Curry goat with rice and peas

Curry goat is a classic Caribbean dish, adopted by many islands of the former British West Indies, Jamaica, St Lucia and Dominica, to name a few. Goat was introduced to the islands by the Spanish and Portuguese in the fifteenth century during colonial times and then became a staple meat on the islands. Curry, as a spice form, travelled to the Caribbean from south India with the indentured workers who immigrated to the West Indies in the early 1900s. These two ingredients united when Indian immigrants sought a substitute for lamb in their recipes. As beef was sacred and could not be consumed, goat became the next best thing and remained a staple of the area ever since. Here it is served with rice and peas and coleslaw – however, due to the larger Indian populations in Trinidad and Guyana, curry goat is also eaten alongside dhal puri roti (a split pea-stuffed flatbread) or parathas.