Small adventures in cooking: goat curry

Curry is a great party dish. Sat in the middle of the table in a large cauldron, you can let everyone furnish their plates with the condiments they want: mango chutney, a cooling raita, lime pickle. You get goat in most Caribbean and Indian stores but if it proves hard to come by, you can always use lamb instead.

Serves 8

*2 tsp coriander seeds
*2 tsp fennel seeds
*1 tsp cumin seeds
*2 cloves
*½ tsp cinnamon
*1.5 kg goat leg off the bone, cut into chunks
*olive oil
*2 onions, peeled and sliced
*4 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
*2 tsp hot chilli powder
*2 tsp Nigella seeds
*1 tbsp tomato purée
*500 ml chicken stock
*salt and pepper
*2 tbsp thick natural yoghurt
*2 shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
*a handful of coriander, roughly chopped

Put a dry frying pan over a medium heat and add coriander, fennel and cumin seeds, and cloves. Toast, shaking the pan every now and then, for a minute or two. Tip into a pestle and mortar and crush to a rough powder, add cinnamon and stir to combine. Put the goat meat in a bowl and coat with the rub. Cover with cling film and refrigerate until needed (ideally leave it overnight, but 30 minutes is better than nothing.) Heat a little oil in a saucepan and fry the onions for a couple of minutes until soft. Add garlic, chillies and Nigella seeds and stir for another minute before turning up the heat and adding the goat. Stir over a medium-high heat for a few minutes until the meat starts to colour.

Add tomato purée and stock, season and bring to the boil. Cover and lower heat to a minimum. Leave to cook gently for 90 minutes. Remove the lid and simmer for a further half hour until thickened.

Meanwhile, heat a couple of centimetres of oil in a small saucepan over a medium-high heat. Drop in the sliced shallot and fry for a minute until crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon and dry on kitchen paper.

Take the curry off the heat and stir through the yoghurt. Serve topped with fried shallots and coriander. I'd favour warm chapattis with lots of raita or a pilaf as an accompaniment.

Recipe from Small Adventures in Cooking by James Ramsden (£14.99, Quadrille)