Rogan josh is a staple of Kashmiri cuisine, from the State of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It is one of the main dishes of the Kashmiri multi-course meal, the ‘Wazwan’. It consists of braised Lamb/Mutton chunks cooked with a gravy based on browned onions, yogurt, garlic, ginger and aromatic spices like cloves, bay leaves, cardamom and cinnamon.  Its characteristic brilliant red colour traditionally comes from liberal amounts of dried Kashmiri chilies. The recipe’s spiciness is one of fragrance rather than heat. Saffron is also part of some traditional recipes.

Roganjosh was brought to Kashmir by the Mughals, whose cooking was in turn influenced by Persian cuisine. An interpretation of the name Rogan josh is derived from the word rogan meaning ‘red color’ and josh meaning ‘passion or heat’.

Dev Khanna, is a retired banker, with an illustrious career, spanning more than 55 years, of banking experience. He has worked all over South Asia and in the Middle East and now is retired and living in Gurgaon.

He is an unabashed foodie, with a passion for cooking and all things related to food. His enthusiasm to cook recipes which he searches for on the internet, has his family eating new and unusual combinations in terms of spices and flavours.

His other interest is investing which he takes seriously and likes to understand the fluctuations of the market on a day to day basis.  He proudly guides his friends and relatives in this respect.

He has learned to be technically savvy and is quite proficient on his laptop and uses the internet like a pro. The family teases him that his god is Google, which seems to answer all his questions. He dashes off poems on his individual relatives and life in general on a regular basis.

Apart from all these activities that keep him occupied through the day and night, it’s his passion for golf that has been a driving factor all his life. Even at the age of 89 years he still plays a round of golf about three times a week. Even though he has won many competitions and trophies through his life, he continues to take lessons to improve his game.

For an octogenarian, he has remarkably high energy levels, an extremely inquisitive mind, and a determined attitude to achieve in everything that he does.

Here are his thoughts….

If something is worth doing, it must be done well. We judge people by their qualifications, their achievements and their upbringing. For me, a personality is incomplete unless that person has culinary skills. If you don’t know what foods you like, you are an incomplete person. The art of fine cooking is a must for all ladies and men, too. My father was a highly learned and experienced man, and was very particular about the way food was cooked at home. For this reason, my mother was an excellent cook. I now have a wife and daughters-in-law who have turned out to be very fine cooks.

The Rogan josh which I have cooked for you must have the following steps to bring out the full taste like in the old days…1940′s.

~ Cook on medium to low heat. It takes 25% more time but the taste is uniquely 75% better. This rule applies more when making vegetables and daals. The texture must be preserved. So, when you are sautéing onions, garlic and ginger do it on medium/low heat to enhance the flavour and taste.

~ To give fine appearance to meat, take 3 tablespoons of oil and sauté the meat alone…no onion/garlic for 7 minutes on medium heat. All water will dry up and the meat will get a beautiful colour of its own. Take out the meat and use the same oil, adding another tablespoon or so of oil, on low heat, to fry cloves, daalchini(cinnamon), tejpatta(bay leaves), large black and small green elaichis(cardamom), to have their flavour released. Now add the onions, then garlic, ginger and tomatoes and beaten curd.

~ Secret …add less onion because they tend to make the dish too sweet. Another time try with no onion just garlic, ginger, tomatoes, curd with little curry. Of course, you will add all the whole gram masalas.

Roganjosh

Indian Mutton Curry

Ingredients ~

1/2 kg mutton, with bones
4 medium size onions, chopped
4 medium size fresh tomatoes, pureed
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 1/2 tsp ginger paste
1 1/2 tsp garlic paste
2 tbsp beaten yogurt
6 tbsp vegetable oil

Whole Masalas ~
2 small sticks daalchini/cinnamon
6 green elaichi/cardamoms
10 kali mirch/ black peppercorns
1 1/2 tsp jeera/ cumin
2-3 tej patta/bay leaves

Powdered Masalas ~
1/2 tsp Kashmiri red chili powder
3/4 tsp haldi powder/turmeric
1 tsp dhania powder/coriander
1/2 tsp red chili powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
Salt to taste

Method ~

1. In 3 tbsp oil sear the mutton pieces on high heat. Remove onto a plate.
2. In the remaining oil and sauté the whole masalas till fragrant.
3. Add the chopped onions and cook till pink in colour. Add garlic, ginger paste and cook on slow fire till onions turn light brown in colour.
4. Now add the powdered masalas, stir till mixed and add the fresh tomato purée and the 1 tbsp of the prepared tomato purée. Cook on very slow heat till the mixture releases the oil.
5. To this gravy mixture, add the mutton pieces and stir the mixture well.
6. Add the beaten curd and cook covered on a very low flame till the mixture again releases oil.
7. Add 2 cups of water and cover and cook till the mutton is tender. If the curry seems a little dry add more water.
8. Once cooked add 1/2 tsp of garam masala and stir it in.

~ Serve hot, garnished with chopped coriander leaves and julienne of ginger.