Kid Rogan Josh

One of the most interesting cookbooks to come out in the past couple of years is James Whetlor's Goat - a book of recipes for using goat meat.

Whetlor used to work with Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall at River Cottage then set up a company called Cabrito to sell the meat from billy goats who would otherwise have been immediately put down because they were not milk producers.

He saw the potential for using this sustainable and delicious type of meat and has been selling it to chefs and consumers ever since. (It's well worth reading the fascinating introduction to the book.)

This is his recipe for Rogan Josh which he says is one of his favourite curries, worth doubling up and freezing any leftovers.

Kid Rogan Josh

Serves 4

600g/1lb 5oz diced kid

75g/1/3 cup plain yoghurt

2 teaspoons chilli powder (add more if you want it hotter)

2 teaspoons unsmoked paprika

1 red onion, roughly chopped

1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger

2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

small bunch of coriander (cilantro), leaves and stalks separated

30g/2 tablespoons butter

1 cinnamon stick

5 cardamom pods

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 teaspoon coriander seeds

3 whole cloves

3 tomatoes, roughly chopped, or ½ x 400g/14oz can tomatoes

salt

Mix together the meat, yoghurt, chilli, paprika and ½ teaspoon salt, and leave to marinate for at least 1 hour, and up to 8 hours in the fridge.

Put the onion, ginger, garlic, ½ teaspoon salt and the coriander (cilantro) stalks in a small food processor and blend to a coarse paste.

Melt the butter in a frying pan, add all the whole spices and fry for 30 seconds. Add the paste and cook for 15 minutes until all the liquid has evaporated and the paste begins to stick to the bottom of the pan.

Add the meat and its marinade with the tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes to break down the tomatoes. Add 200ml/scant 1 cup water then cover and simmer for 1 hour or until the meat is tender and the sauce is rich and thick. Keep an eye on it so it doesn’t dry out, adding a little bit of water if it does.

Check the seasoning and sprinkle with the coriander leaves, roughly chopped. Serve with rice, naan and chilli and garlic chutney (the recipe for which is also in the book).

What to drink: I like a young rioja or other tempranillo with a rogan josh which is not an exceptionally hot curry though you can obviously add extra chilli powder or chilli flakes in which case I'd probably go for a South African pinotage.

Extracted from Goat: Cooking and Eating by James Whetlor (Quadrille, £20.00) Photography: Mike Lusmore. 50% of the royalties from the book go to the charity Farm Africa.

You can buy goat from the Cabrito online shop and other specialist online meat suppliers.

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