Grenada: Curry Goat with Coconut Saffron Rice

Grenada is a lush, tropical island nation in the Caribbean. Part of the famed West Indies island group, Grenada was historically nicknamed the ‘Island of Spice’ due its bountiful production of nutmeg and other valuable culinary spices. In fact, Grenadian culture is so strongly linked to nutmeg that a symbol of the spice appears on their flag of independence.

But it wasn’t always that way. Nutmeg is an Indonesian spice that was unknown to the Indigenous Amerindian people who lived, fished and farmed communally on Grenada for over 1000 years before European colonisers arrived in the 17th century with new spices and enslaved African People to forcibly establish a plantation economy. For the next hundred years or so France and England fought over who ‘owned’ the rights to Grenada’s plantations and wealth, and between them they transported many more Africa slaves to Grenada. When slavery was finally abolished in Grenada in 1838 the plantations faced such a critical labour shortage that the British brought in indentured farm-workers from India to fill the gap.

Grenada finally gained independence in 1974 and by then there was significant cross-cultural interweaving between surviving First Nation Amerindian peoples, Grenadians who identified as descendants of African slaves or Indian immigrants and Europeans who fell in love with the islands and stayed. That marriage of cultures and the embracing of spices from afar led to Grenada developing a Caribbean cuisine and culture all of its own. Centred on key spices such as nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, clove and bay leaf, Grenadian cuisine lovingly brings African, French and Indian cooking influences together with Amerindian food culture echoes. The result is a coconut-kissed cuisine that carries Grenada’s story of freedom.

our

GRENADIAN

Menu included

CURRY GOAT

and

COCONUT SAFFRON RICE

served with

Mango Chutney & Roti

CURRY GOAT

Ingredients:

· 1.2 kg goat or lamb meat, cut in large cubes about 2.5cm (leg meat cut off the bone works well for this recipe but you can use any cut you can source)

· Juice 1 fresh lime

· 3 tbs fresh grated ginger

· 4 tbs brown sugar

· 1 tsp salt for marinade (plus one more for the cooking)

· 3 tbs butter

· 4 tbs coconut oil or replace with other vegetable oil

· 2 scotch bonnet/habanero chilli, deseeded and minced (or replace with cayenne pdr to taste or for reduced heat use smoked paprika pdr)

· 5 large garlic cloves, crushed

· 2 large onions, peeled, halved and sliced longways

· Ground fresh black pepper to taste

· 4 tbs mild curry powder

· 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

· 8 cloves

· 8 cardamom pods

· 1 tbs turmeric pdr

· 2 tsp cumin seeds, ground

· 3 sprigs fresh thyme (or 3 tsp dried thyme)

· 3 Bay Leaves

· 4 tbs tomato puree (or 1 x 400gm tin of whole peeled tomatoes, crushed)

· 1 cup coconut cream

· 300 ml water if needed

· Roti bread, enough for the amount of guests

· Mango Chutney to serve on the side (can be replaced with lime pickle)

· Extra resource – culinary twine

Method:

1. Marinate the diced goat/lamb in lime juice, the crushed ginger and 1 tsp salt for 2-6 hours in the fridge stirring occasionally

2. Use culinary twine to tie the herbs - thyme and bay leaves - together and leave a long enough string to tie to the pot handle for easy extraction later

3. Heat oil and butter in a large heavy-based pot to medium, add the onions and sauté until beginning to be translucent but not brown, stirring often with a wooden spoon (about 5 minutes)

4. Now add the brown sugar and using the spoon mix the onions and sugar and cook for about 5 minutes until beginning to caramelise

5. Add the garlic, curry powder, chilli and all the other spices and sauté briefly to release the fragrance from the spices stirring with the spoon

6. Now add the goat/lamb and sauté in the spicy caramelised onions stirring constantly with the wooden spoon until the meat is browned on all sides

7. Stir in the tomato puree (or replacement) followed by the coconut cream and bring the pot to the boil stirring often

8. Once the pot is boiling stir in the extra teaspoon of salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste, pop the thyme and bay leaf parcel into the mix (tying the parcel string off on the pot handle) and turn the heat back to a low simmer

9. Simmer the uncovered pot on low for 3 hours, stirring occasionally and using a wooden spoon to scrap the bottom of the pot to gather concentrated flavours off the bottom of the pot and prevent the sauce sticking/burning. Along the way add water if needed to keep the sauce from drying out

10. When meat is tender adjust seasoning with extra salt/pepper if needed

11. Before serving, dry toast the roti in a frypan

12. Serve with the Mango Chutney or lime pickle on the side

COCONUT SAFFRON RICE

This dish is actually made with turmeric not saffron, but turmeric is called saffron in Grenada so our recipe title is respecting this culinary nuance.

Ingredients:

· 2 cups basmati rice, washed

· 2 cups coconut milk

· 2 cups water

· 1 tbs coconut oil

· 1 medium size onion, peeled and diced finely

· ¼ tsp crushed fresh ginger

· 4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

· 2 tsp turmeric pdr

· 1 shallot/spring onion/bunch chives chopped finely

· 5-6 cloves

· pinch coriander seed powder

· ½ tsp salt

· ¼ tsp cayenne pdr or crushed black pepper

· 1/8 tsp ground allspice

· 2 bay leaves – fresh or dried

· 6 cm sprig fresh rosemary

· 3 x 4 cm sprigs fresh thyme

· Extra item: cooking twine

Method:

1. begin by tying the bay leaves, fresh rosemary and thyme together with cooking twine and leaving a long string to tie to the pot handle for easy extraction of the herbs after the rice is cooked

2. Now heat the coconut oil in a medium size pot (that has a tight fitting lid which will be needed later) and gently glaze the onion in the oil stirring often with a wooden spoon until transparent but not brown (about 5 mins)

3. Keeping the heat low/medium stir in the garlic, ginger and turmeric pdr with the wooden spoon and sauté for a couple of minutes without browning

4. Stir in the chopped shallots, cloves, coriander seed powder, salt, pepper and allspice them sauté a little bit

5. Next add in the washed basmati rice and mix well until the rice is coated with the turmeric mixture

6. Add in the coconut milk and water, turn up the heat and bring the rice to the boil stirring often with the wooden spoon and scraping the bottom of the pot to make sure sauce is mixed in and the rice doesn’t stick

7. Once the rice is boiling add the fresh herb bundle, tie the end of the string to the pot handle, then pop the pot lid on and turn the heat back to low (from this point don’t take the lid off until you are ready to serve the dish)

8. Cook on low for 10 minutes then switch the heat off and let the covered pot rest on the cooling element for 10 minutes

9. When ready to serve pull the fresh herb bundle out and discard it, then fluff the rice with a fork

These are all Q-ZINE original recipes informed by conversations with people from the Caribbean and multiple web sources including but not limited to:

https://www.carnival.com/awaywego/travel/caribbean/top-13-things-to-eat-in-grenada

https://www.grenadaexplorer.com/Island_Guide/GrenadaBlog/grenada-food-recipes.html

https://www.fieryfoodscentral.com/recipe/grenadian-style-curried-goat/

https://spiceislandcooking.com/index.php/2021/07/24/tumeric-rice/