Women Who Stare At (and cook) Goats Pt 2

When I set out to prepare a goat biryani feast for my husbands' combo birthday party/New Years dinner, I decided to try a few things I don't usually serve with a biryani.

A biryani is a meal in itself and needs very little embellishment, however I wanted to serve a variety of dishes from all over the Indian map so that those who didn't want goat would have other choices.
Usually I do either a vegetarian menu or a meat menu with vegetarian options. For this particular meal I wanted all the options. I wanted this dinner fully loaded. So I prepared a Kerala shrimp dish in coconut milk, hot and spicy.







I decided to do pureed vegetables cooked with a bit of dal Punjabi style, a dish I've made frequently to serve with biryani.


I opened a jar of homemade mango chutney...


and also served a cauliflower cooked with a braised tomato sauce.


I knew I needed a raita to cool things down, so I made one North Indian style, got festive and tossed in some boondi (delicious little fried chick pea batter balls). Boondi are the gram flour equivalent of champagne bubbles when it comes to raita and I figured that my raita just wouldn't be appropriately festive without them.


I also served a South Indian Cabbage poriyal with coconut...


a raw Gujarati carrot salad...

and of course there were chapatti. Can't have a meal without chapatti.


As I stood at the sink shelling and de-veining shrimp I thought "am I nuts??"
Would all of this get eaten? Well, it did. There was a bit of leftovers for Alan and me the next day but by that time we weren't up for eating all that much anyway. Having thoroughly stuffed ourselves the night before, we decided to take a stroll with The Wolf.


Is that a Goat I see??? Is it for me?
When there didn't seem to be any loose goats for raw biryani up on our hill, we decided to go to town and hit my favorite cookware spots.

Patsy loves to go with me to Robins Nest Cookware here in Sonoma.


I go there for all the great supplies and equipment she goes there for slightly different reasons.


Patsy doesn't care about cooking equipment, she cares about the product that results from cooking equipment, and that might land on the floor near her if she's having a really really good day.
Perhaps a Goose Vindaloo next time? Are they edible?

And since there were lots of tourists in town over the Holiday, there were the expected meet and greets. The Wolf is a one dog welcoming committee.

So now that the holidays are over I can get back to my usual cooking. As to New Years 'Resolutions I'd like to try a Green Jackfruit curry, collect more clay pots,and hopefully make it over to India by years end. The Wolf is making her own New Years Resolution. She wants me to drop more things on the floor for her.

Women Who Stare At (and cook) Goats! Pt 1

T.S.Eliot said "April is the cruellest month". Around our house it's December. But I'd have to change cruellest to partyingest. Is that even a word?? My husbands' birthday is on the 29th of December, our anniversary is on the 9th, of course there is also Christmas Eve, Christmas, Chanukkah, and New Years Eve. All in the same month. Which is why I enter January totally on overload.
This year I decided to combine New Years Eve and Alans' birthday with a feast of goat.



The goal here was to kill two birds with one stone. That is, have one celebration for two events. Every other year we do it this way. Last year we went out with friends to the late seating at a very good restaurant here in Sonoma. It was a great meal but when we looked around and saw we were the last ones at table and our server brought us our coffee with her coat on at 11:30, we took the hint and everyone went back to our house to ring in the New Year. They don't call this town Slowcoma for nothing. This year we decided to stay in and cook.
The meal was built around my jonesing to get my mitts on the goat in my freezer and cook it in an Egyptian clay bram that I'd been given by Alan as a birthday gift.
Paula Wolfert author of Mediterranean Claypot Cooking really got me interested in doing my Indian food in clay, and this year I've accumulated quite a collection of pots, some I bought, some I had but had never really used, some were given me by Paula.
Coincidentally, this year saw the opening of Bram Cookware here in Sonoma that I've got a link to here my blog. They have a great website and anything can be ordered online. Alan gave me a large traditional Egyptian Bram so that I could do a Biryani in it.
I built my dinner around that dish.
Normally when I've cooked a Biryani, that's a feast in itself. Very few extras are needed. I usually just offer a chutney, a vegetable dish (cauliflower with ginger and cilantro) and chapattis. But this was going to be special so I was going to do more dishes, and since there were people who weren't used to Indian food and some who had just returned from India and like things hot, I felt I should offer a range of dishes from north to south. Which is what I did. I started cooking a couple of days before the event.
I pan roasted and hand ground my spices then added them to the other ingredients for marinating in my food processor.



