Lamb Vindaloo (Stove Top & Instant Pot)

Made with a fiery homemade vindaloo paste, get ready to dive into a flavor fiesta with this delectable lamb vindaloo recipe! Slow-cooked tender chunks of boneless lamb, lovingly coated in a rich, tangy, and spicy vindaloo sauce make this dish a carnival of flavors. Turn up the heat as much as you can handle—we love ours fiery hot! Instant pot cooking instructions included!

On most weekends, you’ll find me happily stirring pots and pans around the stove, whipping up a delicious lamb recipe. Lamb curries are always a huge hit with my husband, and now even my middle schooler is starting to develop a taste for spicy dishes!

Lamb Vindaloo

This bold lamb dish takes its cue from the beloved spicy & sour Goan vindaloo, a classic originally prepared with pork marinated in wine and spices. Over time, inventive cooks have created flavorful variations like chicken vindaloo and lamb or mutton vindaloo by swapping out a few ingredients (such as replacing wine with vinegar) to cater to a wider audience.

If you enjoy spicy food, this fiery curry is perfect for you! But here's a fun twist: while vindaloo is famous for its fiery kick, thanks to a mix of bold spices and dried chilies, the real star of the show is the vinegar. This tangy touch not only tames the heat but also tenderizes the meat to create a slow-cooked curry with a multi-dimensional flavor profile. It's all about depth, not just the heat!

My Recipe

You know what's also fascinating about this lamb vindaloo curry recipe? It's incredibly easy to make! You'd never guess it, given the complex flavors of the final dish. All it takes is grinding a vindaloo paste with rehydrated red chilies, spices, ginger, garlic, and vinegar. Garlic and vinegar are the hero ingredients, besides meat of course!

Once you have this flavorful vindaloo paste, marinate the lamb in it for 5-6 hours or until you are ready to cook, however I highly suggest not over marinating since the meat starts changing texture due to the highly acidic environment.

Next day, simply slow-cook the marinated lamb with browned onions until it's fork-tender. Add a touch of jaggery or brown sugar to balance the fiery curry. The result is a deeply flavorful dish that's sure to impress!

Here in Las Vegas, we often order vindaloo from one of our favorite Indian restaurant, Naan & Curry. I've noticed that while the chicken version has a reddish hue and a hint of tomatoes, the lamb vindaloo is sour and peppery. It makes sense you know, as chicken needs a flavor boost, unlike red meat. Taking a cue from them & how authentic lamb vindaloo is prepared, I skip tomatoes in my recipe to let the rich flavor of the lamb take center stage.

Ingredients

• Lamb - I use boneless lamb leg or lamb shoulder. You could use bone in lamb as well. Use trimmed lamb meat to avoid an oily curry, which can be unappetizing and quite heavy. If you find bone-in lamb, that's ideal for making vindaloo since the bones enhance the flavor of the sauce. Mutton or goat meat will work beautifully in this recipe too. You will need to adjust the cooking time depending on the kind and quality of meat in addition to the size of meat chunks.
• Dry Red Chilies- Use a hot variety. I use whole red kashmiri chilies (seeds and all). Use kashmiri chili powder (or paprika powder) + cayenne powder if you do not have dry chilies.
• Oil - I use avocado oil. Use any neutral cooking oil so that it does not interfere with the flavor of spices and vinegar.
• Whole Spices - coriander seeds, cumin seeds, cinnamon stick, star anise, black pepper and cloves. These warm spices add depth and aroma to vindaloo.
• Vinegar - A must! I use apple cider vinegar, we love its taste. However, happily replace it with distilled white vinegar.
• Fresh Garlic & Ginger - Use fresh ginger and garlic. Store bought minced ginger and/or garlic pastes often have citric acid or preservative in them and it could interfere with the taste of vinegar.
• Curry Leaves - These are easily available to purchase from Indian grocery stores. Curry leaves impart citrus and anise notes to the flavor, and there are no real substitutes for them. If they’re not available, it's best to skip them.
• Jaggery - We need sweetness to balance the tang and heat of the vindaloo paste. Use brown sugar instead.
• Red Onion - I prefer red onions for indian curries. Yellow onions will work too.
• Tamarind Paste or Pulp(unsweetened) - To be added at the end to enhance the tanginess, if you cannot find, simply use vinegar.

Instructions

Make Vindaloo Paste

1. Place the dry red chilies in a blender jar and pour hot water over them. Let them soak in the jar for 10-15 minutes or until they soften. Soaking in blender jar saves you an extra dish to wash!
2. Once the chilies are soft, you can deseed a few if desired—it's easier to do this once they're rehydrated. Simply wear gloves, open up the chili skins, and scoop out the seeds using a knife or spoon.
3. Drain the soaking water and reserve.To the chilies, add the coriander and cumin seeds along with star anise, black peppercorns, cinnamon stick and cloves. Also add the roughly chopped ginger and garlic.

4. Add a bit of the soaking water (2-3 tablespoons or as needed) to the blender jar. Blend the chilies and spices into a smooth paste. Your vindaloo spice paste is now ready. We will use it in combination with vinegar to make a flavorful vindaloo curry.
5. Place the lamb pieces in a large bowl, sprinkle salt, add vinegar and half of the vindaloo paste, saving the rest for later.
6. Toss the lamb pieces well to ensure they are evenly coated in the marinade. Cover, refrigerate and let marinate for 5-6 hours maximum.

