{"id":16744,"date":"2014-09-10T16:37:42","date_gmt":"2014-09-10T14:37:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/?p=16744"},"modified":"2014-10-05T20:12:22","modified_gmt":"2014-10-05T18:12:22","slug":"chicken-vindail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/?p=16744","title":{"rendered":"Chicken Vindail"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"vindailp\" I usually start thinking about\u00a0soups and thick sauces when it gets cold, but tomato-based dishes are an exception since even the best quality canned tomatoes will never taste as good as ripe, sweet, end-of-summer produce. With its\u00a0refreshing tangy note, Chicken Vindail proved a perfect dish to enjoy the\u00a0delicious\u00a0seasonal tomatoes and to discover a\u00a0particularly light chapter\u00a0of the Indian cuisine.<\/p>\n

I first read about\u00a0Chicken Vindail in Rick Stein’s\u00a0India. In Search of the\u00a0Perfect Curry<\/a>, an extraordinary collection\u00a0of genuine Indian recipes the author discovered during a\u00a0culinary trip to India during which he shot his series for BBC. The dish comes from Pondicherry, a city with French colonial past and French culinary influence. Its origins are\u00a0however not clear. “Vindail” sounds similar to “vin d’alho”, a Portuguese dish, which was also an inspiration for the famous “vindaloo” (which also has a tangy note, but is slightly different). “Alho” on the other hand, means “garlic” and Vindail does\u00a0contain quite an impressive amount of garlic…\u00a0so personally I would opt for the theory I read somewhere evoking Portuguese roots\u00a0and the dish being\u00a0brought by the French from the Portuguese Goa, which resulted in a slight change of the name…<\/p>\n

Anyway, regardless\u00a0the origins, the dish is incredibly good and completely different from what is usually served in Indian restaurants I know. It is slightly tangy and hot\u00a0at the same time. The rather moderate\u00a0amount of spices give it a sharper and clearer flavours\u00a0than most Indian dishes popular abroad. It’s also quite quick to prepare and even though it will taste great with canned tomatoes, I advise you all to hurry till the fresh ripe ones are still in season because they make quite a difference.<\/p>\n

I loved the sauce so much when I first made it, I decided to double its amount forever. I have also\u00a0transformed the dish to serve two people, so I strongly advice you buy Rick Stein’s India <\/a>to check the original recipe and to discover this fantastic book.<\/p>\n

TIPS: The use of\u00a0wine vinegar is not a Westernisation of this Indian dish, but the European influence it has kept.<\/p>\n

Rick Stein advises using Kashmiri chilli powder, but I haven’t found it here, so I use simply any chilli powder I have.<\/p>\n

Taste the dish at the end. If the tomatoes are very sweet, you might need more vinegar, so that you feel a slight acidity.<\/p>\n

If you cook Indian food regularly, it’s a good idea to invest in a cheap coffee grinder. I bought one several months ago and have been grinding spices in it successfully and quickly (it gets a bit complicated if you want to grind coffee in it too…). Freshly ground spices do make a big difference, especially in the Indian cuisine…<\/p>\n

Preparation: 1 hour- 1h30<\/em><\/p>\n

Ingredients (serves two):<\/em><\/p>\n

2 medium chicken legs, skinned\u00a0and\u00a0cut in two pieces (with bones)<\/em><\/p>\n

500 g\/a\u00a0bit more than\u00a01lb roughly sliced tomatoes (you can skin them or leave the skin on; the skin adds more flavour, but some might dislike it)<\/em><\/p>\n

10 cloves garlic\u00a0(crushed)<\/em><\/p>\n

2 cm\/about 3\/4 inch cinnamon stick<\/em><\/p>\n

1 whole clove<\/em><\/p>\n

1 whole star anise<\/em><\/p>\n

2 medium onions\u00a0(chopped)<\/em><\/p>\n

1 tablespoon ground cumin<\/em><\/p>\n

2 teaspoons chilli powder (or more)<\/em><\/p>\n

1\/2 toasted and ground fenugreek seeds<\/em><\/p>\n

1\/2 teaspoon turmeric powder<\/em><\/p>\n

1 teaspoon salt+ more to taste<\/em><\/p>\n

1 teaspoon sugar<\/em><\/p>\n

1 – 2 tablespoons wine vinegar (or more); I have used red wine vinegar, but the author advises white wine vinegar<\/em><\/p>\n

1 tablespoon oil<\/em><\/p>\n

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a pan.<\/p>\n

Fry the cinnamon, the clove and the star anise for one minute at medium heat.<\/p>\n

Add the onions and fry, constantly stirring, for about 15 minutes until they are browned but not burnt (lower the flame, if they start browning too quickly).<\/p>\n

Add the garlic\u00a0and\u00a0the cumin powder and fry them for 2 minutes.<\/p>\n

Add the chilli, the fenugreek, the turmeric\u00a0and salt and fry for 30 seconds.<\/p>\n

Add the tomatoes and cook them for about 5 more minutes.<\/p>\n

Finally, add the chicken, about 200 ml water, cover with a lid and simmer until the chicken is soft (I like mine falling off the bone, so it takes sometimes almost an hour).<\/p>\n

Check if the dish doesn’t burn and add water if necessary.<\/p>\n

Just before serving, add the vinegar and the sugar and remove the lid, so that the sauce thickens.<\/p>\n

Heat for five minutes (or more if the sauce is too watery), check the acidity and the saltiness and adjust the flavours, if necessary. Heat for one more minute and serve.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I usually start thinking about\u00a0soups and thick sauces when it gets cold, but tomato-based dishes are an exception since even the best quality canned tomatoes…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16745,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[185,35],"tags":[12,45],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16744"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16744"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16744\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16914,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16744\/revisions\/16914"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}