Victorian Beef Vindaloo

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Victorian Beef Vindaloo

Victorian Beef Vindaloo is a traditional Anglo-Indian recipe from the 1860s for a classic vindaloo curry made by marinating beef in a vinegary spice paste and then cooking the mixture down with peppercorns and Indian bay leaves. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Anglo-Indian version of: Victorian Beef Vindaloo.

prep time

20 minutes

cook time

120 minutes

Total Time:

140 minutes

Additional Time:

(+over-night-marinating)

Serves:

Rating:

Tags : Curry Spice Recipes Beef Recipes Fusion Recipes British Recipes

This is a traditional Anglo-Indian recipe redacted from the volume THE INDIAN COOKERY BOOK: A Practical Handbook to The Kitchen in India (author unknown), published by: WYMAN & CO., HARE STREET CALCUTTA circa 1869.

Original Recipe

General Vindaloo Instructions:

Six ounces or three chittacks of ghee or lard, one tbspful of bruised garlic, one tbspful
of ground garlic, one tbspful of ground ginger, two tspfuls of ground chilies, one
tspful of roasted and ground coriander-seed, half a tspful of roasted and ground
cumin-seed, two or three bay-leaves, a few peppercorns, four or five cloves, roasted and ground,
four or five cardamoms, roasted and ground, six small sticks of cinnamon, roasted and ground, with
half a cup of good vinegar, to two pounds of pork or beef or a duck.

61.—Beef Vindaloo

Cut up two pounds of fat beef into large squares, and steep them in the vinegar, together with half a
tspful of salt and all the ground condiments, from eighteen to twenty-four hours. Then warm
the ghee or lard and throw in the meat, together with the condiments and vinegar in which it had
been steeped, adding a few peppercorns and bay-leaves, and allow to simmer gently over a slow fire
for two hours, or until the meat is perfectly tender, and serve up hot.

Modern Redaction

This is a very interesting version of the Vindaloo curry. It's made with an array of spices, with heat from chilli and black pepper; but nowhere as much chilli as would be added today. Even stranger there are no tomatoes or onions.

As far as I can see, this was adapted for English tastes, with the chillies dialled down and the recipe adapted to use a vinegar-based spice paste that could be shipped to Englan. Indeed, there is a recipe further down the page (recipe 64 for a pickled vindaloo paste). Interestingly, this recipe includes turmeric in its list of spices, which is not included in the current recipe for vindaloo, so I have added it here.

Ingredients

500g stewing beef, cubed
2 tbsp ghee
1/2 tbsp garlic, smashed
1/2 tbsp ground garlic
1/2 tbsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground chillies
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
3 Indian bay leaves
1/2 tsp black peppercorns
4 whole cloves
5 cardamom pods, crushed
5 pieces cassia bark
125ml (1/2 cup) good quality vinegar
200ml red wine vinegar

Method:

Dry toast the coriander seeds, cumin seeds, black peppercorns (reserve three peppercorns), cloves, cardamom and cassia for a couple of minutes until aromatic (but make sure they don't burn). Turn out onto a plate and allow to cool.

Put the toasted spices in a spice or coffee grinder and render to a powder. Mix with the powdered spices then blend with the vinegar and bruised garlic to make a paste.

Add the beef to a non-reactive bowl, Mix the spice paste with red wine vinegar then pour over the beef. Rub well to combine, cover and set aside to marinate in the refrigerator over night.

When ready to cook, remove the beef from the marinade (reserve the marinade). Heat the ghee in a large pan, add the beef and fry until ground then add the vinegar and spice marinade.

Add the reserved peppercorns and the bay-leaves, reduce to a simmer, cover and cook over low heat for 2 hours, until the beef is tender. Serve hot.

You end up with a much paler than normal vindaloo, due to the lack of tomatoes, which is quite sharp due to all the vinegar but not unpleasant in its own way.

Find more Victorian Recipes Here and more Curry Recipes Here. For the original version of The Indian Cookery book see my The Indian Cookery Book main page.