Mutton Rogan Josh
Author: 
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4-6 Servings
 
Ingredients
  • Mutton (Goat meat) or Lamb – 1 kg
For Marinate
  • Ginger paste – 1 tsp
  • Garlic paste – 1 tsp
  • Vinegar or lime juice – 2 tsp
  • Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
  • Salt – ½ tsp
For Gravy
  • Fresh ginger – 2 inch piece, peeled and chopped
  • Garlic – 8 fat cloves
  • Onion – 2 cups, finely chopped
  • Yogurt – 6 tbsp
  • Salt to taste
  • Oil for Cooking
Spices
  • Fennel seed powder – 2 tsp
  • Dry ginger powder – ½ tsp
  • Kashmiri red chilli powder – 2-3 tsp or more to get the red color
  • Red Chili Powder – ½ tsp to start and then to taste
For Tempering
  • Green cardamom – 6 to 8
  • Black cardamom – 2
  • Bay Leaf – 2
  • Clove – 6
  • Whole black peppercorn – 10
  • Cinnamon – one 2 inch stick
  • Mace – ½ tsp
Instructions
  1. Marinate the mutton for 2-3 hours in 1 tsp ginger paste, 1 tsp garlic paste, 2 tsp vinegar or lime juice, turmeric and salt.
  2. Put the ginger, garlic and very little water in a blender and blend well into a smooth paste.
  3. Heat oil in a heavy bottomed wok/pot on a medium-high flame. Add the mutton pieces in a single layer and sauté till they are browned. Add a dash of Kashmiri red chilli powder while frying the meat. Remove and set aside.
  4. Temper the same oil with all spices listed under tempering. Wait a few seconds for the spices to sizzle.
  5. Now add the sliced onion. Fry the onions to a medium brown color.
  6. Add the ginger-garlic paste that you made and sauté for a couple of minutes or so.
  7. Now add the dry spices – fennel powder, dry ginger powder, Kashmiri red chilli and the regular red chili powder. Add a splash of water and fry the spices till you see oil separating from the edges.
  8. Now add the browned meat cubes along with the meat juices. Stir well so that the meat is coated with the masala.
  9. In the meantime, beat the yogurt well in a bowl adding a little water if needed to dilute it.
  10. Now lower the heat and add the beaten yogurt little by little stirring continuously so that it doesn’t curdle in the masala paste. Stir and sauté for 3 to 4 minutes on low heat.
  11. Add 1 to 2 cups of water and salt to taste. Mix everything well, scraping the sides and bottom of cooking pot.
  12. Bring the gravy to a boil. Check if the salt and red chili powder is in correct amount. Add more chilli powder if you want your rogan josh more spicy!
  13. Cover the wok, turn heat to medium-low and simmer for about an hour or two until meat is tender.
  14. Give the pot a good stir once in every 5 minutes to prevent burning. If the gravy is becoming too dry add some more water.
  15. When the meat is tender, take off the lid. Turn the fire to medium-high and boil off some of the excess liquid, stirring all the time, until the sauce is thickened.
  16. Once you get the desired consistency, you can do what I did to get that restaurant-like sheen into your gravy – take out all the mutton pieces and keep aside in a bowl, then strain the gravy using a big strainer. As you strain, you will get all the thick parts of the gravy along with the spices stuck in the strainer and the smooth and rich gravy will be separated out. Now add the mutton to this smooth gravy and give a quick stir. [I didn’t discard the onion-masala mix which was filtered out from the gravy. You can use it any in non-veg prep which will add a nice flavor to the dish.]
  17. Sprinkle the black pepper over the mutton and mix them in just before you serve it.
  18. Enjoy mutton rogan josh with plain Basmati rice.
Recipe by Flavor Quotient at https://www.flavorquotient.com/2013/06/mutton-rogan-josh/