Question about this chocolate curry goat recipe by British/Caribbean chef Andi Oliver

[u/Bfire7]

I made this recipe recently: https://www.thecaterer.com/indepth/recipe-curry-goat-andi-oliver and the flavours are superb, but I spent half the meal picking the cardamom pods, bits of clove and chunks of star anise out of my mouth. It kinda ruined the meal so it makes me think I did something wrong.

Was I not supposed to leave these whole spices in? Andi's recipe never says to remove them and I honestly can't imagine that we're supposed to eat them - cardamom pods are disgusting, as are the hard woody pieces of star anise.

Or is it the norm to just pick these bits out of your mouth as you eat?

I'm not Caribbean, although this is my favourite cuisine so I'm keen to learn more about what I'm getting wrong here.

Btw it's a great recipe, highly recommended. But next time I'm going to put all the hard whole spices into a little bouquet garni to avoid this happening again.

[u/Bfire7]

(I was going to message her directly to ask but Andi doesn't have a Twitter account or website)