5 Simple, Adaptable Goat Meat Dishes the Whole Family will Enjoy

Foood! There are simply no words to describe the heavenly taste of a delicious meal you spent hours preparing. Side note, I am truly baffled by the fact that it takes 2-3 hours to prepare a meal and all of 5 minutes to devour it. That should definitely be one of the wonders of the world.

Anyway, I embarked on a #YearofDeliciousness journey in 2017, to experiment with as many different recipes as I could in different food groups. It got so popular during the year that people began sending me photos of meals they prepared, asking if those meals would make it into the #yearofdeliciousness album. I said yes of course, because I am no Debbie Downer.

For this project, when making the selection of meals to prepare, meat won (of course) particularly goat meat. I quickly learnt that it has a unique smell, especially when you’re boiling it, doesn’t it? Guess that’s how you are sure that it’s goat meat, right?

I am going to share with you some of my favourite recipes used to prepare this meat:

1. Dry fry (cooked in a sufuria over a gas cooker):

I enjoy cooking goat meat A LOT! Especially because I found a meat supplier who delivers the most tender kind of meat- yummers for my tummers! This is how I prepare my dry fry:

• I always boil my meat before frying it ensuring that I have added salt, pepper and garlic – best natural spice ever.
• Once it’s boiled, I fry it with onions, green pepper and coriander (dhania). No tomatoes for this one, it’s super delicious.

2. Wet fry (cooked in a sufuria over a gas cooker):

I prepare this very similar to the first recipe, only this time, I add tomatoes and tomato paste, ginger and water to give it that stew feel. This is how I prepare my wet fry:

• As mentioned, I always boil my meat before frying it ensuring that I have added salt, pepper and garlic – best natural spice ever.
• Once it’s boiled, I fry it with onions, tomatoes, tomato paste, green pepper and coriander (dhania). I add in a little water before adding coriander to give it that soup needed to make it “wet fry”.
• If you like chillies, this is a great meal to toss those in.

3. Pan seared/Grilled (cooked on a pan over a gas cooker or a charcoal stove):

Over the course of my food experiments during the #yearofdeliciousness, I discovered the joys of pan searing goat meat. I don’t own an oven, so I had to get creative with different ways to make this type of meat. My advice would be to pan sear your meat in steak like strips similar to those served in restaurants. My go to methods are:

• Marinate the meat overnight or over your preferred duration of time – I’d say give it a minimum of 2 hours to give the meat a chance to absorb the flavour.
• The marinade will consist of: salt, pepper, garlic, oregano or rosemary, cumin, paprika, lemon juice and oil.

There are two ways to pan sear the meat once you are done marinating:

• Wrap the meat in aluminium foil and place it on your hot pan (Note: do not oil the pan if you choose this method and check constantly to ensure the meat does not stick to the foil and burn. Oiling the foil will help with this)
• Place the meat on a pan with a little oil drizzled to prevent stickiness – use a non stick pan for this and cook over medium heat to your likeness. If you own a griddle, do not use oil on it and grill the meat over high heat, turning it based on how you like your meat done.

4. Boiling/Simmering slow cooking it to perfection (best if made on a jiko eg. Jikokoa):

There are times I prefer a simple meal and this is usually the best method to make a simple meal. I do it in two ways:

• Marinate the meat in salt, pepper and garlic then boil it till it becomes tender enough to eat.
• Simmer the meat over low heat with a little water to prevent it from sticking to the saucepan.
• Cut large chunks of onion, tomatoes and green pepper and add it to the meat for flavour and sauce.
• Super simple method and an extremely delicious meal to have on a cold night. 

5. Goat sandwich (cooked on a pan over a gas cooker):

This type of meat can be very tender if you have the right kind of butcher. Once boiled and shredded, you can use it to make a delicious meat sandwich. I’d recommend pan toasting your bread, with butter applied on both sides, as opposed to using a sandwich maker. It gives the bread a certain crunch that you may miss from the sandwich maker.

The fillings I always go for are: meat, tomatoes, cheese if it’s available, sweet chilli sauce, ketchup and the best ingredient of all time – AVOCADO!

I hope these have been some helpful tips on how you can prepare your goat meat, if you are a fan, like I am. My favourite recipe from all the methods mentioned, is “Dry Fry”. I have perfected making this dish during this year.  How do you prepare yours? I’d love to learn new recipes to add to my #YearOfDeliciousness.

Editor’s Tip:

• For working mums who may be busy with their kids, the boiling/simmering method is probably the best bet. It’s simple, quick and most importantly, delicious.
• If you would like some brownie points from your family this festive season gift your mother, grandmother or mother-in-law one of the amazing Jiko Safi la Kisasa from Upishi Digi for Christmas. Thank us Later!