Hi All,

For a laugh, I thought I'd embarrass myself by presenting one my first vindaloo recipes that I documented, some 20+ years ago!  This was before I discovered curry bases, etc....

Meat and Mushroom (you might like this one UncleFrank?  ) Vindaloo

Serves - a whole bl**dy army, I should think!  

Ingredients (hmmm, lots of them!  ):

- 1lb of meat
- 0.5lb mushrooms 
- 1 tin chopped tomatoes
- 1 tin pineapple juice  :-X
- 2 tbsp sweet mango chutney
- 4oz natural yoghurt
- 4 cardamom pods
- 1 tsp ginger
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
- 1 tsp tumeric
- 2 tsp coriander
- 2 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 0.5 tsp ground fenugreek
- 2 tsp mustard powder   
- 4 cloves
- 2 bay leaves
- 0.5 tsp black pepper
- 6 garlic cloves (diced)
- 1 large onion (diced)
- 1 stock cube
- 4 tbsp vinegar
- salt (to taste)

Method:

- Mix cumin, ginger, Cinnamon, tumeric, coriander, chili, fenugreek, mustard and pepper with the vinegar to make a thick paste
- Add onions and garlic and blend with paste
- Add cloves
- Add meat to the paste and marinate for 5 hours (min)
- Add cardamon seeds
- Fry mushrooms
- Add meat and fry for several minutes to seal
- Add tomatoes, pineapple juice, yoghurt, stock cube and mango chutney
- Add bay leaves
- Add salt to taste
- Continue to cook until meat is tender
- Add garam masala 15 minutes from end of cooking
- Serve!

And there you have it!  A quick, simple vindaloo from yesteryear that had neither the "smell" nor the "taste"!   

BUT, you know, people STILL told me it was the best vindaloo they have ever had and that it was better than their local takeaway   :

AND, don't knock it until you've tried it hey!  ;D

Anyone else got any old (or new!) recipes that are equally embarrassing? 

Haha classic post CA.

Sorry, but methinks that the Vindaloo tasted like ass. A "TIN" of pineapple juice? Mustard powder? Teaspoon of cinnamon? Chutney? Mushrooms? And only 2 tsp of chilli?

But I guess you have to start somewhere. This should be inspiration for new members!

OK... my early curry recipe?

3 tablespoons oil
one onion chopped
tomato sauce
3 tablespoons Patak's paste
Meat

Directions: Mix and cook for 20 minutes. ((Hangs head in shame))

Then I graduated to:

Buy Sainsbury's Chicken Madras (and Rogan Josh which is actually pretty nice)
Pierce holes in rice section
Microwave as per instruction

This was of course intermingled with regular visits to my local BIR  ;D

Then I moved to Canada, and needed to take drastic action... I joined cr0 

-- Josh

Quote from: joshAnd only 2 tsp of chilli?

Oh no!  I forgot to mention the "12 whole chillies"! 

And when was your early curry recipe Josh?  I don't think Pataks were around in my early days? 

12 whole chillies.. that's more like it!

I'm 35, and did not have a curry until I moved to England in 1997 (I guess 23?). First time and I was hooked.

The Pataks and Sainsbury days were 1999-2003.

CR0 followed shortly thereafter!

CA,

this is posh nosh for sure. it reminds me of how i used to make curry when i 1st started out (post vesta's or something like).

a lady on wolverhampton market used to do a mean curry powder to order. then as u say into a paste, caramelise the onions and chuck the rest in.

thankgoodness in my book for Kris's 1989 saviour.

the only other old recipe after the original pass me down curry above was for curry sauce:

200ml KD1 base
1/2 tsp chilli sauce
3/4 tsp tom puree
2-3 pinch garam (yes, how little i knew)
1/2 tsp salt
dash worcester sauce

after much effort i abandoned curry cooking for a long time. what's really frustrating is that in the interim i became very pally with a chef. alas it never dawned on me to ask about the cooking and the place unfortunately closed before i became aware of CRO.

happy ending though for sure. much appreciating your effort with us all.

12 Chillies sounds about correct to me too CA.
Why would you think this was a bad recipe?

I made a soup some years ago with over 17 in it. Lovely stuff.

Cheers for that CA  ;D
I used to get a tin of baked beans drain the juice from the beans then use the juice for my base to start my curry putting in chicken, curry powder, garam masala ,cumin and ground coriander rinse the beans then put back into the curry and add mushrooms (of course).Then serve with plain boiled rice it was wonderful.
Think i was still at school when i tried this method and used for a couple of years adding some stock or water etc... got to be about 30 years ago.

Sauce from baked beans....that actually sounds quite nice UF... ;D 

ohh vestas!! i used to love them lol.

i then used to by vindallo sauce in a bag from farmfoods, i dont think they do it anymore. that was actually pretty reasonable for the effort needed.

I rememeber that, they took it off the shelves (freezer) due to one of the colourings being a bit dodgy.

I used to make a pretty mean "thindaloo" when I had gained too much weight due to my curry problem.

1 onion
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 tin of toms
curry powder to taste
chilli powder to taste (ie lots)
1/2 tom tin of water
1 chicken breast.

boil all ingredients for 1/2 hour and puree.
add chicken and cook through.
serve with plain boiled rice.
I lost a ton of weight with that recipe and still ate curries (well kind of, it's not quite the same!)