You need to allow at least six hours to prepare a good goat curry!
This goat curry is so good!
Why are so many people afraid of goat meat? I just don’t get it! If you are, then I hope you will trust me and give this goat curry a try. If you like lamb curry, then you will love goat curry if it is cooked long and slow.
Goat meat is quite tough but if you cook it for a long time it will become very tender and all the tremendous flavour in the sauce will make it all worth the wait.
Goat Paya is a Pakistani curry. I’ve introduced a few ingredients such as coriander and curry leaves which are used more in Southern Indian cookery but they work well here. There’s no point leaving great herbs out for the sake of authenticity!
Paya is usually made with goat or mutton trotters. I used free range goat meat on the bone from Farmer’s Choice. It was fantastic. If you’re in the UK, they can deliver all sorts of free range meat to your door.
I love serving this recipe with homemade naans. Goat curry and hot naans… you will have a hard time finding a nicer meal!
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How To Make Goat Paya - A Tasty Pakistani Goat Curry
Ingredients
- Serves 4
- 1000g goat meat on the bone
- 2 tablespoons ghee or olive oil
- 20 curry leaves (optional)
- 4 black cardamom pods (or 8 green)
- 3 large onions finely chopped
- 3 tomatoes finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon garlic puree
- 1 tablespoon ginger puree (This is simply ginger or garlic blended with a little water to a paste.)
- 1 1/2 tablespoon garam masala
- 1 teaspoon red chilli powder
- 1 tablespoon cumin powder
- 3 cassia bark bay leaves or 1 inch piece of cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 100ml tomato paste
- 1 bunch finely chopped coriander
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat the ghee or oil in a large pan with a lid.
- When hot, throw in the curry leaves and cardamom pods and let them sizzle for about 30 seconds.
- Dump in the chopped onions and let them fry for about 15 minutes. Stir continuously so that the onions caramelise nicely. You do not want them to get two dark.
- Now add the chopped tomatoes and continue frying and stirring for another five minutes.
- Add the ginger and garlic purees and stir to combine.
- The vegetables should now begin to break down slightly.
- Add the rest of the spices and the tomato puree and continue stirring for another 2 minutes.
- In goes the goat meat. Mix it all up allowing it to brown slightly while coating it with the vegetable mixture.
- All you need to do now is cover the meat with water, place a lid on the pan and place in in a low oven (about 150c) or turn down your stove to its lowest setting.
- The goat curry needs to cook slowly for about 5 hours until the meat just falls off the bone and is very tender.
- TO SERVE
- Stir in the chopped coriander and check for seasoning. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and serve over rice or with homemade naans.
I would like to thank Farmer’s Choice for supplying the goat meat free of charge for me to try in this recipe! The goat curry is presented in a karahi supplied by Indian Tiffin.
Yaseen
Saturday 7th of January 2023
Coriander and bay leaves are widely used in curries in Pakistan region.
Dennis
Sunday 12th of September 2021
Hi Dan, I make tropical curry goat with rice and peas from 1kg bone in and 500g cubed goat meat from international supermarket and its pretty outstanding! Going to make the next one a Dan special Goat Paya following this recipe using the same combination looks fantastic, can’t wait.
Dan Toombs
Tuesday 14th of September 2021
Sounds great, thanks very much. Let me know how it goes. Dan
Zulfiqar shah
Tuesday 28th of November 2017
Hi Dan I made the lamb trotters exactly the way you instructed on your recipe Turned out pretty much perfect I've had them at restaurant but nothing like homemade lamb trotters The only issue was onions didn't melt into the sauce You see them in the sauce What would you recommend Thank you so much for a great recipe You've made it simple
Dan Toombs
Monday 5th of February 2018
Hi Zulfiqar
Thank you very much. To get those onions to melt into the sauce, cook them for longer in the oil. You can also add a pinch of salt which helps release the moisture from the onions and they break down faster.
Thanks, Dan
Rajesh
Tuesday 4th of July 2017
Great recipe ...very happy to see a British guy come up with one of the most authentic recipes from the Indian sub-continent ...small correction though - Paya origin is not just Pakistan(Lahore) but also Hyderabad and Lucknow (India). It was introduced by the Muslim chefs under the Mughal and Nizam empires. Coming from Hyderabad - this dish is very close to my heart along with Biryani and Haleem.
But nevertheless a great recipe and kudos to your effort in writing these blogs
Also, try pressure cooking the goat meat on medium heat until 4-5 whistles after which reduce the heat and let it cook it for 10-15 mins on low heat and then switch it off and wait until all the pressure is slowly released- it would probably take 45-60 mins to cook this way and you will still retain all the juicy flavors! Try adding in a bit of tamarind pulp or lemon juice - and the sourness takes this dish to a different level (purely my opinion though)
Cheers and thanks a lot for posting this!
Dan Toombs
Saturday 8th of July 2017
Hi Rajesh
Thank you very much for getting in touch and for all your info and tips. Much appreciated. I'm going to try your recommendations. :-)
Dan
Hina Khan
Tuesday 29th of September 2015
Hi Dan I want to make some different Trotters though I really want to stick with authentic taste of Indo-Pak version. I read your recipe & believe me it seemed something different I really searching for. Sure will try this and also give you my actual feedback :) (This one is for your effort).Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Dan Toombs
Sunday 4th of October 2015
Thank you Hina. I hope you get a chance to try it. You can't beat a good goat curry. :-)
Dan