Customer Reviews

Pataks Vindaloo Curry Paste 10 Oz

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I love Indian food. I own two Indian food cookbooks, but find the list of spices so daunting that I've never tried any of their recipes. I heard from a coworker that prepared Indian curry pastes were available at specialty stores, so I looked for them here at Amazon and was delighted to find Patak's curry pastes. The spice level is nice, for those of us who like our food hot and spicy, and you can always add more paste if you want more kick.

Here are the ingredients: Vegetable oil, cilantro, salt, tamarind, water, cumin, turmeric, chile pepper, ground ginger, garlic powder, maize flour, spices, acetic acid, citric acid, lactic acid.

And here is a basic recipe from the label:

Shrimp Vindaloo, serves 2

1 medium onion, diced
2 tbsp vegetable oil
8 oz. fresh shrimp, peeled (or any other meat)
3/4 cup water
4 tbsp Patak's hot vindaloo curry paste
1/2 cup diced canned tomatoes
hot, cooked rice

Saute onion in oil. Add shrimp and saute until pink. Stir in curry paste and cook about 1 minute. Add tomatoes and water. Simmer, uncovered until the shrimp is cooked, about 5 minutes. Serve over hot, cooked rice.

I tried it with beef (which you'd never be able to order at an Indian restaurant) and simmered for 25 minutes, and it turned out pretty well. Not exactly restaurant quality, but very good for a prepared paste. I now keep Patak's paste and some tomatoes on hand, in case I want to whip up a quick, spicy dish using leftover roast chicken or beef. I look forward to trying the other Patak's pastes.

When I began cooking for myself about 6 years ago, I tried five or six different recipes for chicken vindaloo, from Madhur Jaffrey's classic recipe to actor Anthony Hopkins' "healthful" one (which I found on some entertainment Web site).

Most were good, with Jaffrey's being the best of the bunch, Hopkins' the worst (Hannibal's take on vindaloo was surprisingly bland). None of the recipes were nearly as good, however, as the spiced-just-right vindaloo I used to order at least once a week from Baluchi's when I lived in New York City.

During my recipe experimentation, I visited a local Asian grocery store and asked the clerk for some advice. He recommended trying Patak's paste. I was dubious, but I did. It was absolutely great. And the bonus: The Patak's recipe is much easier to fix than the various recipes I had been collecting.

I've cooked with this paste so often now, I've learned to make a few alterations to the recipe. I basically follow the directions on the jar (substituting chicken for shrimp), but add a 1/4 cup of yogurt and about a tablespoon of fresh minced cilantro at the end of the cooking process. If I have some lemon juice around, I put in a couple of squirts just before serving. (I usually cook the dish with two to two-and-a-half pounds of chicken and freeze the leftovers. It reheats well.)

If you're using chicken breasts rather than dark meat, make sure not to overcook and dry out the chicken. That's about the only thing you'll need to guard against. (A friend told me to marinate the chicken bits in yogurt and then cook them under a broiler, separate from the sauce but adding them to the sauce once they're cooked through. He says this locks in the moistness and adds a little flavor to the meat via the slight charring/carmelization that results. I haven't tried it, but it sounds good.)

By the way, I'm not sure how healthy this paste is; don't overuse the paste or the dish can get a bit greasy, for example. (There must be a fair amount of oil in the paste.) Just use the amount recommended on the jar and you should be fine.

Patak's doesn't beat Baluchi's chicken vindaloo, but for a home cook looking to make fast and tasty vindaloos, this paste can't be beat.

Now if I could just learn to make a quick-and-easy naan, I'd really be in business...

Vindaloo Curry paste is so great! The flavor is amazing, I add coconut milk to mine when I make it because my fiance can't handle the heat like I can. It's the perfect sauce to cook your meat in, and just put a scoop of the meat/sauce over rice, I usually have corn on the side. And of course a tall glass of milk, as it has a slight zing to it, depending on your heat-tollerance of course. :)

While I am not Indian, I do cook Indian food from scratch quite often. I have taken lessons on and off for the past three years, and have gotten tips, recipes, and compliments from my Indian co-workers. This stuff is good - all the Patek sauces I've tried are - but be aware that this stuff is bloody hot (as Vindaloo should be)! Have some Cucumber Raita ready.

I love Indian food and when I discovered Patak's cooking sauces it al-lowed me have delicious Indian food at home with very little effort. I am am able to get 3 or 4 dinners out of one jar container.

I use this Vindaloo paste as a base and add the following ingredients: coconut milk, fresh cilantro, and garlic.
I typically make either chicken or lamb cut up in small pieces. I also often add vegetable into the same pan, potatoes and onions work very well. Sometimes I also like adding broccoli, cauliflower or chickpeas for variety.

The best price for this sauce I found in a local Indian store. They have a very large variety of Patak's sauces: different flavors and different hotness. I usually buy a large variety and store unopened jars in the basement. They keeps very well for a long time.

I have tried a variety of Indian cooking sauces and Patak's is my favorite.

Ali Julia review

i made curry with half a bottle of this and it still was a bit bland i prefer thai curry i can get at the asian markets

if this is bland, crush some garlic cloves and add cardamon, chii peppers and ginger to heat it up and some sirachi chili sauce its awsome then

I was looking forward to receiving this item to experiment on vindaloo curry recipe I had. It arrived on time, but when I opened the box, it was a fluorescent orange mess! The jar was not sealed right, and the juice from the paste was all over the box. Good thing I was not wearing white skirt. It went straight to the trash, as it is not even worth making an effort to ship it back.

I would think that commercial products like this should be sealed tight enough not only for leakage proofing, but also for sanitation/safety purposes. Did I just happen to be unlucky?