Mutton Rogan Josh

Rogan Josh is a aromatic lamb recipe of Persian origin, which is one of the signature dish of Kashmiri cuisine. Rogan means oil in persian and josh means heat or hot thus it together means meat cooked in hot and intense heat. Hee.. hee.. heee... this information is from wikipedia. Anyways I am sure as the dish has traveled so long and reached in hearts of each one of us there will be some changes in the spice and the way of cooking but its true we need a quantity of oil to prepare this recipe since its kashmir origin and there oil is needed to beat the cold atmosphere I would suggest you to add oil as per your requirement. There's no problem if you are health conscious and yet you can prepare this dish with just little oil. Its simple quick and so aromatic that your mouth will start watering as soon as it releases the flavour and your house is full of beautiful lip smacking aroma... so do not think much and prepare this dish tonight and have it with Hot Rice or Chapatis or Breads.
I have saved this recipe from one of the blog long ago and thought to share you the same but I have added ginger garlic paste in my version.

Ingredients:

1. Mutton  --  1/2 kg
2. Curd  --  3/4th cup
3. Fennel Powder  --  2 tsp
4. Asafoetida/Hing  --  1/4th spoon
5. Kashmiri chilli powder  --  1 tea spoon
6. Red chilli powder (according to taste)
7. Turmeric powder  --  1/4 tea spoon
8. Sugar 1/2 tea spoon 
9. Salt according to taste
10. Green Cardamom/Choti Elaichi  --  4 pods
11. Black Cardamom/Badi Elaichi  --  1 pod
12. Bay Leaf/Tej Patta  --  1
13. Clove/Laung  --  4 whole
14. Whole Black peppercorn/Kali Mirch  --  8 whole
15. Cinnamon/Dalchini  --  1 stick
16. Mace/Javetri 1 
17. Garam masala powder 1/2 tea spoon (includes green & black cardamom powder, cinnamon powder and nutmeg powder)
18. Ginger Garlic paste  --  2tsp(avoid if you are making authentic kashmiri recipe)
19. Saffron pinch of (soaked in 2 table spoon warm water)
20. Ghee or oil (generously) 
21. Ghee 1 table spoon (if you are using only oil to cook)
22. Coriander leaves to garnish.

Method:

• Wash and clean the mutton. Squeeze out the water completely. 
• Beat curd with 1/2 tea spoon salt, sugar and 2 table spoon water.
• Crush the cardamoms, peppercorns and cloves lightly.
• Heat ghee or oil (I used 6 table spoon mustard oil) in a heavy bottom. Temper with crushed spices and bay leaf, cinnamon stick and mace.
• Add mutton pieces and fry until brown over high flame by stirring continuously. It will take you almost 5-8 minutes.
• Add ginger & fennel powder and cook covered for few more minutes over medium/low heat.
• Now add hing, kashmiri chilli powder, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and garam masala powder. Cook covered over low heat for 5 minutes. 
• Add beaten curd and 1/2 cup boiling hot water and mix gently. Add salt, ginger garlic paste and keep the heat low, cover it and cook until done and you can see the layer of oil separated from the gravy. Stir it occasionally to prevent sticking/burning at the bottom and add more boiling hot water if you find it's becoming dry. It will take almost 3 to 4 hours depending on the quality of mutton. 
• Lastly add saffron mixture and cook for more 5 minutes.
• Turn off the heat and add 1 table spoon ghee if you are using oil for cooking.
• Garnish with coriander leaves.
• Enjoy with naan/parantha/phuka or rice or pavs.