Farm Kitchen Chronicles: Chicken Vindaloo
Not an authentic way of cooking this South Indian classic, but a simple way to cook another immune-boosting dish.
When we go to Indian restaurants—rarely, now, and in fact I don’t know if we have been to an Indian restaurant since living in our RV bus and visiting my dear friend Sarah in Boulder, Colorado—I always order vindaloo. (I don’t really order meat in restaurants since I don’t want to support factory farming, but I do order a lamb vindaloo! It doesn’t happen often but it does happen.)
This recipe uses chicken (preferably you have a source for non-industrial meat that you can get locally!). Vindaloo is supposed to be spicy. It originates from Goa, India, and the key component of it is vinegar. Some recipes use tomatoes, or tomato paste. I created this recipe by looking at lots of different variations, and also by memory of what my favorite versions have tasted like.
The important components of this recipe is that I have tried to incorporate the immune-boosting “trinity roots”: ginger, garlic and onion. Many writers say that vindaloo does not traditionally have potatoes or vegetables, but potatoes taste like the ones I have gotten from restaurants, so that is what is in here. I also added cauliflower, and when I made this recipe last, I only had two chicken thighs, making it so that the chicken is not the star of the dish, but instead let the vegetables have the spotlight.