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Plan Z Phase: This is a Z2 (ZReduction) recipe.

This is probably the spiciest offering for Plan Z. This, and the Caribbean chicken chili. So if you like Indian food and you like it spicy, this is your ticket. If you like it flavorful but not all that spicy you always have the option to cut back on the jalapeno. I am going to lay out how to make this 3 ways, with chicken, pork or leftover turkey.

Indian food is often not all that pretty to photograph. The satisfaction comes in the flavor. So don’t let that sway you away. It’s sort of like Irish stew. That doesn’t photograph well, either.

Vindaloo has a lot of ingredients but it’s super easy to make.

Servings: Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

• 1 package of chicken tenders, or
• 1 pork tenderloin, or
• 4 cups of leftover turkey bits

If you choose the chicken:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Put the chicken tenders in an oven proof pan and bake it them at 375 for about 15 – 17 minutes until done. (Done is no more pink the middle. Cut one open to be sure). Then cut them into bite-sized pieces.

If you choose the pork:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray the pork tenderloin with olive oil and put in an ovenproof pan. Roast for 20 – 30 minutes or until the pork reaches 160 degrees on a meat thermometer. Let it rest for a few minutes to cool down and cut into bite-sized pieces.

If you choose leftover turkey:

• Pull your cooked turkey apart and cut into bite-sized pieces. They can be shreds or solid chunks. Your choice.
• While your meat is roasting you can make your sauce.

For the vindaloo sauce:

• ½ of a large onion, chopped (or a whole, medium one). It should yield about 1 – 2 cups. This does not have to be scientific. It’s just an estimate based on how much you like onions.
• 1 tsp of minced garlic (jar garlic will work)
• 1 fresh chili (I used jalapeno), minced. You can use half of the chili or go all the way up to HOT and use the whole thing.
• 2 tsp of cumin
• ½ tsp of curry powder
• ½ tsp of turmeric
• ½ tsp of ground ginger (if you don’t have it you can use fresh or jar ginger, too)
• ½ tsp of cinnamon
• ¼ tsp of dried mustard powder
• pinch of ground cloves
• ½ tsp of Truvia
• 2 – 4 Tbl of tomato sauce (you can decide if you like your sauce more tomato-based or not)
• ½ – 1 cup of water. Start with ½ cup and as it cooks down you can decide if you want to add more.
• 1 Tbl of apple cider vinegar
• baby spinach (one handful per person)

Instructions:

Spray a medium sauce pan with olive oil spray. Add your onion and cook on medium, stirring often, until it wilts. Turn off heat. Add the rest of the sauce ingredients to the pan up through apple cider vinegar. (You can add half of the jalapeno and then taste later and decide if you want to add more). The spinach is for later. Turn your heat down to medium-low. Stir. Simmer 10 minutes to get the flavors to meld, stirring often. You want to get it bubbling but just for a moment and then turn it down. Add your meat and continue simmering on low for up to 20 minutes more to get the flavors to penetrate the meat. Keep an eye on it and see if you want to add more tomato sauce and/or water. This is totally based on how loose you want your sauce. Some people prefer it to just coat the meat. Others like their vindaloo saucy. Taste and make your final judgement on whether you want to add the rest of the jalapeno.

When it’s heated completely through and the meat has had time to absorb some of the flavors, you can serve.

Traditionally, this would be served over rice. In our house, we serve it over baby spinach. The heat from the meat and sauce will wilt the spinach. You can just stir it around to make your “stew” with the spinach included. Or, if you don’t like raw spinach, you can add the spinach to the pan before you serve.

This makes a great leftover dish the next day and travels to the office to heat in a microwave.

Serving size: Up to 1-1/2 cups or 8 ounces of meat max. One cup will be satisfying for most.

Enjoy!

Cheers,