Paya soup (Goat soup)

Paya soup is one of my favourites.  It reminds me of my childhood days with my parents and sister.  My mom used to make this over winters and monsoons.  I can almost taste the bowl lickingly tasty soup and it's heavenly aroma. Mmmm....

It is a one pot soup and takes less than 30 minutes.  This recipe does not use oil as Goat meat releases some fat when cooked.

Ingredients:

• Goat meat with bones - 2 pounds (originally, Goat trotters are used for this soup. We do not get it where we live. So, I use Goat meat)
• Turmeric - 1 teaspoon
• Coriander powder - 1/2 table spoon
• Ginger paste - 1/2 table spoon
• Garlic paste - 1/2 table spoon
• Clove powder - 1/2 tea spoon
• Cinnamon powder - 1/2 tea spoon
• Pepper corns crushed - 1/2 table spoon
• Red Chili powder - 1 teas poon (add per taste)
• Salt - 2 tea spoons (add per taste)
• Lemon juice - 1 table spoon
• Cilantro, chopped - 1/4 cup

Method:

To a pressure cooker, add the Goat meat and all other ingredients except lemon juice, Red Chili powder and Cilantro.  Add about 3 cups of water to this.  Pressure cook until 3 whistles.  Open the cooker and place it on low heat.  Add Lemon juice and chopped Cilantro to this.  Keep some aside for non-spicy version (this will have a hint of spice due to crushed black Pepper.  If you do not want this, add the pepper along with Red Chili powder at a later stage).  To the rest, add Red Chili powder (and Pepper if not added earlier).  Bring it to boil and switch off the heat.  The soup is ready to be served.  This will taste good by itself or you can eat it with plain white rice or roti.

Note:

Trim the Goat meat of fat as much as possible before cooking.  If the soup still feels a little too oily once it is cooked, wait for the soup to cool down and remove the fat once it solidifies on the top.