I have the Penzey Vindaloo spice mix, and it's pretty good. I find, though, I get better results from Patak's vindaloo curry paste. Maybe I'm lazy, but in my hands the curry pastes always do better than curry powders.

It's still a good hot spice mix, though. Make sure you have some fire-quenching beer or other beverage available.

Thanks, Arley.
Beer sounds good. And after I use this up, I may try a paste. Never have used one.

Gosh! A lot of indian recipe posts today.

Bellsmom - Vindaloo is from Goa which was a portuguese colony in India. You find the best versions in Goa and in Bombay. My husband loves chicken or fish vindaloo.
This blog seems authentic. I do remember that they used mustard oil in Goa. Mustard oil has a very pungent fragrance when you heat it but after it reached it's smoking point , it has a mellow sweet flavor that is amazing for indian dishes.

I'm not very knowledgable about Indian cuisine, but I love Penzeys Vindaloo and Rogan Josh mixes.

GWlolo - thank you for the link. I make lamb vindaloo but have never seen a recipe for pork. I assumed that pork is not a common food in India? Have you used pork in your Indian cooking?

To get back to the OP, I have never used Penzey's mixes, I make my own.

Cheryl

This post was edited by jadeite on Wed, Jan 23, 13 at 9:06

GWlolo
The link is great. I bookmarked it so I can pore over it some more. And your description of mustard oil makes me lust. What a wonderful resource you are!

And, as I was fixing this last night and trying to get the rice burner set correctly to simmer for 50 minutes I remembered asking you why one needed a rice cooker. Silly me.

Jadeite,
I have most of the spices that are in Penzey's Vindaloo mix, but I would have NO idea how to adjust proportions. Of course, I imagine many recipes would tell me. But for now, using this will have to do.

Report on last night's meal:
The beef Vindaloo was OK. I was too tentative with the spicing, using slightly more than the minimum they recommended. I should have known better, as I really like spicy food. Next time I will use significantly more. (Penzey's does say the heat of this spice is adapted to American taste, and more cayenne may be desired. I found all the spicing, not just the heat, too mild the way I fixed it.)

Next time, more spicing and either lamb or chicken. No potatoes (they were good, but I think I prefer just the rice).

Vindaloo is one of the hottest Indian spice combinations, so be careful if you don't like chilli.

We have several Indian restaurants in town and they serve mango lassi as a drink. Here's a recipe from Simply Recipes.

Mango Lassi

1 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup milk
1 cup peeled chopped mango
4 teaspoons sugar, to taste

Put mango, yogurt, milk, and sugar into a blender and blend for 2 minutes.

Makes about 2 cups.

Bells mom - I do not cook meat :) The Anglo indian population in India do eat port. Finding good quality meat in hard in India as most of the meat is sold by small butchers. Chicken, fish and mutton is a more common than pork or the holy cow:)

My DH does eat meat and has many fond memories of Goa eating vindaloo and kingfisher beer(8% alcohol as opposed 4% in typical American beer).

If you like spicy food, cuisine in the south and east is particularly spicy and usually flavored with fresh herbs and freshly prepared spice mixes. More akin to Thai food minus the coconut milk. See link below for a popular dish from Calcutta.

Here is a link that might be useful: Super healthy Bengali shrimp in mustard green chilli sauce

GWlolo
Thank you for the reference. The Bengali shrimp sounds wonderful. The next time I go to the Asian grocery which has great seafood, I'll get some shrimp and this will be on the menu. I am really eager to try the spiced rice.