I don’t profess to be an expert on Jamaican food and I know there will be people out there screaming at the screen saying you don’t do it like that. All I can say is this is how I did it after reading a few different recipes and it turned out lovely. I think making the curry powder from scratch certainly lifted it to the next level but the ready-made shop bought variety is widely available at most supermarkets. After burning off for the ingredients I stuck a lot in the slow cooker on a low heat and went out for the day. When I returned home the goat was melt in your mouth and the sauce was thick and umptious. If you don’t have a slow cooker just pop it in a heatproof casserole dish and pop it in the oven on a low heat or leave it to simmer on the hob. Yummy!
INGREDIENTS
1 kg diced goat meat
2 red onions chopped
3 cloves of garlic
4 tablespoons of Jamaican curry powder (shop bought or see recipe lower down the page)
1 tablespoon of tomato purée
A small handful of fresh thyme finely chopped or around a tablespoon of dried thyme.
half a teaspoon of white pepper
A chicken stock cube/stockpot
Enough water to cover the meat
1 to 2 Scotch bonnet chilli pepper (or to taste) (wrapped in a muslin cloth, optional. By cooking it in the source this way you get the flavour from the chilli without being overpowered by the spice. If not using the cloth and you don’t like it too hot you could either chop it finely and take out the seeds and just use the one or put them in whole and prick them with a knife to prevent them bursting although there is no guarantee they will not burst which is why I suggested the cloth)
1 tablespoon of sweetener or sugar to taste (optional)
1 medium sweet potato (optional)
METHOD
heat a tablespoon of oil in a nonstick pan and slightly brown the cubes of goat then take out of the pan and drain on kitchen paper.
Remove from heat and add the onions to the pan and cook on a medium heat for ten minutes to lightly caramelize.
Add the garlic, tomato purée, curry powder, white pepper, Scotch bonnet if you are not using the muslin cloth and fry for a couple of minutes to release the flavours.
Return the goat to the pan, toss in with the mixture and then cover with hot water and add the stock cube. Throw in the thyme and stir.
Bring to the boil and then transfer to a slow cooker and cook on low heat until the meat is tender. If you do not have a slow cooker cook it in the oven on a very low heat, possibly around 140°C. The longer you can do it the more tender the meat will be.
If you are using sweet potato add this to the pan about 20 to 30 minutes before the end of cooking time.
Serve with coconut rice and peas (red kidney beans). I cooked brown rice with Alpro coconut water, tinned red kidney beans, a teaspoon of dried thyme and salt and pepper to try and make this a lighter option but to be honest you couldn’t taste the coconut so I would suggest if you want the coconut taste you really need to use coconut milk. It was still tasty though.
For the Jamaican curry powder
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 tablespoons ground turmeric
- 2 tablespoons ground coriander seeds
- 1 Tablespoon cumin seeds
- 2 teaspoons All spice
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons dry yellow mustard seeds
- 2 teaspoons ground fenugreek seeds
- 1 whole dried clove (use about 1/4 teaspoon ground)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons white or black pepper
- 1 whole dried clove (use about 1/4 teaspoon ground)
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg optional
- 1 teaspoon of cayenne peppe
- Instructions
- Lightly toast the whole spices, on low heat, in a dry frying pan, for about 3-5 minutes to release the oils before grinding, just until the spices smell nice and aromatic. Be careful not to burn them as there’s nothing worse than burnt spices in a curry. Then grind in a coffee grinder or pestle and mortar.
- It is not compulsory to taste the spices first but it just helps release the oils and flavours.
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