If you like it hot, then this is the curry for you!

Although of course if you prefer a milder curry, you can always halve the curry powder and skip the chillies 🙂

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Beef Vindaloo

Total Time 20

Ingredients

450 g 1lb beef fillet
2 cans canned tomatoes 400g / 14oz each
6-8 green chillies
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
cauliflower 'rice' to serve

for the spice paste:

4-6 cloves garlic
1 thumb sized piece fresh ginger
1 bunch coriander (cilantro)
2 tablespoons curry powder
2 tablespoons ground cumin

Instructions

Blitz the spice paste ingredients with 2 tablespoons oil in a food processor or with a stick blender until you have a chunky puree.
Heat a few tablespoons olive oil in a large frying pan and stir-fry beef for a few minutes or until well browned all over. Remove from the pan and keep warm.
Add the spice paste to the pan and cook, stirring for about a minute or until the spice paste smells fragrant.
Add tomato, chilli and vinegar and bring to a simmer. Cook gently for about 10 minutes or until the sauce has thickened slightly.
Return the beef and any juices to the pan and bring back to a simmer. Taste, season and serve hot on a bed of cauliflower 'rice'.

video password: twenty [case sensitive]

Variations

vegan – replace beef with tofu or the same weight of cooked lentils or even some mixed vegetables or a combination of these.

chicken – the other famous vindaloo – just replace the beef with diced chicken breast or thigh fillets.

cheaper – beef fillet is expensive, but because we’re only cooking it briefly, we need a tender cut. If you’d prefer you could use cheaper stewing beef or even beef shank (osso buco) diced. You’ll just need to simmer the cheaper cuts in the sauce for about an hour to tenderise.

troubleshooting guide

bitter – if the spice paste gets burned, before you add the tomato, you’ll get bitter flavours. Be careful at this step.

tough beef – either you used beef that was tough to begin with, or it was overcooked. Next time use a more tender cut such as eye fillet and make sure you don’t cook it for too long.

too hot – chillies vary considerably in their intensity. And people vary considerably in their sensitivity. Always err on the side of adding less chilli, you can always add more if you like, but it’s hard to cool a curry down once it’s cooked. For now serve with yoghurt and cucumber.

not hot enough – see above regarding chilli variability. Serve extra green chillies on the side or serve dried chilli powder or chilli flakes so your guests can adjust the heat level themselves.

watery – sounds like you haven’t simmered the sauce for long enough. It only takes about ten minutes but without the simmering the sauce won’t be very thick.

bland – if your spices are old, they may not have as much flavour. Next time add a little more spice or splurge on some fresh spices. Seasoning with salt and pepper is also important to optimise curry flavour.

not sure which curry powder to use? – I actually love good old Keens curry powder from the supermarket but you can use whetever you like. Try and seek out a good spice provider. A madras style powder would also work well here.