Jamaican Curry Cow foot and Beans

OFFAL

There is just something about this Jamaican dish that is so comforting. Some people love it brown stewed, but today we are making a curry. I know some of you may be reading this and thinking how does one eat a cow’s foot? It's easy once you have a pressure cooker and don’t mind thick, sticky gelatinous gravy, yum!

First thing I will say again, a pressure cooker is your friend here, my mom says without it, expect up to 4 hours of cooking time on the stove top to get it to the perfect texture. In the words of sweet brown “ ain't nobody got time fa dat” From start to finish it took us less than two hours to cook this dish. Roughly 20 minutes cooking time on the stove top in the curry, 40 minutes in the pressure cooker to become fork tender, then the final stew back on the stove top for another 15 to 20 minutes.

If you have never had cow foot before, here is what to expect; yes, it is a part of a cow but it's not beef. There is no meat. The cow's foot is full of skin, fat, bone and cartilage. When cooked properly the skin becomes very soft and falls off the bone and the fat and all the other stuff create almost like a gelatinous texture to the sauce it simmers in. It ends up being quite a sticky dish if you get your hands dirty. That was what I loved about cow foot as a child how sticky my fingers and lips would get after eating it.

I would suggest if you have never tried it before, to try it at least once. It's really quite good, with white rice and a cold drink. Great way to use up what would have been a waste of the cow's precious feet.

Ingredients (printable recipe)

3 lb cow foot

1 ½ tablespoon Salt

¼ teaspoon Black pepper

1 tablespoon Onion powder

1 teaspoon Garlic powder

2 teaspoon thyme

1 tablespoon Ground allspice

2 tablespoon Curry powder

2 tablespoon Coconut Oil

6 cup Water (or enough to just cover the meat)

1-2 cans Butterbeans/Broad beans (drained)

1 Sweet pepper sliced

1 Onion sliced

2 Garlic cloves crushed

3 stalks scallion chopped

1 tablespoon thyme 

½ hot pepper (optional)

Instructions

• Wash the cow foot with water and vinegar, or lemon slices
• Clean cow foot thoroughly by scraping away all the burnt black bits on the skin (Some varieties may not have any burnt black skin)
• Season with salt, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, thyme and allspice
• Leave to marinate overnight
• In a pot warm the coconut oil and cook the curry powder until it begins to get slightly dark and fragrant
• Add the cow foot and stir to cook, lightly fry in the curry oil until all sides are browned 15 to 20 minutes
• Place the entire contents of the pot and the three cups of water into a pressure cooker for 40 minutes or until fork tender.
• Return to the pot, add beans, sweet peppers, onions, garlic, scallion, thyme, and hot pepper. Season to taste with additional salt if necessary
• Allow this to thicken and reduce until rich.
• The skin will be gummy and very tender and the gravy will be thick and slightly sticky.

Greedy tips:

• If you don’t have a pressure cooker, you may add the liquid after the meat is browned and simmered on low for a few hours until the meat is fall off the bone tender. This usually takes over 2.5 to 3 hours depending on how tough the cow foot is.
• The cow foot I cooked was local. Jamaican cow foot is normally burned/charred the imported cow foots very clean and white, no black chars to scrape off. So that part of the instructions can be ignored if you use imported cows. 

XOXO Greedygirl