A pickle-like blend of ingredients called balchao, is crucial to many of Portuguese Goa's meat dishes, and usually incorporates Goa's other passion, feni, a potent alcoholic brew made from either cashew nuts or palm fruit. Also omnipresent in Goan dishes is the highly acidic feni vinegar, which reduces the potency of dried red chiles—as does tart tamarind, another key element in this layered, complex, and fiery-hot paste that peppers its way into many of Goa's curries. Unfortunately, neither the alcohol nor the vinegar is available outside of India (maybe even outside of Goa), and so my offering is devoid of both. Nonetheless, it is very flavorful, with cider or malt vinegar standing in as a perfectly acceptable substitute.
Pouring the liquid into the blender jar first ensures a smooth puree, so do make sure you follow the recommended order for adding ingredients to the jar. If you are making only a half batch, you might need to add an extra tablespoon of vinegar (5 tablespoons total rather than 1/4 cup) to get the blades to do a decent job of pureeing, just because of the sheer volume of chunky ingredients.
