Goat Curry

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Although it is now yet widely available, goat meat is becoming trendy here in the UK. To the uninitiated, goat meat is perceived as being gristly and chewy, but that is far from the truth. Properly reared and butchered goat meat is like good strong-tasting lamb, and there is no reason at all why it should be tough. The other day, when we were shopping for that lovely piece of beef we had for our 40th Engagement Anniversary, we saw some goat meat on sale and decided to get some and freeze it for a later occasion. I subsequently made it into a Caribbean-inspired curry.

I cut the meat into cubes and marinated it for several hours in a dry mix of home-made curry powder, powdered Allspice (Jamaican Pepper), grated fresh ginger and crushed garlic. After browning the meat I cooked it long and slow (about 3 hours +). In the dish went onion, chilli (one Rocoto and one Cayenne – both home-grown), more curry powder, some fresh thyme, some fennel seeds, stock and lots of ginger cut into thin “Julienne” strips.

Continuing the Caribbean theme I decided to accompany my curry with this salsa made from mango, diced chilli and mint – reflecting the yellow, red and green combination so popular in that part of the world:

The chillis and mint came from my garden, but (regrettably) not the mango!

Next up, in the absence of plantains, I cooked some bananas. Prior to baking them I cut a long slit in them in order to avoid any explosions. After 20 minutes they were completely black on the outside, but gooey and sweet on the inside:

Normally I would have served Rice-and-Peas with this curry, but I decided that for the sake of variety I would do some Sweet Potato wedges. I cut the potatoes lengthways into quarters, leaving the skins on, rubbed them with a tablespoonful of vegetable oil and sprinkled them generously with paprika – a mix of the sweet and the spicy versions.

The last element of the meal was some “greens”. In the Caribbean this would probably have been callaloo or an amaranth of some sort, but I used Brussels Tops from my garden:

Here is the meal, plated-up:

The curry was not HOT, hot, just mildly warming, leaving a pleasant tingle on the tongue. The curry powder I used was one that Jane makes from home-roasted whole spices. It is a fragrant mix rather than a very hot one. The other ingredients I used were in a similar vein, particularly the ginger, which went lovely and soft and mellow after their 3 hours of cooking. And the goat meat? Likewise, melt-in-the-mouth tender and delicious.

If you can get hold of goat meat, I strongly recommend that you get some and try it.

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