Goat Curry
Delicious curry, one of my favorite Indian dishes of all time. My family went to Costco recently and bought a 15 lb box of cubed, frozen goat meat and so I suddenly found myself with a whole bunch of goat. Tender, super flavorful, and honestly not that complicated to make other than having to babysit the meat every once in a while, great for larger groups.
Active Time: 1 hr
Total Time: 4 hr
Ingredients
> goat meat (~2 lb, cubed)
> onion (1/2 lb, sliced)
> tomato (optional, diced)
> garlic (6 cloves)
> ginger (1 inch)
> ghee (4 tbsp)
> garam masala (1 tbsp)
goat marinade:
> yogurt (1 cup, plain whole fat)
> coriander powder (2 tbsp)
> cayenne (1/2 tbsp)
> paprika (1 tbsp)
> cumin (1/2 tbsp)
> turmeric (1/2 tbsp)
> salt (1/2 tbsp)
whole spices:
> bay leaf (2)
> mace (1 twig)
> black cardamom (2), or green cardamom (4)
> cinnamon stick (1 inch)
> black peppercorn (15)
> cloves (6)
Instructions
1. Boil the goat meat in a large pot for ~5m. Skim off the impurities, drain, and carefully clean off any remaining impurities (coagulated blood, bone, marrow) from the goat meat.
2. Place the goat in a large bowl and add all the marinade ingredients. Mix with your hands to rub and coat the meat thoroughly.
3. Pound the ginger and garlic using a mortar and pestle into a paste. It can help to first cut / crush it into small pieces.
4. In a large pot over medium-low heat with several tbsp of ghee (bring it up to temp), sizzle the whole spices for a few seconds.
5. Immediately add the sliced onions and cook until golden brown, about ~15m, stirring occasionally
6. Add the ginger / garlic paste and diced tomatoes, if using. Stir for ~10s.
7. Add the goat meat and all the marinade. Stir everything to coat the goat in the browned onions. Stir frequently until everything warms up.
8. Cover and cook over low heat for ~3h. Add hot/warm water as needed, ~1-1.5 cups at a time. Stir occasionally.
9. Once the meat is tender, add / reduce water to achieve desired consistency. Turn off the heat and finish with garam masala and ~1.5 tbsp ghee. Let the curry rest for ~20m before serving. Enjoy with rice and flatbreads.
Notes/Tips:
> If your goat meat is bone-in, you'll definitely want to first boil the goat meat before using to remove all the impurities. If it doesn't have bone, then you can skip the first step.
> If you don't have 3 hours to wait, you could also consider making it in a pressure cooker. I took the recipe from this site (https://sinfullyspicy.com/indian-goat-curry/) -- they also have a recipe for a pressure cooker.
> Apparently, it's important to not add too much water at any point in time. Cooking the meat in mostly its own juices / yogurt helps build better flavor. Hence, adding the water little by little. For me, I found that I needed to add about 1-1.5 cups of water every ~30m or so, but your mileage will vary depending on the amount you're cooking + your pot. Be conservative though -- add more water if you're nervous, don't let it burn!
> Tomatoes are optional, if you're feeling it feel free to add it, but maybe not too much. I happened to have exactly one campari tomato, so I added that.