Slow Cook Vindaloo Curry

7. In a heavy bottomed pot (I use 4 qt Dutch oven), warm up the oil on medium heat.
8. Temper the hot oil with black mustard seeds. Let the mustard seeds pop else they will remain bitter. Be careful because the seeds have tendency to fly as they crackle.
9. Add the chopped onions next and on medium heat, brown the onions for about 5-6 minutes. Don't let turn dark brown else the taste of onion gets overpowering.
10. Carefully, add the reserved vindaloo paste to the golden brown onions. It might splutter. Fry for 1-2 minutes. 

11. Then add the marinated lamb to the pot. On medium-high heat, fry the lamb pieces, stirring intermittently, for about 8-10 minutes to sear them on all sides. This searing process seals the meat and the browned edges boost the flavor.

12. Scatter the fresh curry leaves over the browned lamb pieces and add in about ½ cup to ¾ cup of hot water. Using the cooking spoon, scrape the browned bits from the bottom(deglaze the pot).

Why Hot Water - Adding hot water ensures that the temperature of the pot contents doesn't drop significantly. It also prevents the lamb pieces from shrinking due to sudden shock from cold water, which helps keeping them tender. Lastly, keep in mind that as the meat cooks, it will release its own juices so add water accordingly. Vindaloo sauce isn't thin or runny, rather on thickish side.

13. Cover the pot for about 1 to 1.5 hours and let simmer on low heat. Adjust time as needed. You will need to keep an eye and stir frequently. If you feel that the pot needs liquid, add a splash of water so that sauce at bottom of pot isn't burning.
14. Once the lamb is quite tender (98-99 percent cooked), add in the jaggery and tamarind pulp and mix well. If you do not have tamarind, mix in 1 to 1.5 teaspoons of vinegar. (Why we are adding tamarind- As the vindaloo cooks, the vinegar in marinade evaporates so you might need to adjust the sourness at the end of cooking. )

13. Cover again and let cook for about 5-10 minutes more until lamb is fully fork tender. You could cook longer depeding on how soft you like the meat.

Using Instant Pot or Pressure Cooker

Though I am partial to slow cooking, however I must admit that using an Instant Pot or pressure cooker to make lamb vindaloo is a great way to speed up the cooking process while still achieving rich, deep flavors. 

1. Set your Instant Pot to the sauté mode and let it heat up.
2. Warm up the oil and fry up the onions. Add the reserved vindaloo paste and fry with onions.
3. Add the marinated lamb and stir until browned on all sides. Mix in the curry leaves.
4. Pour in the hot water. Stir everything together.
5. Secure the lid on the Instant Pot, with valve set to the sealing position. Select the Manual or Pressure Cook mode and set the timer for 8 minutes.
6. Once the cooking time is up, let the pressure release naturally for about 10 minutes, then carefully turn the valve to the venting position to release any remaining pressure.
7. Open the lid, stir the curry, and taste for seasoning. Add jaggery, tamarind and adjust the salt if needed. Serve warm.

How To Serve

• Serve lamb vindaloo in a deep, wide light colored bowl to allow for visual appeal of the fiery sauce to shine and also for easy access to the flavorful sauce and tender lamb pieces. A garnish of few fresh curry leaves or chopped coriander leaves add a touch of color.
• White rice is the most common side dish with vindaloo. Pair lamb vindaloo with steamed basmati rice or jeera rice.
• You could add refreshing sides such a cooling cucumber raita or fresh kachumber salad to tame the intensity of the meal.

Recipe Tips & Notes

• Oil - Besides being hot & tangy, vindaloo curries are supposed to be bit on oily side to allow for the meat and spices to cook properly. You can skim the oil at the end of cooking if you wish. However make sure to cook it in optimum oil.
• Red Color of Vindaloo - Vindaloo isn't always reddish because the traditional recipe doesn't rely heavily on tomatoes, which are often used in many Indian curries to give them a red hue. Instead, the color of vindaloo comes from the spices and the red chilies in marinade. Red chilies can vary in intensity and color. Additionally, as red meat cooks, it tends to achieve a brownish color releasing its juices in the sauce. Lastly, the vinegar used in vindaloo can also affect its color,making the vindaloo sauce more brownish or orange rather than bright red.
• Using Potatoes -If you wish to add 1 medium size potato to lamb vindaloo, add halved or thirded potatoes during the last 15-20 minutes of simmering the curry. Make sure to add the potatoes before you add the jaggery. After cooking, the potatoes should be fork-tender but still firm. Also, you will need to adjust salt in the recipe since potatoes need extra salt.
• Marinate Well - Don't skip steps of marinating the meat. This allows the flavors to penetrate the meat thoroughly.
• Tomatoes - If desired, add 1-1.5 tablespoon tomato paste or 3-4 tablespoons of tomato puree while the vindaloo is slow cooking.
• Slow Cooking- There's nothing more wonderful than slow cooked meat. The texture, taste aroma, everything is way better!