My father always had fascinating stories to tell, and the following was one such that I’ve heard on several occasions.

It was the rollicking 60s, a time where Karachi was considered the Paris of the East, and as a fresh graduate from IBA my father went to visit a friend at the Metropole Hotel for dinner. The menu had a dish called ‘Mutton Vindaloo’, my dad ordered it, thinking it was some exotic dish.

On its way from the kitchen, out came alloo gosht! And thus, at our home, alloo gosht was christened mutton Vindaloo of sorts.

There is also the ‘Tindaloo’ a Bengali spicier version of the Vindaloo. Tindaloo is said to be so spicy that most restaurants do not carry it on their menu.

Lizzie Collingham says in her book, Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors,

Vindaloo is normally regarded as subcontinental curry, but fairly speaking it is a Goan adaptation of the Portuguese dish Carne de vinha d'alhos, or meat [soaked] and cooked in wine vinegar and garlic; and the term Vindaloo is simply a garbled pronunciation of vinho e alhos.

When the Portuguese arrived in the subcontinent they found that the natives did not make vinegar. Franciscan priests solved the problem by manufacturing vinegar from coconut toddy. The [cooks] combined this with garam masala, tarmarind, black pepper, plenty of garlic, cinnamon, cloves, some of the spices, in search of which Vasco da Gama had made his way to the Malabar coast.

But the key ingredient, which gave bite to the granular sauce of the Vindaloo, was the chillie. Like their Spanish counterparts in South America, the Portuguese in India had developed a liking for the fiery taste of the chilli pepper and they used it in excessive quantities in a Vindaloo.

History tells us that it was after the 1494 voyage by Christopher Columbus that Spain and Portugal were inundated with interesting new ingredients from the Americas including tomatoes, potatoes, maize, cashew nuts and turkey and a stew of chicken [meat] simmering with cloves, saffron, cinnamon, black pepper, thickened with nuts and a little vinegar was standard Portuguese fare during the 16th century.

Although the Portuguese almost certainly introduced tomatoes and potatoes to the subcontinent, these foods were not integrated into the Indian culinary world until the British showed their own cooks how to use them. The British discovered Vindaloo in 1797 when they invaded Goa.

By then, the British, Dutch, French had joined the Portuguese in the subcontinent and were jostling for control of the lucrative spice trade. During their 17-year occupation of Goa, the British discovered the delights of Goan cooking and when the British left in 1813 they took the Goan cooks with them.

Hence, Vindaloo made its way back to British India, and from there to Britain, says food historian Collingham.

It is safe to assume that upon their arrival in North India; namely Lahore (greater Punjab), Delhi, Lucknow, the Goanese and North Indian cooks worked together and new flavours were born.

The province of Punjab also developed a liking to the taste of the Vindaloo, and the Punjabi, Lucknawi and the cooks of Delhi gave us our modern day rustica, the comfort food of the subcontinent, a twist on the Goanese Vindaloo sans the vinegar but rich in spice, chilli and flavour; alloo gosht, the potato mutton Vindaloo of Pakistan and India.

The recipe I share with you today is my mother’s, though my step-grandmother was famed for making a mean alloo gosht. I have tasted it once and it truly lived up to its reputation. Sadly, I never thought to ask for the recipe until it was too late; but rest assured the recipe I share with you today is absolutely delicious, down home goodness of the best kind.

Here it is, from my kitchen to yours.

Ingredients

2 lbs goat meat (preferably leg meat cut in small cubes)
4 to 5 medium sized potatoes, sliced in half
1 ½ medium sized onions
2 ½ medium sized tomatoes
Oil to taste
1 tsp fresh ginger
1 tsp fresh garlic
Salt to taste
3 to 5 Green chillies (sliced in half)
1 to 1½ tsp red chillie
½ tsp paprika
¼ tsp turmeric
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin
½ to 1 tsp garam masala
10 to 12 black peppercorns
8 to 12 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1 black cardamom
4 to 6 cups of hot water
Chopped cilantro, green chillie, and chopped ginger for garnish

Method

In a pot, put together meat, chopped onions, chopped tomatoes and ginger garlic. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes on medium to high heat until the meat releases water, stirring occasionally.

Now add powdered spices and salt; cook for a few minutes, adding oil, whole spices and green chillie.

Cook and stir on high heat until the stew is of a rich red hue and the oil separates from the meat, adding boiling water (eyeballing the required amount) to the stew and leave to simmer until meat is almost tender.

Also add in the potatoes and letting them, the meat and spices cook together until tender, with the oil sitting atop.

Garnish and serve with hot chappati, naan or boiled rice.

—Photos by Fawad Ahmed

See more Food Stories here.