Simple Lamb Curry: Lamb Rogan Josh

When deciding what to have for dinner last night, I realised that I hadn't had lamb for an unusually long period of time. I dredged through my memory therefore for the details of this simple lamb curry recipe, my version of Lamb Rogan Josh, and decided that this - accompanied by a naan bread - was just that for which I was in the mood.

The quantites used in this simple recipe are for one hungry person.

Ingredients

1/2lb diced leg of lamb
1 large onion (chopped)
2 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
1 14oz can of chopped tomatoes in tomato juice
1 tbsp low fat natural yoghurt
1 tsp powdered coriander seed
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp ground cumin seed
1 tbsp freshly chopped coriander (known by its Spanish name, "Cilantro," in the USA)
Salt to taste
1 tbsp sunflower or corn oil

Method

Add the oil to a fairly large pot and bring it up to a medium heat before adding the onions and the garlic. Stir fry these ingredients with a wooden spoon for a couple of minutes until the onions begin to take on a transluscent quality. Add the four spices and fry for another minute or so, stirring continually.

Add the diced leg of lamb and turn up the heat, stirring to brown the lamb evenly. Pour in the chopped tomatoes and the natural yoghurt and bring to a boil.

When the mixture is boiling, turn down the heat to the abolute minimum and simmer as gently as possible for one and a half hours, stirring occasionally. Note here that I have in the past sometimes found that the liquid has almost fully evaporated before the rogan josh is ready. If this should be the case, simply add a little boiling water as required.

When the lamb rogan josh is ready, season to taste with salt, stir in the chopped coriander and serve with a warm naan bread.

Indian Cookery can often be thought of as fairly complicated, more than anything due to the number of different spices which are commonly used. Madhur Jaffrey is well known for her TV appearances demonstrating wonderful Indian cooking and currently has some instructional books on same available on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.