This recipe is for a traditional Kashmiri lamb Rogan Josh dish. It involves cooking lamb with onions and a mixture of warm spices like cloves, cardamom, fennel and chili. The lamb and onions are browned together in oil to caramelize the onions and sear the meat. A variety of spices, ginger, garlic and tomatoes are then added to the pan along with water. The covered dish simmers for 35-40 minutes until the lamb is very tender. It is served garnished with fresh coriander, tomato and ginger.

1. Lamb Rogan Josh – from TV show Food Safari<br />This is a famous Kashmiri dish and it's something that everyone loves as the lamb becomes so meltingly tender and the spices smell so enticing as you’re cooking them. It's easy to make at home if you have all of the ingredients ready before you start. I use the same weight in onions as the meat – so 1kg meat to 1kg onions. The choice of pan is also very important – you need the ingredients to sit ¼ the height of the pan, so it's quite deep and it should have a heavy base to retain temperature.<br />Ingredients<br />¼ cup vegetable oil 3 bay leaves2 tsp whole cloves3 black cardamom1 tbsp green cardamom1 piece cassia bark1 tsp fennel seeds4 small dried chillies1kg red onions, sliced½ tsp salt 1 tsp turmeric1 tsp chilli powder3 tsp ground coriander2 tsp fresh ginger paste2 tsp fresh garlic paste 1 tbsp chilli puree2 tomatoes, chopped1 tbsp tomato puree1 kg cubed lamb leg or shoulder2 tbsp chopped coriander leavesTomato wedge, julienned ginger and coriander sprig, to serve<br />View Conversion table <br />Preparation<br />Heat enough oil to cover the base of the pan until almost smoking. Add bay leaves, cloves, black and green cardamom, cassia bark, fennel seeds and dried chillies. The black cardamom is the most fun – it always explodes and all those flavours go into the oil. Then the onions and some salt so the onions caramelise faster…you need them brown and sweet for Rogan Josh.While the onions are cooking, measure out the powdered spices. Add the ginger and garlic pastes to the pan then the powdered spices. Stir in chilli puree and a little water to stop the spices from burning. Add tomato and tomato puree and a good pinch of salt and stir well to combine. Now turn the heat up high to add the meat. You want to sear the meat. Stir well so that all of the meat pieces are coated. Add a little more water. Cover with a lid and cook for 35-40 minutes. Just before serving add the chopped coriander, but don't cook it. Garnish with tomato, ginger and coriander.<br />