Onions were thinly sliced in half rings and fried up with smokey black cardamom and bay leaves.



One third of the onions were set aside for a later topping. The onion oil and the black cardamom and bay leaves were set aside for later.

Meanwhile the Wolf was on the look out for any stray bits that might fall her way. She was out of luck.



The remaining fried onions were then blended with the spiced yogurt mixture.


And I then submerged my goat into the spicy goodness to get a much deserved rest.


Nighty night Goatie pie!

Once this part is done, ones time is ones own. The goat will not need you for quite a while as it is unlaxing in an aromatic blend of herbs and spices. Just leave it alone.
I had other dishes to prepare, but since this is a goat-centric post I'll stick with that.
Once the goat had thoroughly marinated, it was gently simmered in the marinade. When it was cooked through, I set it aside then cooked down the remaining marinade to a thick paste. All of that marinade managed to cook down to about 10 Tbs of paste.
Meanwhile I took 13 cups of water and 3 tsp of salt and when it came to a rolling boil I added in 2 cups of basmati rice. Once the water came to a boil again, I let the rice cook for 5 MINUTES ONLY then immediately drained it in a strainer. The reason for that is the rice is going to cook slowly in the clay pot on top of the goat mixture.
When the rice was drained, I poured it on top of the goat and marinade paste mixture in my clay pot.
I had pan roasted 2 tsp of saffron, crumbled it, then soaked it in 2 Tbs of warm milk. I drizzled this mixture on top of the rice, then placed my 4 black cardamom pods and 2 bay leaves on top of the rice and sealed the clay pot tightly with foil and then a heavy lid on top of that to make sure it was sealed thoroughly.


Traditionally the clay pots were sealed with a lid and a rim of dough around the edge making it air tight. This is Dum style cooking. I was advised that I might have trouble breaking the dough without damaging the clay, so I opted for the foil alternative.
I popped my clay bram into a pre-heated 300 degree oven to cook for an hour. Meanwhile, other dishes were finished and prepared.
While the Bram was cooking in the oven, I took the onion/cardamom oil I'd saved and fried 2 Tbs of sultana raisins and 2 Tbs of slivered blanched almonds.



Finally it was time for the goat to emerge from the clay pot!! I unsealed the bram



and unmolded the whole thing onto a platter.

I scattered the remaining fried onions, raisins and almonds across the top


and set it on the table.


Soups on!!

Whew! Just writing that I feel as though I'd done it all over again. I'll be getting back to the rest of the feast but thought I should start with the piece de resistance. Oh, than there was cake too!

Sluggish With Goat Meat!! Plus We Get To The Bottom Of the Power Outtage.

We finally got to the bottom of what knocked out the power the other night. A curious squirrel who alas is no longer with us went exploring the power grid. How did we find out? The front page of our local paper. This is what passes for news here in Sonoma. Brunswick stew anyone??
Meanwhile I am still cleaning up after the evenings revels. My Lo-vah is helping me. We are both rather sluggish with goat meat as the feast ended close to 2 a.m. Perhaps next year we will be renting a small cripsona on Hydra, who knows? But since my husband is a Capricorn, goat seemed to be a fitting way to celebrate his birthday. So as the dishwasher merrily hums away, (grinds is more like it) and my Indian dinnerware Thalis sit waiting to be hand washed, we shall take the wolf (who was very well behaved last night btw)

for a "lovers' walk" to try and move some of this biryani off of my hips. I couldn't resist posting the following fabulous tribute to goat meat. There is likely a short ad at the beginning but if you've never seen it, stick around as it's so worth it.



There will be goat posts following. As for the present, here are some photos of the goat on its' way to perfection.


I found myself in the awkward position of a cross between a butcher and a chiropractor as I worked with the haunch.


Here I am wearing butchering gloves, which I finally purchased about a year ago after cutting myself to pieces numerous times. Rare in cooking should not include the chefs' hands.



There were many dishes prepared and served and a full accounting is going to be posted..most likely tomorrow, as right now I can do no more than groan and pat my belly. Happy New Year to you all!

The Great Goat Project

My husbands' birthday is this week and I am planning a feast of goat for him. To be precise a goat biryani cooked in clay. The goat shoulder has been removed from my freezer and is now relaxing in the fridge, defrosting so that it might be marinated on Wednesday to be served to him on Thursday along with all the appropriate trappings. My blog this week will probably have quite a bit of goat about it so tag along. I've cooked many things but never goat.