Excellent Chincken Vindaloo

6 chicken thighs
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon methi seeds ( fenugreek)
5 peppercorns
4 whole cloves
3 cardamom pods, seeds only
2 dried red chilies, halved
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
4 tablespoons oil
2 onions, diced
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 tablespoons vinegar
3 garlic cloves
1 1/2 tablespoons ginger paste
2 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
8 curry leaves
1 cup water

Wash 6 chicken thighs. Remove the skin and excess fat and place the thighs in a large mixing bowl.
In a large nonstick frying pan put the corianderseeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, peppercorns,whole cloves, cardamom seeds, and the 2 dried red chilies. Stir-fry the whole spices over medium heat until they have lightly browned.
Put the toasted spices into a spice grinder. Add the salt, cayenne powder, turmeric and cinnamon.Powder everything together.
Put the powdered spices in the bowl with the chicken and stir to combine.
Let the chicken marinate while you cook the onions.
In the same frying pan put 4 Table. oil and the onions. Stir-fry the onions over medium heat until they are very brown.
Put the onions into a food processor or blender.Add the 1/2 cup water, vinegar, garlic cloves and ginger. Puree.
Stir the onion puree into the chicken in the large mixing bowl.
Next, put 2 Table. oil in the frying pan and themustard seeds. Heat over high heat until the mustard seeds start popping.
Add the curry leaves and quickly stir.
Add the chicken mixture from the mixing bowl (along with all of thepuree and spices). Add at leastone cup water. Stir.
Bring the liquid to a boil, reduce heat to medium, and cook the chicken at least 45 minutes, until very tender, adding a little water as needed. You will need toturn the chicken over about every 10 minutes.
When the chicken is almost done, increase heat to highh and let most of the liquid evaporate until you have a thick sauce. Check for salt.
Serve with plain boiled rice, a yogurt raita and a side vegetable.
To make this dish nicer, I usually cool the curry and when it is cool enough to handle, I remove the chicken and discard the bones. Cut the meat into bite-size pieces and return it to the frying pan with the sauce. Reheat.
Variations: Sometimes you find chicken (or meat) vindaloo with potatoes. If you want to add a potato, reduce the chicken thighsto five and add a (peeled and diced) potato the last 20 minutes ofcooking. Many times this curry is served very spicy hot. If you want to have it hotter, increase the cayenne powder to at least 1 teaspoons.