Sunday, July 26, 2009

GOAT CURRY

A few weeks ago, I was intrigued to find a sign at the new local butchers advertising "goat curry". Feeling adventurous and thinking it was a pre-mixed meat and seasoning, I bought a kilo. As I was shopping with the lad, I became a little distracted, so continued choosing other items, paid and left. Once home, I realised it was simply a kilo of meat ready for the making of curry!!! What to do now? Within 1/2 an hour of my shout out to Ya Ya and Friends I was more than well equipped to begin my newest foodie adventure. This of course, was two weeks before Poh chose Goat as the staple ingredient for her challenge on Master Chef, so now there is even more scope, recipe-wise for my goatie adventures. I chose to go ahead with a recipe from the FoodNetwork.com which was Curry Goat and was posted by Gregory Joliff (thanks Greg..it's a beauty!). As with all recipes, you need to tweak them a little to adjust to what ingredients you have in the cupboard, and what your family's tastes will allow, so I will give you the original recipe, with my little tweaks included. Firstly, you start with 2 pounds goat meat or lamb without bones (well...I had 1 kilo WITH bones and it was great), 1 lime juiced (I only had lime squeeze), 1 tablespoon salt (mine was Maldon sea salt), 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, 1 scotch bonnet pepper (I had to look this up, it is quite hot, so I replaced it with a red capsicum to appease the kids..and where would you GET a scotch bonnet pepper anyway?) chopped and seeded, 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme (I had fresh sprigs), 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice, 3 tablespoons curry powder, 2 whole scallions sliced (I had 3 spring onions from the garden), 1 onion sliced, 3 cloves garlic minced, 1/4 cup vege oil (I don't think I used that much..just a slurp here and there), 3 tomatoes diced (I used a 425gram tin of tomatoes), 1/2 cup coconut milk optional (I used a small tin of coconut milk which gave me almost a cup...it all went in), 7 cups water (oops..I didn't see this and just put a cup or two in before simmering). DIRECTIONS : rub lime juice over goat meat, place meat in a bowl, then add salt, black pepper, scotch bonnet, thyme, allspice, curry powder, scallions, onion and garlic. Leave to marinate for at least 2 hours in the fridge, longer would be ideal (mine was left for at least 8 hours). Heat the oil in a pan until very hot, saute the meat until golden brown. Then add the marinade, tomatoes and coconut milk (if using), and simmer for approximately 3 more minutes. Add water, reduce heat and allow to simmer for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally until meat is tender. For me this was 2 -1/2 hours. I chose to serve mine with plain rice, and the kids absolutely loved it! The meat was tender, and had fallen off the bone while simmering, so before serving, I picked the large bones out of the mix. The capsicum added a nice sweetness, and after so many hours in the pan, ended up more like tomato than capsicum which was great as my kids aren't huge fans of it in cooking unless it is well concealed. The result was a very tasty, earthy, and delicious meal. I had a moment of despair when I realised I hadn't put any thought into the wine matching of the dish? Ya Ya helpfully suggested a lovely cool pale ale, but as it wasn't a really spicy dish, my Cab Sav worked rather well with it. Really, if they didn't know it was goat, the kids would have thought it was a lovely beef stew, but the fact that it WAS goat was a lively conversation starter around the table. The kids sang "my highland goat was feeling fine" with the words changed to.......until it ended up in mummies pan (!) It doesn't rhyme..but gave us a laugh. Since the Masterchef goat episode, I have had discussions with a Greek friend of mine, who suggests that her family replace goat for lamb in ANY recipe, so keep that in mind if wanting to find a recipe to use goat. It certainly opens up the options. All in all, I have to say it felt like a triumph...how was I to know that from these humble beginnings, such a glorious achievement was to be made! Happi eating.

4 comments:

  1. Oh, that looks so delicious! I think I'm going to have to add goat to my list of things to cook!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm definitely going to cook with goat too now that I've found somewhere to buy it from. Thanks for motivating me with your delicious sounding curry! :D

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh nice, I've only ever had goat when my mum makes a stew out of it ..I didn't like the taste of the goat meat though, it was too gamey for me. However I think by cooking a curry from the meat, it should be strong enough to mask the smell.

    ReplyDelete
  4. My goat was from Asquith Meats, Pacific Highway Asquith. Linda...I didn't notice the smell so maybe you are right with the curry masking it. I think that the gamey taste was what we did like about it. I look forward to experimenting with other recipes in the future too. Maybe greek-style?

    ReplyDelete