in the international spice aisle of leading supermarkets. If not, you can also get this from Asian grocers, online vendors, or mainstream online shopping sites.
Vegans can undoubtedly use our recipe above in their diet because we have not used any animal derivatives. Most vindaloo curry powder options appear to be vegan-friendly. But you should check the ingredients list to ensure they are processed in a vegan-friendly environment if it concerns you.
Like most types of curry powder, this spice blend is an excellent addition to any of your keto or other low-carb meal preparations.
We have not used any gluten-related ingredients in our recipe. But, you will have to pay attention if you’re purchasing from outside since they could contain traces of gluten.
Fiery And Vibrant Vindaloo Curry Powder Can Go A Long Way In Your Dishes!
Aromatic, hot, and spicy vindaloo spice blend is one of the most flavorful types of curry powder that should be in your spice cabinet! If you make this at home, you can control the heat and use the ingredients as per your preference. Made at home or bought from the shop, vindaloo curry powder can give a signature zesty kick to your favorite dishes!
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