Every once in a while you have a meal that’s an absolute revelation.  A meal that is so perfect, so tasty, so fantastic, you can’t wait to have it again.  Unfortunately, getting hold of some of the ingredients for this one will be a tad tricky…

The Jamaican goat curry presented below is one such meal.  We served ours with festival, rice and beans and a simple salsa.  The recipe came my way from Orchard House Free Range Produce, as did the goat…

Ingredients…

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 8 Tbsp Jamaican curry powder
• 1 Tbsp allspice
• 3 lb goat (you can substitute lamb – or mutton if you can lay your hands on it)
• Salt
• 2 onions
• 2 Scotch bonnet peppers (if you want the full-heat version, I substituted 2 poblano peppers so that the kids could enjoy this with us)
• 2 inch piece of ginger, peeled, minced
• 1 head of garlic, peeled and chopped
• 2 cans coconut milk
• 400 ml passata
• 1 Tbsp dried thyme
• 3 cups water
• 5 large potatoes, cut into 1 inch chunks

Method

1. Make the curry powder – best to dry-fry the spices first, they’re so much tastier.
   
2. Cut the meat into large chunks, 2-3 inches across.  If you’ve got the bones, use them, too.  Salt everything well and set aside to warm up to room temperature for about 30 minutes
   
3. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.  Mix in 2 tablespoons of the curry powder and heat until fragrant.
4. Pat the meat dry and brown well in the curried oil.  Do this in batches, don’t overcrowd the pot.  It takes a while to do this but it’s worth it.  When the meat is browned, set it aside in a bowl.  If you’ve got the bones, brown them off as well – the stock you get at end is fantastic.
   
5. Add the onions and peppers to the pot and saute, stirring from time to time, until the onions start to brown – takes about 5 minutes.  Add salt while cooking.  Add in the ginger and garlic, mix well, keep cooking for another couple of minutes.
6. Put the meat and bones back into the pot along with the juices from the bowl.  Mix well, pour in the coconut milk, passata, 5 tablespoons of curry powder.  Stir to combine, add the water, thyme.  Bring to a simmer and leave it there for 2-3 hours.  We transferred ours to the slow cooker at this point, gave it 6 hours on low.
   
7. Once the meat is close to being done – tender but not quite falling apart yet – add the potatoes and mix in.  You’re ready to go once the potatoes are done.  Check seasoning and add salt if you need to.
   
8. Serve with whatever accompaniments you want to go with the feast!  Do remove the bones first 😉