Not Vindaloo but Delicious Anyway

Last night I decided to make Vindaloo.  Without a recipe.  Not actually knowing what IS in Vindaloo. 

I started by dicing chicken and cooking it up.  Anytime I cook with chicken, I pre-cook the chicken.  I just feel better about it.  I tossed the diced chicken with cayenne to cook some of the heat and pepper into the meat.  After that was done, I added a small tin of tomato sauce, some vinegar, vindaloo seasoning I got at Penzeys, and more cayenne. 

From past experience, I knew that the vindaloo and hot curry seasonings I have bought or been given are all flavor and no heat.  Hence the cayenne.  Cayenne is my favorite seasoning.  It has a very mild taste with heat.  If you add it to mild dishes, you taste the light pepper flavor.  It is really great for adding to dishes where you want more heat but you don’t want to alter the actual flavor.   So it is perfect for jazzing up dishes with a stronger flavor.

I let that heat up and then sit and simmer while I cooked up some long grained rice. 

The final result tasted wonderful.  I loved it.  I wanted more but I already had two servings and had two packed up for lunches today and tomorrow.  It tasted nothing at all like vindaloo.  Despite the rather heavy hand I had with the cayenne it was still not hot enough.  But that was okay.  I will make it again. 

Like I said, it might not have been a proper vindaloo, but it was definately a success.