Korma is a spicy curried dish of braised meat, made with fried onion paste. My favorite meat for korma is goat. Goat meat is not very popular in Western cuisine but it’s quite common in South Asian dishes. It has a very similar taste to lamb but is much more tender. This is one of Lulu’s grandma’s recipes. She taught it to my mother-in-law, who passed the recipe on to me.
Contrary to murgh makhani curry (butter chicken), the meat doesn’t require marinating time but tastes best when prepared the day before. Korma is also a lighter version of butter chicken since it contains no cream.
Korma is usually served with naan (Indian round fluffy bread made of white flour), basmati rice or some roti (flat Indian wheat bread).
1. Info for Goat Korma (Spicy Curried Braised Goat Meat)
- Cook Time: 50 mins
- Total Time: 1 hr 50 mins
- Servings: 6
- Calories: unavailable
2. Ingredients for Goat Korma (Spicy Curried Braised Goat Meat)
- 2 pounds goat meat, boneless and bone-in meat
- 1/4 cup canola oil (or any neutral oil)
- 5 black peppercorns, freshly ground
- 2 teaspoons ginger garlic paste
- 8 cardamom pods
- 1 teaspoon coriander seeds, freshly ground
- 8 cloves
- 2 dried bay leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon mace, freshly ground
- 1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds
- 1 teaspoon red chili powder
- 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 2 teaspoons paprika powder
- 3 teaspoons cumin seeds, freshly ground
- 1 tablespoon full-fat Greek yogurt
- 1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
- 1-1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1-1/2 cups fried yellow onions (about 2 onions), chopped and fried
- 1/2 teaspoon saffron threads
- 2 dried red chiles, stemmed
- 1 pinch nutmeg, freshly grated
- 2 tablespoons ghee (clarified butter), see tips
3. Directions:
- Wash the goat meat and pat it dry with paper towels.
- Dry roast the cumin seeds, cloves, bay leaves, coriander seeds, caraway seeds and black peppercorns. Grind all the spices in a spice grinder (I use a coffee mill that I use exclusively for grinding spices).
- Extract the seeds from the cardamom pods. In a mortar and pestle, grind the cardamom seeds. Crush all the nits and gather about 3/4 teaspoon cardamom powder.
- In a blender or a mini-blender if you have one, mix the onions, about 2-3 tablespoons of water so the onions blend more easily. Set aside.
- In a large deep saucepan, heat the oil. Add the ginger garlic paste, red chili powder, the freshly ground spice mix, mace powder, cardamom powder, 1 teaspoon of paprika powder and turmeric powder. As soon as it’s golden and fragrant, add the meat chunks. Stir over high heat until all the moisture from the meat has evaporated (about 5-8 minutes). Add about 1 cup of fried onion paste, the tomato sauce and the yogurt. Cook for about 5 minutes. Add about 2-1/2 to 3 cups of water. This should cover the goat meat. Bring to a full boil then lower the heat to medium-low. Cover with a dome-shaped lid to enable the steam to fall back in the saucepan. Cook for about 40 minutes, stirring often.
- Check the taste. Season with salt. It should counter-balance the sour taste of the tomato sauce. Bring to a full boil one more time, cover with the lid. Turn off the heat and let cool completely. Chill in the refrigerator overnight (if possible).
- In a mortar and pestle, grind 3/4 teaspoon of saffron threads into a fine powder.
- Reheat the goat dish on top of the stove. Add the remaining fried onion paste; it will add some sweetness to the dish. Add the saffron to the sweetened gravy. Add about 1/2 cup of water into the mortar and pestle to gather the possible remaining saffron powder. (Saffron is quite expensive, don’t waste it!). Pour the saffron liquid to the gravy.
- In a small pan, melt the ghee with the dried whole chiles. As soon as the ghee is melted, add the remaining paprika. Transfer the paprika-flavored ghee to the goat dish. Leave on very low heat for another 2 minutes.
- Serve immediately.
- I served it with some saffron and butter-flavored basmati rice.
- Bon appétit!
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