Rogan Josh is an Indian recipes that roughly translates as "Hot, Fat Meat". It is also enough to put health conscious folks off. But never fear! For I have a version of Rogan Josh that does not have to fur up your arteries. In fact, it uses little fat. Wow.
The heat in this dish comes from chillies, black cardamom and cloves. In India you would use Kashmiri chillies, but you can use whatever chili you like. We are using Serrano chillies because they are quite mild, like the Kashmiri.
If we were going about Rogan Josh in an ultra-traditional fashion, then we would use the fattest mutton there was, and then add more fat to it. But I'm not going to make you do this because I don't hate you. Instead we have a recipe that can be prepared with regular lamb.
In some parts of India, yogurt is not used, but most people do, as it adds body to the
sauce
.
Spices:
4 cloves
2 black cardamoms
4 green cardamoms
1 blade of mace
2 bay leaves
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp ginger powder
1 tsp fennel powder
1/3 tsp turmeric
1 tsp paprika
2 tsp chili powder (from whatever red chili you like)
4 garlic cloves, chopped
salt
Other:
1-1 1/2lbs cubed lamb (
cooking time will be decided by which cut you have)
about 1/2 pint good lamb stock (made with the bones if you have them)
6-10 shallots, chopped
1/2 cup yogurt (full fat)
1/4 cup ghee (or some vegatable oil)