Kashmiri Lamb Rogan Josh
Mumtazjee Recipes
Ingrendients:
Marinate (mix everything in a bowl and refrigerate overnight)
2lb tender spring lamb
Juice from one whole lemon
250ml Natural plain yogurt
1 Garlic clove chopped and crushed finely
About walnut size piece ginger chopped and crushed finely
1 teaspoon salt
pinch crushed black pepper
1 teaspoon tomato puree
Take out of fridge and leave to one side before you start cooking. This will help it to arrive at room temperature and avoid curdling problems.
For the sauce (mix in a bowl and leave to one side before you start cooking):
Half pint of water
Juice from one whole lemon
2 tablespoons tomato puree
300g of tinned plum tomatoes (put in processor so its saucy)
half teaspoon chilli powder
100g of dried apricots (optional)
Main Curry Ingredients:
4 tablespoons sunflower/olive oil
2 white onions finely chopped (put in processor of you're lazy)
One walnut size piece ginger chopped and crushed finely
2 cloves garlic crushed and chopped finely
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 cinnamon stick
6 green cardamom pods
2-3 Kaffir leaves (if not available use bay/curry leaves)
2 teaspoon garam masalla
half teaspoon turmeric powder
half teaspoon chilli powder (more or less depending on your taste buds)
quarter teaspoon salt
100g of tinned plum tomatoes (put in processor so its saucy)
Small handful of coriander finely chopped
Method:
Heat the oil in a deep pan or karahi (this is like a wok, only fatter), add cumin seeds, coriander seeds, cinnamon stick and green cardamoms. They will snap, crackle and pop. Don’t worry this is normal. You only need to do this for about two minutes so to toast the spices but not burn them.
Add the onions and turn heat to medium, keep stirring every couple minutes to stop onions burning. You need to get a golden brown colour to make sure the onions are caramelised. This is a very important part. Undercook and it will not taste the same. Overcook or allow to burn and you will get bitter taste and black bits of burnt onion. If you find they are burning or sticking, add drop of water. Works every time. The trick to good cooking is more about the method than just ingredients.
Once onions have caramelised, add the garlic, ginger and kaffir leaves and fry for about another 3-5 minutes on medium heat. Again, add a touch of water after about one minute as the garlic will stick and burn.
Add the plum tomatoes (processed), garam masalla, turmeric, chilli powder, salt and stir for about two minutes. Add tablespoon water at same time if you want to avoid the spices burning.
Turn heat down to low to leave pan to cool a bit. Add the marinated lamb with all the marinade in the bowl to the pan. Stir constantly for about five minutes. This is to stop the yogurt in the mixture overcooking and curdling. Turn up heat to medium and carry on stirring for another 2-3 minutes to let the meat cook a bit.
Add the sauce mixture you prepared earlier and turn up heat. Stir for about 3-5 minutes to bring the whole thing up to temperature.
Once the mixture seems hot but before it starts boiling, turn down heat to medium, put the lid on and leave for about 10 mins.
Lift lid and give it a quick stir. Turn down the heat to low and leave to simmer for about 1 ½ - 2 hours with the lid on. Check on it every 20 minutes or so to stir and make sure it’s OK and not sticking.
Add the chopped coriander and stir in before serving.
Serve with a Nan and/or cumin scented boiled rice. Apricot Chutney would go nicely to compliment the apricots in the sauce. There should be enough to serve around six people.
