Jamaican Curry

A couple of years ago I spent 6 weeks in Kingston and travelling around the fabulous island that is Jamaica. I loved the country, and wasn't only taken aback by the incredible culture of music, dance, sport, art and a fair amount of marijuana, but also the tastes and smells of the country. Although not having a huge amount of variety on the menus in the shacks that line the roads, you could be guaranteed that what was on the blackboard that day would be something different and truly amazing.

I loved the Jamaican curries and this is just my interpretation of the flavours and smells i can remember. Allspice seems to be the taste of the Caribbean, so don't try and substitute it 

I decided to write this at this time to celebrate the West Indies cricket team in England, and England winning the recent test series.

Any meat (or a selection of decent root vegetables) would be fine in this , but i used some beef stewing steak (Jamaican's would use goat).

Jamaican Curry

1 Large knob of ginger - match-sticked

2-3 Scotch bonnet chillies - sliced

2-3 Cloves of garlic - smashed

2 Onions - chopped up

1 tablespoon of tomato paste

All spice - 2 heaped tablespoons

Cumin - 1 tablespoon

3 potatoes - large cubes

400g of stewing beef/lamb/mutton/pork/goat

Pint glass of beef/lamb stock

Half a tin of coconut milk

Again another fantastically simple dish to make.

In a very hot saucepan brown off the meat in some vegetable oil and then turn down the heat and add the onion, ginger, chillies, and garlic and cook until the onions are soft. Add the dried spices and tomato paste and cook for about 30sec to a minute.

Add the potatoes and stir into all the flavour for a minute or two. Add the stock and cook for at least an hour on a low heat. When the meat is tender add the coconut milk and cook for another 20-30 minutes.

Serve with some Rice and pea's (which funnily enough actually contains, not peas, but kidney beans) and a refreshing glass of Ting, Ginger beer, Red stripe, or rum and any of the above.

Enjoy it.

@ahungryman1