Thursday 2 May 2013

Goat Curry



At the weekend we went to our local Farmers' Market, and as well as some of our regular purchases like Loosehanger cheeses and Trout pate, we also got the first locally-grown Rhubarb and Asparagus. I have heard that goods sold at this type of market have to be produced within (I think) a 50 mile radius, so this Asparagus will certainly have travelled a lot less Food Miles than the stuff from Peru that our supermarkets persit in selling. In addition to all these things we also bought some goat meat. I have been wanting for some time now to make a Caribbean-style Goat Curry, and now I have had the opportunity.


Goat meat is available in the Asian butchers' shops in the big towns round here - like Reading, where there are big Asian and Caribbean communities, but it is not commonly found in either the supermarkets or our local butchers' shops. Fortunately, there is a stall on our Farmers' Market which sells goat meat. It is called Devese Farm Animals, and their business is based in Wickham, near Southampton.


As you can see from the photo above, we bought 340g of diced Goat Mutton, a quantity perfect for feeding two people. The meat is lovely and lean, and very dark coloured. It's rather similar to very well-aged Lamb.


Goat meat has a reputation for being tough, so I planned to cook my curry for a long time - about three and a half hours. So here's my recipe:-

Caribbean-style Goat Curry (serves two)

Ingredients
Approx 350g goat meat, diced
1 large onion, peeled and roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
As many fresh red chillis as you like (or for authenticity, a Scotch Bonnet if you have one), roughly chopped
1 bunch spring onions, separated into white parts and green parts, roughly chopped
1 5cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 Tbsp Dunns River All-Purpose Seasoning
1 Tbsp Carribean curry powder (one with lots of Fennel and Allspice in it)
1 Tsp dried Thyme
1 Tsp ground Allspice
Several sprigs of fresh thyme (leaves only)
Several twists of freshly-ground black pepper
1 litre of stock (I used beef)
Approx 3 Tbsp vegetable oil, for frying and marinating

Method
1.Make a marinade
Put about 1 Tbsp oil in a large bowl, along with:-
the crushed garlic
the grated ginger (grate it over the bowl to avoid losing the juice)
the All-Purpose Seasoning
the curry powder
the dried Thyme, black pepper and Allspice
about half of the white bits of spring onion, and half of the fresh Thyme
[the rest of the fresh thyme and spring onions are used in the accompanying Rice and Peas dish]
Mix the ingredients to form a gooey paste
Add the meat to the bowl and massage well to ensure it is thoroughly coated with the marinade
Cover with clingfilm and place in the fridge for a few hours


2. Make the curry
Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a  flameproof pan and brown the meat, having removed most of the marinade from it
Remove the meat to a bowl and keep it warm
Put the final 1 Tbsp oil into the hot pan and soften the onions over a low heat (approx 5 mins)
Add the remaining marinade and stir it into the onions; cook for another couple of minutes
Return the meat to the pan
Add the chillis, and all of the green parts of the spring onions
Add the stock
Bring the pan to the boil, and then cover it and put it in the oven
cook for about 3 hours or until the meat is very tender, adding more stock/water if required to achieve a nice consistency of sauce.

Just before adding the stock

At serving time

3. Serve
My curry was accompanied with Rice and Peas (home-grown black beans in this case), cooked with coconut milk, fresh Thyme and the white parts of some spring onions (see above), along with some plain-boiled Spring Greens (like Collards) - on this occasion pretending to be Callaloo!


Well, so much for the stereotype. The Goat meat was meltingly tender and beautifully tasty. We shall definitely be buying it again. Very impressed. I was a bit disappointed in the lack of heat in the curry (it really needed the Scotch Bonnet), but the taste was lovely. I particularly enjoyed the flavour of Allspice - a current favourite of mine. And what can I say about the rich coconutty Rice and Peas? Heavenly!

13 comments:

  1. I've never eaten goat. Your curry does look tasty.

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  2. Like Jo I've never eaten goat

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  3. You are very brave, Mark to try goat meat, in my humble opinion. It does look nice when prepared, though. It was grown locally, then, which is nice. I think here that goats are raised strictly for milk and cheese.

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  4. how very lovely and adventurous of you... most people have a tough time with goat as there are a lot of bones but buying it like this is a great idea and I bet it was packed with flavour... looks damn good anyway!

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  5. One of the first dishes i learnt to cook when I got married was curried lamb, rice and peas and roti. Goat is such a great meat, very under used. I can imagine this was really tasty.

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  6. I LOVE goat meat, it melts in the mouth and doesn't taste at all 'sheepy'. Thanks for sharing

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  7. It looks delicious. I made a curry today too, but a very mild sweet potato curry paired with a saffron rice. Yum.

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  8. It does look lovely Mark, I'm sure they sell goat meat at the local posh farm shop. I shall take a look next time I'm there.

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  9. I used to keep goats so know all about the delights of goat meat. My meat was from the kids though so wasn't as dark as yours and was used in any dish that would normally have been chicken.

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  10. I would assume goat meat would be tough. I've never eaten it.

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  11. I love the look of the meat, both the uncooked and the cooked varieties. It's very much like a Sunday meal that we might have at home. Sunday because that's when my husband and I lunch together. The other days are rush-rush, for him, not for me.:)

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  12. One of my favorite dishes! This looks quite delicious

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  13. i was introduced to goat meat by the very same lady, who happens to be my sister in law!!! It is a great meat, which I can eat even with high cholesterol. I suggest you get some of the goat livers next time- I am hooked on pate made from them!

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