Rogan Josh (A North Indian Mutton Curry)

Rogan josh is a very popular North Indian curry dish that goes very well with naan, be it butter naan , plain naan or even coriander and garlic infused naan. I thought it was well paired with garlic and coriander naan we get here in the super markets. The curry was slightly towards the spicier side due to the addition of chilli powder and whole chillies. I have used Kashmiri Chilli powder here which is mildly spiced, to suit my family’s palette. So if you are using the regular chillies, you may reduce them as your per taste.



I adapted this recipe from a book (Futura Pressure Cooker Book) and followed the ingredients and measurements as such, but halving the amount. The curry was good and went well with naans. I served this curry for our friends when they came over. “The curry is tasty and it has a North Indian flavour”, was the response of my friend who visited me that day. I have tried few versions of Rogan josh before and so far this recipe is the best. Normally before cooking any food, I do a bit of research and compare few recipes to see if they are all same or some-what same. When I researched on the net for this recipe, I found out all of them are more or less the same, so followed the recipe in the book as such. I thought it tasted quite different from the Rogan Josh that we get in many restaurants. Well, you don’t get a Rogan josh that tastes the same in all restaurants!!!Every restaurant has their own unique taste for all the curries that is so very different from other restaurants; but the same name!!This curry is also quite similar to the recipe of Madhur Jeffrey, but she uses powdered spices instead of the whole ones. The list of ingredients might seem like a never ending story, but believe me, it's easy.


Ingredients:
½ Tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
½ Tbsp poppy seeds
8 almonds
2 brown cardamoms
½ tsp peppercorns

2 cloves
2 Tbsp freshly grated coconut
1-3 Whole dry Kashmiri Chillies (Soaked in 1/3 cups of hot water for 15 minutes,water drained and reserved)
10g ginger (1 cm thick piece)
4 large flakes of garlic
A large pinch of grated nutmeg
4 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 bay leaf
1 cm piece of cinnamon
3 green cardamoms crushed
1 medium (135g) onion grated
1 medium tomato (100g) chopped
½ tsp turmeric powder
½ Tbsp Kashmiri chilli powder
1/3 cup (5 Tbsp) Curd, beaten (I used low fat Greek yogurt)

600g-650g Mutton shoulder cut into 4 cm pieces
¾ cup water
½ tsp garam masala
salt- as required
Ingredients:
1.In a pan roast together coriander, cumin and poppy seeds, almonds, brown cardamoms, pepper corns, cloves and coconut for a couple of minutes on medium heat.

2. Grind this to smooth paste along with ginger, garlic, nutmeg and soaked chillies, adding from time to time a little water (1/3 cup) in which chillies were soaked.

3. Heat oil in a pressure cooker. Add bay leaf, cinnamon and green cardamoms. Stir for few seconds. Add onion and stir fry till golden brown. Add ground paste, chopped tomatoes, turmeric and chilli powders. Stir.

4. Add 1 Tablespoon curd. Stir fry until curd is well blended (approximately ½ minute). Add remaining curd in the same way, a tablespoon at a time, till all curd is used. Stir fry until oil shows separately. (about 3 minutes).

5. Add mutton and salt. Stir fry mutton until slightly browned and has become slightly firm. Add water and stir.

6. Close the pressure cooker and bring to full pressure on high heat. Reduce heat and cook till done. It may take anywhere from 10-25 minutes depending on the size of mutton pieces and the type of pressure cooker.

7. Remove cooker from heat and allow to cool naturally. Sprinkle the garam masala and stir. Serve hot with naan. You may try the curry with chappathi, rice or other breads.