"I'm a goat-lover; my pot and seasonings are always ready to bring out the best in them."

Growing up, the G.O.A.T of festive meals was the Jamaican Curry Goat, which continues to be a ChristMUST favourite.
However, when living overseas, I only prepare it occasionally, as goat meat is not always readily available. So, I was pleasantly surprised when I walked into a butcher's in the most unexpected place, where I purchased 2 kg of ready-cut and packaged goat. I was smiling ear-to-ear when the butcher said, "Yes, I have a goat; how much do you need?"

One of 5 packets of meat, which totaled £25 — a fairly pricy treat that includes a long list of ingredients for a spicy meal with a rich aroma..

The curried goat is slow-cooked till tender and falling off the bone, so it's always a great idea to prep and season the meat a day before, leaving it to marinate overnight..

INGREDIENTS:

SPICES

• Curry Powder (any that's available from the supermarket)
• salt and black pepper
• scotch bonnet pepper
• dried Thyme
• whole cloves or pimento berries

FRESH HERBS and VEGGIES

• one whole garlic
• 2 whole white onions
• 1 small piece of ginger (optional)
• 4 carrots (diced)
• 2 Irish potatoes (diced)

OTHER

• Cooking oil (I use extra virgin Olive Oil)
• Vinegar
• 2 kg Goat meat, cut into bite-size pieces on the bone
  Served with Jamaica Rice and Peas (actually red kidney beans)

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METHOD

Here's a raw video of me prepping the day before. This takes me some time, because I do a combo for my rice and peas recipe at the same time, and then divide up the ingredients.

This is to save time, as the goat takes about 2 hours to cook until the meat is tender and falling off the bone.

Then I start by washing the goat with some vinegar to enhance the smell (mainly).

• In a small bowl, I mix 1/4 cup vinegar with 1 cup tap water.

• Add seasonings to meat: 6 tbsp of curry powder, salt and pepper, cloves/pimento berries, minced garlic, chopped onions, and chopped scotch bonnet pepper.

• Place the meat in a container massage all spices into the meat, and cover the container.

• Leave meat covered in the refrigerator overnight for the meat to marinade.

• Uncover meat, and it should look like this on the next day. (I only had one pot on this occasion)

• However, heat 3 tbsp of cooking oil on med-high heat, and sear each piece of meat in batches, to seal in the juice.
• Add enough ambient water to cover the meat, as seen here.
• On high heat, bring water to boil
• Place fresh herbs if available such as thyme or rosemary (Optional)

• Cover the pot and reduce the heat to low.

• Simmer for 1 hr, stirring occasionally as seen in the video, to avoid meat sticking to the bottom of the pot, or drying out (as seen in video).

• add potatoes and carrots

• add a dash of ketchup/tomato sauce to help round the flavour. (optional)
  

  
  

• cook for an additional hour, adding water to avoid meat burning.

• Meat should look something like this, as there should be adequate sauce at the end of cooking.

This is most times served with either plain white rice, or traditional Jamaican Rice and red kidney beans, which is called peas in Jamaica.

RICE RECIPE

Ingredients

• Basmati rice
• 1 can of coconut milk
• 1 can red kidney beans, drained (what Jamaicans call peas)
• 1 finely chopped white onion
• 3 gloves minced garlic
• 2 sprigs of chopped spring onions
• fresh sprigs of thyme (or 2 tbsp sprinkled and stirred into rice
• a pinch of allspice
• 2 cups of boiling water (or 1 cup water and 1 cup vegetable stock)
• 1 whole scotch bonnet pepper with stem intact.
• 2 bay leaves (optional)
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Method

• heat oil in a saucepan
• cook garlic and onion until translucent
• add rice and stir to mix in garlic and onion
• add water and or stock, stirring continuously.
• add red kidney beans
• add coconut milk
• sprinkle dried thyme or place sprigs of fresh thyme and bay leaves in a pot
• stir all and bring to a boil
• lower heat, cover, and simmer for 15 - 20 mins.
  

Serve and enjoy!

Here's a nice Jamaican tune that gives an insight into Jamaican's high regard for curry goat.

PS: Never say Rice and Beans, and NOT Goat Curry

It's Jamaican Rice and Peas and Curry Goat😋

A Jamaican 'Meaty ChrisMUST' to y'all!

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All images and videos are mine, and the song video is from Youtube