Sides, breads & soups · Hyderabad

Goat Paya Soup

Hyderabad's restorative trotters soup: goat paya simmered for hours with whole spices, ginger, garlic and black pepper into a rich, sticky, gently spiced broth.

Goat Paya Soup

Prep 30 min · Cook 75 min · Total 105 min Or 4 to 5 hr on the stovetop · Serves 4

Ingredients

Trotters

  • 4 Goat trotters (paya), singed, cleaned and cut into pieces
  • ½ tsp Turmeric
  • 1 tbsp Salt

Soup

  • 3 tbsp Oil or ghee
  • 2 Bay leaves
  • 1 inch Cinnamon stick
  • 4 Cloves
  • 4 Green cardamom pods
  • 1 tsp Black peppercorns
  • 2 Medium onions, thinly sliced
  • 2 tbsp Ginger-garlic paste
  • 3 Green chillies, slit
  • 1 tsp Red chilli powder
  • 2 tsp Coriander powder
  • ½ tsp Turmeric
  • 1 Tomato, chopped
  • 1.5 l Water
  • 1 ½ tsp Salt
  • 1 tsp Black pepper, freshly ground
  • ½ tsp Garam masala

To finish

  • ¼ cup Coriander leaves, chopped
  • 2 tbsp Mint leaves, chopped
  • 1 Lemon, in wedges
  • 2 tbsp Fried onions

Method

  1. Clean the trotters. Rub the trotter pieces with the washing salt and turmeric, scrub well and rinse in several changes of water. Scrape off any remaining hairs with a knife. Blanch in boiling water for 5 minutes, drain and rinse; this keeps the broth clean.
  2. Fry the aromatics. Heat the oil in a large pressure cooker. Add the bay leaves, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and peppercorns, then the onions, and fry until golden. Add the ginger-garlic paste and green chillies and fry for a minute.
  3. Add the spices. Stir in the chilli powder, coriander powder and turmeric, then the tomato, and cook until soft. Add the trotters and toss in the masala for 3 to 4 minutes.
  4. Pressure-cook. Pour in the water and salt. Cook to 3 whistles on high, then lower the heat and cook for 45 to 50 minutes more (around 10 to 12 whistles in all). Let the pressure drop naturally. On the stovetop, simmer covered in a heavy pot on very low heat for 4 to 5 hours, topping up with hot water, until the meat falls off the bone and the broth is sticky.
  5. Finish. Open the cooker and simmer for a few minutes, skimming off excess fat if you like. Add the black pepper and garam masala and check the salt; the broth should be well seasoned and peppery.
  6. Serve. Ladle into bowls with a couple of pieces of trotter each. Scatter over the coriander, mint and fried onions, and serve with lemon wedges and naan or toasted pav for dipping.

Tips

Trotters need long, slow cooking; if the meat isn't falling off the bone, give it another 15 minutes under pressure. Paya is traditionally eaten for breakfast on winter mornings with naan, and it sets to a jelly in the fridge, which melts back as it reheats.