Chicken with Vindaloo Spices

Two-a-days started Monday. If you've never coached two-a-days, imagine herding sixty teenage boys through morning practice in August heat, releasing them for three hours during which they eat everything in the cafeteria and fall asleep on the locker room floor, then herding them back out for afternoon practice while their legs scream and their attitudes deteriorate. Now do that for two weeks. It is the best and worst time of the football year, and I love it the way you love something that is trying to kill you.

The roster is taking shape. Darnell is everything I thought he'd be at linebacker — fast to the ball, violent at the point of contact, coachable in a way that has nothing to do with talent and everything to do with character. My quarterback, a junior named Marcus, has a good arm and bad footwork, which is fixable. My offensive line is big but slow, which is less fixable but manageable if we commit to the run. We're going to commit to the run. You go to war with the army you've got.

Home is its own kind of two-a-day. Lisa's working her regular shifts, I'm at the school from six AM to six PM, and the kids are in the interregnum between summer programs and school starting. Lisa's parents took the twins for the week — God bless Don and Karen, even if Don grills with lighter fluid — and Diego and Sofia are doing a day camp that runs until three. The logistics board on our fridge looks like a military operation. Lisa manages it with the precision of a woman who runs an emergency room. I contribute by not touching the board.

I've been feeding the coaching staff during two-a-days because that's what you do — you can't ask men to work fourteen-hour days and not feed them. Thursday I made a slow cooker carne adovada — pork shoulder cubed and braised in red chile sauce. Dried New Mexico red chiles, rehydrated, blended with garlic, cumin, oregano, and a little apple cider vinegar for brightness. Eight hours on low. The pork falls apart. You eat it in a bowl or on a tortilla or standing over the Crock-Pot with a fork, which is how Ray ate his third serving and which I pretended not to see. It's not Gloria's — nothing is Gloria's until I get my hands on proper red chile pods from Hatch — but it fed the staff, and they came back Friday ready to work, and that's the trade. You feed people. They show up.

Feed your people. The game is won at the table.

I don’t always have access to the right dried Hatch chiles, and some nights the slow cooker is already committed to the pork shoulder—so I’ve learned to keep another weapon in the rotation. This chicken with vindaloo spices carries the same intensity I was chasing with the carne adovada: bold, layered, uncompromising, the kind of thing that tells whoever’s eating it that somebody gave a damn. When you’re feeding men who’ve been on a practice field since six in the morning, subtle doesn’t cut it. You need something with heat and depth that fills a room the moment you lift the lid. This recipe does that.

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 45 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

2 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 2-inch pieces
3 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
1 large yellow onion, diced
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 teaspoons paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (adjust to heat preference)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, or to taste
Fresh cilantro, chopped, for serving
Steamed rice or warm flatbread, for serving

Instructions

Make the spice blend. In a small bowl, combine the paprika, cumin, coriander, turmeric, cayenne, cinnamon, cardamom, black pepper, and salt. Mix thoroughly and set aside.
Sear the chicken. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Working in batches to avoid crowding, sear the chicken pieces until browned on all sides, about 3–4 minutes per batch. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
Build the base. Reduce heat to medium and add the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil to the pot. Add the diced onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and golden, about 6–8 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger and cook 1 minute more until fragrant.
Bloom the spices. Add the entire spice blend to the onion mixture and stir constantly for 60 seconds, letting the spices toast in the oil and coat the aromatics. This step builds the backbone of the dish—don’t skip it.
Deglaze and braise. Pour in the vinegar and stir, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Add the diced tomatoes with their juices and the chicken broth. Stir to combine.
Return the chicken. Nestle the seared chicken pieces back into the pot, submerging them in the sauce as much as possible. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 30–35 minutes until the chicken is tender and cooked through and the sauce has thickened.
Taste and finish. Adjust salt and heat to your preference. If the sauce is thinner than you like, simmer uncovered for an additional 5 minutes. Serve over steamed rice or with warm flatbread, topped with fresh cilantro.

Nutrition (per serving)

Chicken with Vindaloo Spices — When the Staff Needs Feeding and the Chile Does the Work