How To Marinate Goat Meat (Explained!)

There are many ways to cook a cut of goat, but one thing you should definitely consider doing is marinating it.

It’s going to really make the flavors pop, and you’ll appreciate your goat cut even more.

That said, there are many ways to marinate goat meat, as goat is eaten by many vastly different cultures throughout the world.

You have a lot of different options for how to marinate goat meat.

Today, we’re going to give you a broad breakdown of the process and teach you how to marinate goat meat in a Punjabi style.

But the same essential principles remain however you decide to do it, and whatever ingredients you choose to include.

So, let’s begin.

Ingredients

Firstly, gather up your ingredients.

For our particular Punjabi-style marinated goat meat, you’ll need a good variety of spices and flavors.

This recipe, firstly, will do for about a kilo of goat meat.

For the curry paste, you’ll want:

• 4 pieces of black cardamom
• 4 pieces of green cardamom
• 4 pieces of clove
• 1 teaspoon of turmeric
• 500 grams of full cream curd
• 4 green chillies
• 1 teaspoon of red chili powder
• 1 teaspoon carom seeds
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
• 1 teaspoon black whole pepper
• 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
• Half teaspoon of asafoetida
• 4 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon dry mango powder
• 2 tablespoons dry fenugreek leaves
• 1 teaspoon lime juice
• 20 grams garlic
• 20 grams ginger
• 1 piece of nutmeg
• 1 piece of mace flower

Next, you’ll need to break these spices up.

 

Break spices up

Now, while a lot of the spices we’ve listed here are available in stores in powder form, we recommend breaking them up yourself with a pestle and mortar.

It’s a bit of work, but the flavor will be immeasurably better this way.

You’ll want to break them up but not make a powder, so a wooden mortar pestle (a Hamam Dasta) is best.

If you can’t get your hands on one, though, an ordinary mortar will do fine, just make sure not to grind it too finely.

If you can’t find the spices whole, then ground versions from jars will do just fine.

But do your best to get as much whole spice as you can.

 

Mix spices with curd

Once your spices are broken up, you’ll then take your full cream curd and whip all of the spices together with a wooden ladle or a fork.

Once it’s fully mixed up, add your bay leaves—which you do not need to break up.

Set this aside for now.

 

Clean meat

Once your marinade is ready, you’ll want to clean the goat meat.

Use a sharp knife to remove any residual caul from the meat.

Then, rinse it under cold water.

You can also use whole milk to cover the meat and reduce the scent, but this is up to you.

It can have an effect on the flavor.

You can also use a mixture of vinegar and water to scrub down the meat.

After doing this, let it sit in the fridge for around an hour.

Cleaning meat isn’t always recommended due to cross-contamination, and your butcher may well have thoroughly cleaned the meat themselves.

Ask them about this, though, and if you are unsure, be sure to only clean the meat somewhere where cross-contamination won’t be a problem.

 

Immerse in curd and spice paste

Once your meat is clean and your spice paste is ready, it’s time to immerse the meat in the paste.

Depending on how much you have, be sure to get every piece fully immersed in the marinade.

Do this in a stainless-steel wok.

Once the meat is fully covered in the marinade, take the cover that wok with a lid, and place it inside a larger container.

Make sure there is enough boiling water in the larger container to cover the outsides of the interior wok, and that no water actually enters the smaller wok.

 

Marinate

Now, it’s time for your goat meat to actually marinate.

How long you leave it here really depends on personal tastes, but at the very least it should be an hour.

For medium to slow cooking, 1-2 hours is ideal. But you can cook it even more slowly, and let it marinate for 3-4 hours.

But 1 hour is fine for a medium or high flame, and 2 hours for a slower cook.

Either way, the meat is now ready to cook.

 

Cook

On a slow flame, cooking a kilo of goat meat will take 60-90 minutes.

Check the consistency of the meat, and that it is cooked through before you remove it from the heat.

If you are using a higher or medium flame, it can take as little as 30-45 minutes.

Generally, the slower you cook it, the more time your flavors will have to get to know each other.

Experimenting with things, but slow is generally the best way to get the best results.

 

And there you have it—Punjabi marinated goat meat!

As I said, the process is essentially the same, whatever style of spices you end up going for.

This Punjabi recipe is really good, though, and one of the best.

Just make sure to keep the meat clean, and that you let it sit for the right amount of time.

The biggest problem with marinating meat is impatience!