WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
Vindaloo is a complex dish that blends Portuguese and Indian cuisines in a potent braise featuring warm spices, chiles, wine vinegar, tomatoes, onions, garlic, and mustard seeds. It’s often made with pork, lamb, or chicken as the main ingredient, but here we translated its
comfort-food appeal into a hearty vegetarian stew. Centering our dish on a combination of sweet potatoes and red potatoes proved just right, since the low-and-slow cooking developed complex flavors. However, after 45 minutes of simmering, the potatoes weren’t fully cooked. A second look at our ingredients showed us why: The acidic environment created by the tomatoes and vinegar was preventing our potatoes from becoming tender. To test our theory, we whipped up another batch, this time leaving out the tomatoes and vinegar until the end, cooking them just enough to mellow their flavors. Sure enough, after just 15 minutes, our potatoes were perfectly tender. To give our vindaloo exceptionally deep flavor, we used a mix of Indian spices, along with bay leaves and mustard seeds, and simmered the spices along with the potatoes. We finished the dish with a cooling dollop of yogurt.
SERVES: 4 to 6
TOTAL TIME: 55 minutes
INGREDIENTS:
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 onions, chopped fine
- 1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into ½-inch pieces
- 1 pound red potatoes, unpeeled, cut into ½-inch pieces
- Salt and pepper
- 10 garlic cloves, minced
- 4 teaspoons paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ¾ teaspoon ground cardamom
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- 2½ cups water
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon mustard seeds
- 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
- 2½ tablespoons red wine vinegar
- ¼ cup minced fresh cilantro
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Add onions, sweet potatoes, red potatoes, and ½ teaspoon salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are softened and potatoes begin to soften at edges, 10 to 12 minutes.
- Stir in garlic, paprika, cumin, cardamom, cayenne, and cloves and cook until fragrant and vegetables are well coated, about 2 minutes. Gradually stir in water, scraping up any browned bits. Stir in bay leaves, mustard seeds, and 1 teaspoon salt and bring to simmer. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook until potatoes are tender, 15 to 20 minutes.
- Stir in tomatoes and their juice and vinegar and continue to simmer, uncovered, until flavors are blended and sauce has thickened slightly, about 15 minutes.
- Discard bay leaves, stir in cilantro, and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve and enjoy
