How to Marinate Goat Meat Like A Punjabi

Good Meat is Good Cut and Good Marination
Meat is no Chicken, it doesn't cook in a jiffy
Good Meat is Good Cut and Good Marination
Meat is no Chicken, it doesn’t cook in a jiffy

 

Goat meat is considered by millions of people as their first choice when it comes to non-vegetarian food. Having said that Chicken scores over goat meat in terms of consumption and the most acceptable reason is goat meat is tough to cook and very hard to get right. I have been making goat meat for almost 3 decades and it comes right every time, it is tender dissolves in mouth and each layer of muscle meat peels easily. It is not chewy and doesn’t get stuck between teeth.  Many a time I have wondered what is that I do super right to make this happen. Last week I got the answer to my question. There was a family dinner and I decided to cook goat meat for 20 of us. Having never done that before I googled to find out if there is anything which i don’t know. Eureka! I got my answer, blog after blog said that the success of goat meat lies in the way it is marinated and bingo, I was doing everything which all of those blogs put together were suggesting. Here we go…

 

  1. 1 KG of Goat Shoulder (Preferred Cut for Punjabi Kadhai Meat) (Serves 4)
  2. 4 Pieces Black Cardamom (Moti/Bari Elaichi)
  3. 4 Pieces Green Cardamom (Chotti Elaichi)
  4. 4 Pieces Clove (Laung)
  5. 1 Teaspoon Turmeric (Haldi)
  6. 500 Grams Full Cream Curd
  7. 4 Green Chillies
  8. 1 Teaspoon Red Chilli Powder
  9. 1 Teaspoon Carom Seeds (Ajwain)
  10. 1 Teaspoon Cinnamon Powder
  11. 1 Teaspoon Black Whole Pepper
  12. 1 Teaspoon Coriander Seeds
  13.  ½ Teaspoon of Asafoetida (Hing)
  14. 4 Bay Leaves (Tej Pata)
  15. 1 Teaspoon of Dry Mango Powder (Amchoor)
  16. 2 Tablespoons Dry Fenugreek Leaves (Kasuri Methi)
  17. 1 Teaspoon Lime Juice
  18. 20 Grams Garlic
  19. 20 Grams Ginger
  20. 1 Piece of Nutmeg (Jaiphal)
  21. 1 Piece of Mace Flower (Javitri)

That’s a fairly long list and yes, I use them all. Essentially quantity and composition depends on how much onion, tomatoes, ghee and water would be added. My measurements are based on the quantity of meat weights equal to onions and tomatoes in equal number (1 KG Meat needs 500 Grams of Onions and 500 grams of Tomatoes)  and Desi Ghee is at 50 grams (per person) and I use 250 ML of water per person for thick gravy.

All spices are broken in a wooden hamam dasta (mortar-pestle), the intention is to break and not to make a powder hence no mixer and grinder is used. Spices are mixed with curd and whipped with fork or wooden ladle until it becomes one. Once the marinade is ready add Bay Leaves (which are not broken).

Meat is cleaned and each piece is individually immersed in the curd and spice paste. Use a stainless steel wok (tarami) utensil for the same. Cover it with a lid and place the wok in a large wok which has enough boiling water to cover the sides. No water should enter inside the wok. Keep for 1-2 hours depending on slow or medium cooking you wish to do. If you want to cook real slow keep it for two hours and if you wish to spend less time while cooking (Medium or High Flame) keep it for one hour.

Cooking time on slow flame for 1 KG of goat meat with above marinade is about 60-90 minutes. On a medium and high flame combination it is about 30-45 minutes.