My son wanted to do a dinner with a Jamaican theme, and we talked about making something with goat. We had previously tried cooking with goat meat but it was frozen and quite tough. So I felt a bit hesitant to try it again nor was I exactly sure where to find goat meat in Syracuse. However, incredibly there was an article in the local newspaper about the wave of new stores that have appeared on the North Side, reflecting the needs of the many diverse international refugees who have settled in Syracuse. There it was! Pyramid Halal on Lodi Street, specializing in goat, camel, lamb and house smoked chicken. The goat meat is fresh and the owner, Hani Mahmoud, will cut the meat for you on the premises. My son in law is Dominican and we asked his mother whether she marinated the meat in lemon juice first...... I had read on line that using a mixture of lemon juice and white vinegar takes away the gamey taste and makes it more tender. After washing the meat in water, she rubs it with either a lemon or a lime.
The Jamaican curry is similar to regular curry but also has allspice in it, so it is suggested to mix curry powder with some allspice.
I found this recipe in Simply Recipes.com, but have made some additions and changes as I went along.
Ingredients
2 lemons
1/2 cup white vinegar
5 lbs goat meat cut into two inch chunks with bone still on.
1/2 cup vegetable oil
12 tablespoons curry powder
2 tablespoons allspice
Salt
3 onions chopped
3 habanero or Scotch bonnet peppers, seeded and chopped
4 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
1 whole head of garlic peeled and minced
1 jalapeno pepper seeded and chopped
(wear gloves to seed and chop peppers)
2 25oz cans coconut milk
1 35oz can crushed tomatoes
2 tablespoons dried thyme
4 cups water
10 Yukon yellow potatoes peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks.
10 carrots peeled and chopped into half inch rounds
Directions
In a large bowl, wash the meat first in cold water, drain in a colander.
Place the meat in a dry bowl and squeeze two lemons and add 1/2 cup white vinegar. Let the meat stand in this mixture for at least 30 minutes.
In the meantime, mix 12 tablespoons curry powder and 2 tablespoons allspice together and leave in a small bowl.
Next chop 3 onions, seed and chop 3 habanero peppers (I couldn’t find Scotch bonnet peppers) and 1 jalapeno pepper. WEAR GLOVES! Put the onions and peppers in a bowl.
Now take a whole garlic, separate the cloves, skin them and mince very finely.
Put in a small bowl.
Peel and chop finely a 4 inch piece of fresh ginger, add to the minced garlic,
Pat dry the meat which you have cut into 2 -3 inch chunks, leaving the bones on. Sprinkle meat with salt.
Heat 1/4 cup vegetable oil in a sauce pan, adding and mixing in 2 tablespoons of the curry powder. Heat until fragrant. Saute the meat until brown. Saute the meat in small batches. Be careful to watch that the curry powder mix doesn’t burn, add more oil as it tends to dry out in the pan. Put the meat in a very large pot.
Next add the chopped onions and peppers, there is a large amount of onions, so do two batches. Saute until the onions begin to brown. Add to the pot. Add the garlic and ginger to the second batch of onions once they have started to brown and saute for a couple of minutes. Add to the big pot.
Pour in the coconut milk, the crushed tomatoes and 4 cups of water.
Add 2 tablespoons dried thyme.
Stir.
Cook very slowly over low heat, could take 3 - 4 hours, the meat needs to be very tender and almost falling off the bone.
Peel the potatoes and carrots and chop into bite size pieces, I actually cooked the potatoes and carrots in two separate pots until just beginning to be tender, then added to the stew. I made the stew a week ahead and froze the stew without potatoes and carrots. Then on the day, slowly heated the stew and added the cooked potatoes and carrots to the simmering stew.
Or, once the meat is tender, add the Yukon potatoes and carrots and continue simmering until the vegetables are tender.
There may be fat on the top, you can skim this off.
The stew can be made several days ahead, it gets better the longer it sits.
