Curried Ox Cheeks, Jamaica. Olympic Food Challenge

Our Father, who art in Calgary, Bobsled be thy name. Thy kingdom come, gold medals won, on Earth as it is in Turn Seven. With Liberty and Justice for Jamaica and Haile Selassie. Amen.

Jamaica baby!!

The 5th largest island of the Caribbean Sea. Home of the fastest man on earth and the world famous bobsled team which I will stop going on about at some point. A member of the Commonwealth and under the rule of Our Liz. A member of IOC since 1936, they don't have the greatest medal record but would you put your money on them not leaving London 2012 with at least 2 golds this time?

This dish was easy to find, I was sent a recipe by Mr @joolscyprien ages ago for a Jamaican mutton curry, so what better time to give it ago. Instead of mutton I used Ox Cheeks as an approved substitute and look at the size of them, very cheap too, only cost me about 4-5 quid for the pair if I remember correctly.

Jamaican Ox cheek Curry
Ingredients
2k mutton or other meat such as Ox cheeks 
 2 x Large Onions finely diced
3-4 cloves of garlic crushed
1 x small thumb sized piece of ginger
3-4 spring onions finely sliced
1 - 2 teaspoons of all spice
A few sprigs of thyme leaves chopped
2-3 tbsp curry powder 
1 can of coconut milk
250ml chicken stock
1 tbsp curry powder
1 scotch bonnet chilli
Salt pepper to taste
Sprig of thyme 

Method
Combine the meat and all the ingredients down to the coconut milk in a large bowl and marinate for 24 hours.
Take a large casserole pan and place over a medium heat add a good glug of olive or rapeseed oil then add the tbsp of curry powder and gently fry until dark but not burned. 
Add the marinated meat and turn up the heat slightly make sure all the meat is browned.
Add the coconut milk and stock and stir to combine finally add the scotch bonnet and bring up to the boil. Turn down and gently cook over a low heat for 3-4 hours until meat is nice and tender the longer the better. Season to taste and remove scotch bonnet and thyme stalks.
Serve with steamed rice or rice and peas.

Verdict
Make that 3 Gold medals, sensational. Not the nicest looking food stuff in the world but what it lacks in appearance it more than makes up for in flavour. Cook for as long as possible, I simmered for four hours and the meat just melted, beautiful. Good luck with removing the scotch bonnet afterwards though, mine disintegrated and is equivalent to putting a nuclear rod in there, its all good though.