How do I make a basic goat/mutton curry with rice and peas?

Question

Ok, so the girl from over the road who has come fresh over from Jamaica where she lived all her life gave me a recipe recently..but boy was it salty!!! It was (as she told me) 5 pound (in money) of mutton, chicken seasoning, meat seasoning, flavouring (which is monosodium glutomate to the uninformed), curry powder, scallion, onion, fresh thyme, a bit of garlic....then basically, she said wash the meat, use about a tablespoon each of the seasoning and then half a packet of the curry .... all of which the main ingredient is SALT..mix with all the other stuff, marinade meat overnight then cook in a little oil adding small amounts of water for about 2 hours! Meat was tender but way way to salty...but it smelled so goood!!The rice an peas was sticky and tasteless...cream coconut, kidney beans, thyme, scallion, whole bell pepper and brown rice...oh and a pinch of sugar...where did I go wrong?? Was it how I cooked it? HELP PLEASE

Answer 1

Why don't you ask her to come over and help you to cook it. I'm sure you can then see what, if anything, you did wrong.

The rice is going to be more difficult than the curry-goat. When I do my rice I wash it first then bring it rapidly to the boil, drain it and wash it again. Then I let it come back to the boil very slowly. You need to add your cream of coconut in at this point and the beans etc, stir it well then once it starts to boil, cover it with a lid and turn the heat right down, so it simmers very slowly.

Answer 2

All that seasoning and flavouring is incorrect. The key ingredient is a Jamaican spice called allspice. I have shown a reasonable recipe below.

For expertise on Caribbean cooking, look for any book by Elisabeth Lambert Ortiz. she's an expert on international cuisine, particularly Caribbean and Latin American. I use her Penguin Book "Caribbean Cooking" - it has recipes from all the islands: English, French and Spanish-speaking. I learnt to cook in my 40s with this book - it's so easy to follow.

Answer 3

I watched the Gorden Ramsey cook shows on TV last month and they cooked goat, slow roasted and it tasted to them better then lamb. (more gamey?)
It would just be hard for my children to get their heads around eating billy goat gruff.
They will not touch Donald or Bugs either.

Answer 4

same way you cook beef or lamb curry there is no difference.