slow cooked rogan josh - ideal for cheaper cuts of meat (Lamb Recipes)

Member Name: mjc121

Product:	Lamb Recipes
Date:	01/08/09 (149 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: lots of flavour and tender meat

Disadvantages: long simmer time

I admit I don't often buy lamb, it's not that I don't like it, I love lamb. I just don't like the smell of it.

Anyway this is a version of a rogan josh I picked up a few years ago. One of my friends cooked it when I was round at her house for the evening hence I can't say where she got the recipe from. I have adjusted it slightly to my own taste and added a few other spices but things like the amount of chilli powder can be changed to suit your own tastes. I tend to like mine with a fair bit of heat. Whilst my friend added quite a bit of salt to her's I have left this out here as I don't personally like food to be too salty and the stock especially if you use a stock cube has more than enough salt in it.

For this I tend to use lamb shanks and cook them on the bone as I find this adds extra flavour to the dish. Ideally this should be cooked slowly so you can set it going and then as long as you keep checking it now and then you can get on with other things. When cooked this can be served with rice or equally a salad.

In the past I have cooked the lamb in this way then finished them off on the bbq for a couple of min and served them with the sauce. Although with the weather so far this summer I'm not holding out much hope of getting this done this year.

This is enough to serve 4 people

Although I have said about 1 lb for each lamb shank don't forget you have the bone here as well so it isn't 1 lb of meat. You could ask for them to be boned that way you are not paying for the bit you won't eat.

Ingrediants:

2 tbs plain flour
1 tbsp chilli powder (adjust to taste)
1/2 tbs paprika (I find the smoky kind works best but sweet will do)
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp fresh grated root ginger or 1/2 tsp ground ginger
pinch of fresh grated nutmeg
4 lamb shanks about 1lb (aprox 450g) each
2x2 tbs vegetable oil
1 large onion thinly sliced
1/2 pint (300ml) plain greek style yoghurt
3/4 pint (450 ml) hot lamb or veg stock
4 cracked cardamom pods
4 small tomatoes each cut into 4 wedges

How to make it (oven 180 deg C, 350 deg F, Gas 4)

mix together the flour and the spices except the cardamom and dust the lamb shanks with this mixture. Keep any excess flour mixture back for later

in a large frying pan heat the first 2 tbsp of oil over a high hear and cook the lamb for around 10 min turning the meat over a few times until well browned then transfer the meat to a large plate and set aside.

in a deep saucepan add the second 2 tbsp of oil and over a medium high heat add the onion to the pan and cook until golden brown. Add any reserved flour and cook for another minute stirring constantly. Stir in the yoghurt and the stock.

Now add the lamb to the saucepan and add the cardamom pods and bring to the boil. Cover the pan tightly with foil and over a medium heat cook for 1 and a half hours. After this time add the tomato wedges and then recover and cook for another 30-40 min. serve hot.

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The longer this cooks the more tender the meat becomes but you will have to keep an eye on it as you may need to add some water or preferably stock to prevent it from drying out.

For a bit of a twist on this try adding about half a cinnamon stick and 4 cloves to the oil as you are frying the onion. The cinnamon can be left in as the dish is cooking but will need to be removed as you dish up. I would advise removing the cloves before you cover it for its 1 and a half hour simmer as the taste of the cloves can overpower everything else if they are left in too long.

This dish does work well with mutton as well. Mutton is fairly cheap as few people want to buy it as it can be tough. However, mutton is ideal for slow cooking and will become much more tender during the cooking of this dish.

The tase for me is one of the depth of the spices and the chilli gives it that kick without setting fire to your mouth. The lamb is tender enough to just fall off the bone and the taste of the lamb is not overpowered by the spices. As ity is a rogan josh there is also the taste of the tomato. This couold be made stronger by the addition of about half a tablespoon of tomato puree but this is not really needed.

Summary: spicy lamb - ideal for the bbq