Curried Goat Dhal and Rice

GOAT

Ingredients:

2 pounds goat meat, cut into 1-2 inch pieces
1 large onion, chopped
6 tablespoons green seasoning
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons salt and freshly ground black pepper
Hot pepper, to taste
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3-4 teaspoons curry powder
1-2 teaspoons ground masala
6 thyme sprigs
6 leaves cilantro (“bandhania”), chopped
½ teaspoon ground roasted cumin (geera)

Directions:

1. Cut goat into 1-2 inch pieces, or to your preference. Soak with the juice of ½ a lemon or lime. Then rinse several times with water; rubbing the meat with your fingers to remove any slime. Drain.
2. Season goat meat with the green seasoning, onion, garlic, hot pepper, salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cover and place in refrigerator to marinate up to 24 hours.
3. Make curry mixture: In a small bowl mix curry powders, 1 tablespoon green seasoning and 3 tablespoons water. Set aside.
4. Heat oil in medium heavy bottomed pot(iron pot). Add reserved onion slices (and hot pepper if using) and cook until the edges are brown. Add curry mixture and cook 3-5 minutes until grainy and fragrant.
5. Add goat meat (reserve any liquid from the bowl), thyme sprigs and turn to coat with curry. Cook on high heat for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Cover, lower heat to medium-low and cook until it starts to stick to pan and all the liquid has evaporated(takes about 20 minutes), cook one minute more, stirring constantly, to develop some serious flavor. This is a good time to test for salt. Add more if needed.
6. Add reserved marinating liquid and 4 cups of water (or enough to cover the meat), bring to boil, reduce heat to gentle simmer and cook 1-2 more hours–stirring every 15 minutes or so–until the meat is tender and the sauce has thickened. If the liquid evaporates and the meat is still not tender enough for you, add about a cup more water and continue cooking until your desired tenderness is achieved.
7. Before taking off the heat, stir in chopped cilantro and cumin powder.
8. Remove thyme sprigs and serve over rice and dhal. Enjoy!!

DHAL

Ingredients:

2 cups Split Peas (yellow)
4 cloves garlic
salt to taste (about 3/4 teaspoon)
3/4 teaspoon Turmeric
7 cups of water
2-3 tablespoon oil
1/2 small onion sliced thin
1/4 hot pepper
Dash fresh ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Wash the split peas by pouring water into a bowl of water and massage between your fingers.
2. Bring the 7 cups of water to boil
3. Drain the water from the dhal and add the hot pepper, slices of onions and 2 cloves of garlic (crushed).
4. As the water comes to a boil, pour in everything from the bowl and bring back to a boil. Then add the salt, black pepper and turmeric to the pot.
5. Reduce to a very gentle simmer and place a lid on the pot (a bit ajar).  Allow this to cook on very low for about 1.5 hrs or until the peas are tender and are melting away.
6. After the peas are soft and start to melt or lose its shape, you now need to break them down to a thick soup like consistency using a whisk or swizzle stick.
7. After you’ve whisked the now cooked dhal, it’s time to “chunkay” (the process of adding heated oil infused with cooked garlic). In a small frying pan, put the oil and allow to heat, then add thin slices of the 2 remaining cloves of garlic. To get the true “chunkay” flavour, allow the garlic to go golden to dark brown. Then with caution, pour the infused oil on the cooked dhal.

Some tips…

1. When adding the heated oil to the pot with the dhal, stand a bit back to avoid any burns from splashing hot oil.
2. To cut back on cooking time, feel free to boil the dhal in a pressure cooker. It may take about 15 minutes or until the peas are tender and falling apart. Then chunkay as mentioned above.
3. If you started cooking on a large burner, feel free to move to a small burner where you can really get the heat low to allow the split peas to simmer and get tender without drying up all the liquid.
4. If you do like me and make a large batch to freeze. When you reheat, put a few tablespoons of water in the pot first to prevent it from going overly thick when it’s heat through.