Pakistani palak gosht is a tasty one-pot meal worth adding to your dinner rotation. Tender goat meat slow-cooks in a spiced spinach curry, perfect for serving with boiled rice or warm chapati.
What is Palak Gosht?
Palak gosht is a North Indian and Pakistani dish of tender lamb or goat slow-cooked in a richly spiced spinach curry (salan) with garlic, ginger, and aromatic spices. The slow cooking process allows the meat to become melt-in-your-mouth tender while absorbing the deep flavors of the curry. Serve it with warm bread or piping hot rice for a comforting and delicious meal.
Key Ingredients
- Ghee: Start by sautéing the onions and aromatics in ghee for a rich, nutty flavor.
- Onion: Caramelized onions deepen the flavor of the salan.
- Garlic: I suggest using four garlic cloves, but measure with your heart.
- Ginger: Freshly grated ginger adds warmth.
- Tomatoes: Tomatoes naturally sweeten the curry, balancing the flavor. Purée Roma or vine-ripe tomatoes in a blender or food processor to create a smooth base and shorter cooking time. Diced fresh tomatoes or canned tomatoes also work.
- Spices: Season generously with kosher salt, Kashmiri chili powder (or red chili powder for more heat), red chili flakes, coriander powder, turmeric powder, garam masala, and dried fenugreek leaves.
- Mutton: Gosht means “meat” in Urdu and typically refers to goat or lamb. Traditional Pakistani palak gosht uses bone-in goat, but lamb, beef, or chicken all work well.
- Green Chilis: Add 2–3 whole green chiles—jalapeño, serrano, or Thai. Leave them whole for milder heat or dice them for a spicier kick.
- Spinach: True to its name, finish the curry with plenty of fresh spinach (or palak). Avoid using frozen spinach. In my experience, it releases too much water, diluting the dish’s flavor.
What cut of mutton to use?
Use bone-in lamb or goat. Ask the butcher to cut a leg or shoulder into 14-16 smaller pieces, often called a curry cut or karahi cut.
Additions and Substitutions
- Yogurt: I leave it out to keep our recipe dairy-free, but many recipes call for yogurt to enhance the color and creaminess of the dish. If you decide to include yogurt, it’s best to add it towards the end of the cooking time; adding it too early can cause the yogurt to separate and curdle. I recommend stirring the yogurt into the dish along with the spinach.
- Spinach: Alter the spinach curry to suit your taste. One way to do this has to do with preparation. While our recipe calls for adding chopped fresh spinach at the end, some home cooks prefer to blanch the spinach beforehand and puree it in a food processor before adding it to the gosht; this increases the shorba and creates a smoother curry to sop up with warm chapati. Another way to modify the spinach curry is to replace some of the spinach in this recipe with fresh cilantro, fresh fenugreek leaves, or a combination of the two.
How to Make Palak Gosht
The full recipe with measurements is in the recipe card below.
Step 1: Warm ghee in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onions and sauté until golden brown and caramelized, for 20-25 minutes.
Step 2: Stir in the garlic and ginger and cook for one minute. Deglaze with tomato puree and add the spices. Increase to medium-high heat and cook for 5 minutes.
Step 3: Nestle the goat meat and whole green chilies into the pot, and cover it with water. Cook over medium heat for 1-2 hours, until the water evaporates and the goat is tender.
Step 4: Once the salan reduces, add the spinach and cook until the water evaporates, about 10-15 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the dried fenugreek leaves and garam masala to serve.
Tips for Making Palak Gosht
- Cook low and slow. Unlike many recipes, this one has a range for the cooking time. The goat and lamb take longer to become tender.
- Bhuna the gosht. Bhuna (or bhoona) is an Urdu word meaning “fried,” and it refers to a traditional South Asian cooking technique where the tender goat meat, onions, aromatics, and spices are cooked in oil or ghee over high heat until the fat separates and pools around the edges. The process reduces the mixture for a deeply concentrated and caramelized flavor.
If you enjoy palak gosht, try more Pakistani recipes!
Serving Suggestions
Serve palak gosht with warm chapati or naan for a hearty home-cooked meal. However, I hear that once you try this recipe with boiled rice like jeera or plain basmati rice, there is nothing like it. If you want something lighter, try a chopped kachumber salad.
What To Do With Leftovers
- Refrigerate: Store the leftovers in an airtight container for 3-4 days.
- Freeze: Let the dish cool and transfer it to a freezer-safe container. Palak gosht freezes for 2-3 months.
- Thaw: Defrost the leftover meat in the refrigerator overnight.
- Reheat: Warm the leftovers on the stovetop, and prepare your rice or naan.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much spinach to use?
For the best flavor, I recommend using one pound of fresh spinach in this recipe. You can use a bit less if you prefer a milder spinach taste. I don’t recommend frozen spinach, as it releases more water during cooking which dilutes the flavor. The extra water content also increases the cooking time.
More Gosht Recipes:
Palak Gosht
- ½ cup ghee
- 2 medium onions, thinly sliced
- 4 medium garlic cloves, minced
- 1 -inch knob of ginger, grated
- 3 medium tomatoes, pureed
- 1 tablespoon Kashmiri chili powder or paprika
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon red chili powder or cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 3 pounds bone-in goat, cut into 1½-inch pieces
- 2-3 green chili peppers
- 2-3 cups water
- 1 pound spinach leaves, rinsed, drained, and chopped
- 1 teaspoon dried fenugreek leaves
- ½ teaspoon garam masala
- Warm ghee in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onions and sauté until golden brown and caramelized, for 20-25 minutes.
- Stir in the garlic and ginger and cook for one minute. Deglaze with tomato puree and add the spices. Increase to medium-high heat and cook for 5 minutes.
- Nestle the goat meat and whole green chilies into the pot, and cover it with water. Cook over medium heat for 1-2 hours, until the water evaporates and the goat is tender.
- Once the salan reduces, add the spinach and cook until the water evaporates, about 10-15 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the dried fenugreek leaves and garam masala to serve.
- Cook low and slow. Unlike many recipes, this one has a range for the cooking time. The goat and lamb take longer to become tender.
- Bhuna the gosht. Bhuna (or bhoona) is an Urdu word meaning “fried,” and it refers to a traditional South Asian cooking technique where the tender goat meat, onions, aromatics, and spices are cooked in oil or ghee over high heat until the fat separates and pools around the edges. The process reduces the mixture for a deeply concentrated and caramelized flavor.