Jamaican curry with oxtail and butter beans

The weather has definitely turned now. It’s a horrible drizzly day out there and this morning I spent half an hour getting soaked while changing a wheel on the car.

Miserable and cold, there was only one thing I could think of to get me back on track. A lovely Jamaican curry for lunch. Fortunately there was an oxtail in the fridge that I’d bought from our local farm shop over the weekend. I’d kind of been planning to do this, but now had the best reason to cook it. Preparing the meat for the curry takes less than half an hour, the rest of the time is just simmering and the odd stir.

The Jamaican curry can be quite hot but after a slow cook here, it didn’t seem as hot as usual. If you wanted to go hotter you could add a dash of habanero chilli sauce, just a minute or two before you serve it up.

The rice should take about 10 minutes to cook so can be done while the curry is simmering away.

This recipe should be enough for 4 people, it really depends how hungry you are.

What you need

1 pouch Spicymonkey Jamaican curry

1 oxtail (approx. 1.2- 1.5 kg) – (ask the butcher to chop it for you)

1 x 400g tin butter beans

1 carrot – diced

spring onion to garnish

Habanero chilli sauce (optional)

What to do

In a large saucepan, put the meat in and fill with water until the meat is covered. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 10-12 minutes. Drain the pan but reserve some of the liquid (about 200-250ml).

Season the meat with salt and pepper. In a large frying pan, add a little oil and gently fry the meat on all sides until browned all over. It should take about 5 minutes each side.

Return the meat to the large sauce pan and add the diced carrot and all the sauce from the pouch along with the reserved cooking liquid. Bring this to the boil and then cover with a lid and put on the lowest heat. Leave to simmer for at least 2.5 hours, maybe 3 hours, until the meat is meltingly tender. Add the drained butter beans to the pan, stir through and leave to simmer for a further 10 – 15 minutes.

Now you just need to divide this up in to bowls, garnish with the spring onions, a wedge of lime, a dash of chilli sauce, or whatever else you fancy. It won’t really matter because it will be amazingly delicious anyway.

Rice and beans – what you need

2 cups of basmati rice (350-400g)

1 tin coconut milk

250ml water

1 tin of kidney beans (400g)

pinch of salt

What to do

Drain the kidney beans and rinse in cold water. In a tiny bit of oil, fry the rice for a couple of minutes, until it becomes fragrant. Turn the heat to low and very carefully add the coconut milk, water, beans and salt. Immediately cover the pan with the lid and leave on the lowest heat for around 10 minutes. Remove from heat and leave covered for another few minutes.

Jamaican curry sauce (hot)