WanderSups: Gran's curry goat for carnival season

“My most cherished memories are of sitting on her stoop in Notting Hill and watching the carnival go by. . .” For Hannah Gregory, there’s only one dish on the menu for August: her Jamaican-born Gran’s curry goat, served with rice and peas (and a wash tub of rum punch)

Growing up, August in my family meant one thing - carnival! Notting Hill Carnival to be exact. But before we get into the nitty gritty, let me share the backstory.

This column is for one of the most iconic women I know: my Gran. Moving from Jamaica to London in the early 50s to pursue a career in acting, she has more stories to tell than the New York Public library. Being the first Black woman to kiss a White man on national TV, she experienced racism that she thought couldn’t be topped - that was until she had to go and bail my mother out of prison (another story for another time) with my Caucasian grandfather in South Africa during the height of apartheid. Family members pleaded with her not to go, to w

Allegedly, when her and Gramps moved to Jersey she was the only person of colour on the island - she loved this, draping herself in furs and diamonds, always ensuring all eyes were on her. The marriage didn’t last - too many eyes apparently. Gran moved back to London where her writing and acting career took off and Notting Hill became her home.

Her 90’s TV fame saw her become a bit of a London socialite; she was bezzie mates with Peter Stringfellow (who coincidentally hosted my 18th birthday party - I see the problems with this now but back then I thought I was the coolest kid in town). We lunched at Groucho, Caprice and The Ivy (before it became a chain and back when you would end up singing along to the piano that was being played by whichever West End star had just rolled in).

She married another actor, everything was terribly ‘lovehy, DAHling’ and for a wide-eyed young teenager, it was exhilarating and I was besotted with her. I even forgive her for the time she left me in my moses basket under the piano at Ronnie Scott’s - we all make mistakes.

We are now on marriage-I’ve-lost-count, but I knew this one was going to stick as she insisted I took her to my tattooist so she could get this husband’s name tattooed on her bottom. She will never tell her age, but it’s easy enough to find on the internet - let’s just say, nearing 90 and still insisting on going to The Ritz every Wednesday for Champagne and Blackjack ain’t half bad. By that math, the aforementioned tattoo took place around the age of 75 - as I said. . . ICONIC.

But even with all the glitz and the glamour, my most cherished memories are those sitting on her stoop in Notting Hill and watching the carnival go by. From as young as I can remember, every August Bank Holiday was spent doing just this - vats of curry goat perched on a fold-out table, ladelled into paper bowls to not only family and friends but any passers by that wanted a taste.

To accompany the curry there were wash tubs, and I mean wash tubs, of rum punch. This stuff started potent but as the day went on and Gran got more and more ‘loose’, generous glugs of rum were replaced with whole bottles and before you knew it, most guests were putting on their own carnival.

Despite her nights at The Ritz, Gran is slowing down a bit and doesn’t ‘do’ carnival anymore, but wherever we are, together or apart, you can be sure every member of the family will be dining on curry goat, using Gran’s recipe because nothing else will do. It’s just the way it is.

Gran’s Curry Goat

Serves: 4

This is a long cook as we want to get the meat meltingly soft. Marinade the goat overnight and then start the curry in the morning. If you cook it, leave it to cool and then reheat, only good things can happen.

What you need:

1kg goat shoulder or leg, boneless and cut into chunks

½ lime juice

2 tablespoons curry powder

2 tablespoons ground cumin

1 tablespoon ground coriander

6 tablespoons veg oil

500ml veg stock

50g creamed coconut

3 garlic cloves crushed

3 sprigs of thyme

3 bay leaves

1 small onion, finely chopped

2cm piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped

2 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons sugar

1 Scotch Bonnet chilli chopped, seeds in or out depending on your spice levels.

10 allspice berries

½ red pepper, deseeded and cubed

½ green pepper, deseeded and cubed

2 spring onions, green part only, finely sliced

How you do it:

Place the chunks of goat meat in a bowl. Cover in the lime juice. Add 1 tablespoon of curry powder, 1 tablespoon of cumin and ½ tablespoon of ground coriander; using your hands, ensure all the meat is covered. Leave to marinate in the fridge overnight or for a minimum of four hours.

Heat a deep saucepan over medium and add the oil. Add the remaining curry powder, cumin and coriander and cook for a minute. Add 100ml of water to create a paste.

Add the oil and turn the heat up - you want the pan hot hot hot when the meat is added.

Add the goat and turn the meat to make sure all of it is covered in the curry paste.

Cover with a lid and turn the heat to low, allowing the meat to simmer in the flavoured oil for 45 minutes. Check every so often to ensure it is not getting scorched on the bottom.

After 45 minutes add half the veg stock and bring to the boil, cover and reduce to a simmer for 45 minutes.

After the 45 minutes is up, repeat the process with the remaining veg stock.

Add the creamed coconut, garlic, thyme, bay, onion, ginger sugar, salt, chilli, all spice and peppers and stir it all about - there should be enough liquid that everything is submerged, but if you need a little more add some water. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down again and simmer for around two hours, topping up with water if it begins to look dry.

The meat should be soft and tender - if it isn't, just keep it ticking a little longer.

Serve with rice and peas and a sprinkling of the chopped spring onions.

Rice & Peas

What you need :

500g white rice

150g dried kidney beans, soaked overnight, water reserved

1 tablespoon veg oil

1 green pepper - finely diced

⅔ cup of coconut milk

2 bay leaves

3 sprigs of thyme

2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

How you do it :

Boil the beans in fresh water (keeping the bean soaking water) for 20 minutes - you want to part-cook them as they will finish in the rice.

Wash your rice to remove the starch.

Add the veg oil to a hot pan with the diced pepper.

Place the coconut milk, thyme, bay, salt, sugar and beans in a pan. Add 500ml of the reserved bean juice (if you don’t have enough - make it up with water) and bring to a boil.

When boiling add the rice and diced pepper.

Turn to a low simmer, cover and cook for 25 minutes or until all the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is tender.

Rum Punch

This recipe will serve 4 - if you want to do Gran’s method of filling wash tubs, scale accordingly.

What you need :

250ml white rum, preferably Bacardi

75ml coconut rum

75ml dark rum

200ml grenadine

250ml pineapple juice

250ml orange juice

4 limes juiced

2 cans of Ting

Sliced lemons and oranges to garnish

How you do it:

Choose your vessel and add all the ingredients and stir.

Top up with ice.

Garnish with your sliced fruits.

A former BBC MasterChef quarter finalist, Hannah hosts WanderSups supper clubs, “serving meals created with love, inspired by journeys around the world, dished up on home turf”. Her ethos is simple - have fun, enjoy it, make it an occasion. To find out more follow @WanderSups or visit wandersups.com.