Made with MANY dried chili peppers, this spicy goat vindaloo is a great dish for curry lovers who like it extra hot and full of rich, tangy flavor!
The story behind vindaloo starts in the 15th century with the Portuguese who were adventurous seafaring explorers. They were, in fact, the first to find a direct all-sea route from Europe to India, landing in 1498. In all likelihood, Vasco de Gama, who was leading that expedition for the Kingdom of Portugal, had stocked his ships with wooden barrels packed with pork marinated in wine vinegar and garlic. This
carne de vinho e alhos or
vinha d'alhos concoction was used by sailors to preserve meat on long voyages.
When the Portuguese explorers led by Afonso de Albuquerque captured the port town of "Gove" (or Goyen) from the Bijapur Sultanate and adapted the local name into "Goa" in the early 16th century, they brought the recipe with them.
Goans substituted local vinegars for marinating, since wine vinegar wasn’t available, and added spices they loved liked black pepper, cinnamon, cardamom and new-world red chili peppers (also introduced to them by the Portuguese!) The name vindaloo evolved naturally from a phonetic corruption of vinho (wine) and alho (garlic) and the dish turned into vindaloo as we know it.
Spicy Goat Vindaloo
This recipe works well with any red meat, preferably on the bone for more flavor. Think beef short ribs or oxtail, lamb shoulder chops or shanks. I am fortunate enough to know a good halal butcher that carries both goat and lamb, cut in chunks but on the bone. This is adapted from myriad recipes I found online and Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cookery.
Ingredients
1.76 lbs or 800g bone-in goat meat, or sub beef or lamb, as per note above
For the vindaloo paste:
18-20 dried red chili peppers – about 8g (You can deseed the chili peppers, if you’d like to reduce the spiciness of the dish. I don't but we like things spicy!)
¼ cup or 60ml palm vinegar (or wine vinegar, cane vinegar, apple vinegar or rice vinegar)
¼ cup or 60ml boiling water (for soaking the peppers)
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 tablespoons coriander seeds
10 black peppercorns
6 cloves
3 in or 7.6cm piece cinnamon
½ to ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
½ teaspoon brown mustard seeds
10 medium cloves garlic, about 1 oz or 28g, peeled
1 3 in or 7.6cm piece ginger, about 1 oz or 28g after peeling, sliced thinly
1 teaspoon jaggery or brown sugar
¼ teaspoon turmeric
To cook the vindaloo:
4 tablespoons mustard oil or sub another oil
1 medium onion
1 sprig curry leaves, optional, plus extra for garnish
1 ½ to 2 cups or 360-480ml hot water (or as needed)
Fine sea salt
1 to 2 teaspoons jaggery or brown sugar
Method
Cut the meat into a little larger than bite-sized pieces. A lot of the size will depend on the bones and what tools you own. I bought it cut up but then I used my cleaver to break some of the longer bones even smaller.
Soak the chili peppers in a small bowl by pouring in the boiling water, then the vinegar and set aside.
Grind the coriander, cumin, pepper, cloves, cinnamon, mustard and salt to a fine powder in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle. I have a coffee bean grinder that I reserve solely for this purpose.
Transfer your soaked chili peppers to a blender or small food processor. Add in the garlic, ginger and jaggery/brown sugar, along with the freshly ground spices (not the turmeric - it will stain your processor bowl) and process to a smooth paste.
Add the marinade, along with the turmeric, to your goat and mix well to coat.
Cover and marinate in the refrigerator overnight or for at least for 4 hours.
When you are ready to cook the goat vindaloo, take the marinated meat out of the refrigerator.
Chop 1 medium onion very finely or process it in your food processor till finely chopped. We don’t want big chunks of onion in the vindaloo sauce.
Add three tablespoons of the mustard oil to a heavy bottom pan or Dutch oven and turn the heat to medium. Fry the meat chunks in batches until browned on all sides. Do not crowd the pan.
Remove them to a plate when done.
When all of the meat is browned, add the onion to the pot with the last tablespoon of oil and sauté until golden, using the cooking onion to get any nice sticky bits off the bottom.
Add in the browned meat and stir well.
Cook for a few minutes then add the curry leaves and sauté for a couple more minutes.
Pour in about 1 cup or 240ml of hot water and mix well.
Cover and cook on a medium-low heat until the meat is fork-tender, stirring occasionally to make sure it’s not sticking or burning at the bottom. If it’s tending to catch, you can turn it down to simmer.
Add more hot water as you cook, as needed. Depending on the toughness/tenderness of your meat, this could take as little as an hour and as much as two. We like our vindaloos saucy so I make sure not to let it dry out!
To finish the dish, add some fine sea salt and 1 to 2 teaspoons jaggery or brown sugar, to taste.
Like any long-cooked stew, this spicy goat vindaloo tastes even better the next day!
Serve with basmati rice and/or naan bread.
Welcome to the 22nd edition of Alphabet Challenge 2026, brought to you by the letter V. Many thanks to Wendy from
A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the V recipes below:
Here are my posts for the 2026 alphabet challenge, thus far:
To check out the Alphabet Challenges for 2024 and 2025,
click here.
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