Rogan Josh Crock Pot Recipe

We love curry at PSGC towers.  This is my favourite:  Rogan Josh.  

It is usually made with Lamb, but I sometimes find lamb too fatty, so we use beef instead.  It needs to be slow cooked for hours until it is literally falling to pieces.    I used an old recipe from the goddess of indian cooking Madhur Jaffrey, and made a few tweaks.

Ingredients
1 inch piece of fresh ginger peeled and grated finely
8 cloves of garlic crushed 
250g of chopped red onions
4 tablespoons of vegetable oil

1 teaspoon of turmeric powder
1/2 tablespoon whole cloves

2 teaspoon cumin seeds
10 Cardamom pods
2 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon of coriander seeds
2 teaspoons of paprika
1 teapoon of salt
10 crushed black peppercorns
Cayene Pepper (optional to add more heat)
1/4 teaspoon of garam masala


1kg of cubed stewing steak (large cubes)
600g tinned tomatoes
Vegetable oil for frying
6 tablespoons natural yogurt
Green chilli to garnish
350ml beef or vegetable stock.

Method
Add the grated ginger, garlic and 1 tablespoon of oil to a blender, and mix to a smooth paste.  Set aside.

Brown the meat on a medium to high heat.  Once all the meat is browned.  Make sure you get any of the delicious bits stuck to the pan (deglaze it) by adding a splash of water to the hot pan.  Add all this juice to the meat.

Put the Cardamom pods, cloves and  peppercorns and into a dry hot pan few seconds.  Remove and grind with a pestle and mortar.  Add a tablespoon of oil to the pan, and add the chopped onions, frying them for about 5 minutes, until completely soft.  Try not to let them brown.  

Add the ginger and garlic paste, and fry for a minute or two, before adding the bay leaf, coriander seeds, cumin, paprika, salt, garam masala and cayenne pepper if using.  Add in the browned meat and juices.

Add the tinned tomatoes, followed by the yogurt and stir through.  Add the stock, and place in an oven or a slow cooker on a low heat for as long as possible.  This will need a minimum of 2.5 hours, but if you can leave it for 5-6 it is seriously delicious and melt in the mouth.

This can be cooked on the stove, but its impossible for the meat to go quite so tender on the hob.  It will disintegrate more, and you will have to keep string and checking the liquid levels.

I allow around 5-6 hours in my slow cooker (or 4-5 on a low heat in the oven).  Other than that, I follow this recipe to get the right amount of spice and flavour.  It is pretty fail safe.  Madhur Jaffrey knows what she's talking about!

For this recipe, the slow cooker does all the work.  Yay.   Except the washing up.....Mr PSGC has to do that.

I served ours with basmati rice and popadoms with a yoghurt and curry sauce.

Chopped cucumber, yoghurt and pinch of turmeric and garam masala.  (Some coriander would have been nice, but I didn't have any).

Just as easy as a carry out, and a fraction of the cost.