Inspired By The Mutton Rogan Josh!

The last weekend went pretty thin.It was drab,sleepy and I didnt even feel like venturing anywhere - no movie show, no drive - absolutely nothing, but just rest.Except for an invitation for a relative's place and a couple of motorcycle rides to Dalhousie to capture elements for the "Office Para Walk" of Calcutta Diaries there was hardly anything left to be indulged in.And the blinding sun rays left me thoroughly de-energized.But this weekend I was not complaining. The morning bazaar comprised of Mutton Shanks - Mutton on the bone and they were under a light marinade of vegetable oil,turmeric powder, a little amount of papaya paste and salt.The plan was to prepare a Rich,Thick Creamy Mutton Rogan Josh inspired curry. Similar to the ones which the restaurant serve- excepting being more tastier.

For the authentic Mutton Rogan Josh,which excludes Onions and uses Ratan Jot for that bursting red colour of the gravy I suggest an authentic/established recipe source.Certain dishes are a classic and cannot be tampered and definitely Rogan Josh is one of them. So, whereas most of the ingredients of the curry mentioned below are taken from the Rogan Josh but it is still a "Inspired" dish at the best. But it tastes damn good and goes exceedingly well with Pulao(Pilaf).

The use of papaya for mutton dishes which are cooked under a "Dum" is vital towards making the mutton soft, delicate and tender so that it melts in your mouth.So, we did have a unique tenderizer in our menu.But do note that never overdo the amount of papaya, restrict it to just coating the mutton surface with it, so that the end result is not impacted by its use.I bought a kilo of mutton shanks, a green papaya from the bazaar and was back home. When buying mutton, always buy early,infact as soon as the shop opens. Our para (Bengali for locality) mutton shop opens at 7 ish and I was there ready with the best pieces on offer.

The Marinade:
Ingredients:

• Mutton:1 kg. Pat dry the mutton pieces and do not leave even the slighest amount of moisture.
• Papaya Paste: 3 tb sp.
• Tumeric Powder: 2 tsp.
• Vegetable Oil: 3 tb sp.
• Salt: To taste.

Procedure:

• Mix all the above ingredients together and store in the refrigerator for 7-8 hours.

Cooking:
Ingredients:

• Onion - 500 gms.Slice the onion and divide the sliced onions into 2 portions.Fry one half of the portion until brown and make it into a fine paste.Leave the other sliced portion as-is: it will be used for the curry later.
• Garlic -8-10 cloves.Crushed
• Ginger Powder - 1 tb sp.
• Curd - 100 gms.Finely whisked.
• Ghee - 4 tb sp.
• Vegetable Oil - 5-6 tb sp. 
• Sugar - 1/2 tb sp.
• Salt  to taste

Powdered Spices:

• Asafoetida(Hing) - 1 tsp
• Fennel seed (Saunf) powder - 2 tsp
• Tumeric Powder - 1 tsp
• Coriander Powder - 3 tsp.
• Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder - 4 tsp.

Whole Spices:

• Cinnamon Stick- A couple of 1 inch pieces
• Cloves - Around 10 pieces
• Black Pepper - 10.Crushed.
• Black Cardamon - 3-4.
• Green Cardamon - 5-6

Cookware:

• Use a heavy bottomed pan/wok and will require a lid that seals the wok; thereby leaving no room for the steam to escape. The tenderization of the mutton will be done through the "Dum".

Procedure:

• In medium high of the oven,heat the entire amount of vegetable oil and 2 tb sp of ghee in the pan/wok.
• Once hot, add the entire ingredients of the whole spices.
• Let the spices start to crackle at which point add the asafoetida powder.
• Once the smell of the asafoetida evolves add the: garlic and sliced onion.
• Add a little amount of sugar to the mixture.
• Stir the ingredients till the point the onion slices turn brown.
• Add the mutton from the marinade at this point of time and increase the heat to high.
• The marinade will contain a lot of moisture. Stir the mutton pieces - till the point the moisture has vapourized completely.
• Add the following powdered spices: turmeric powder,coriander powder and kashmiri red chilli powder and give the spices a thorough mix. The spices should be distributed uniformly with the mutton.This should require around 8-10 mins.
• Add the fried-paste-brown onions and stir for another 5-6 minutes. While stirring ensure that the mutton doesnot stick to the bottom of the pan.
• Add salt to taste at this point and give it a proper mix.
• Add 100 ml of warm water to the mixture and seal the pan with a lid.
• Check every 15 mins.Add more water if required and stir up the mixture once again. Repeat this process for a couple of hours to ensure that the mutton becomes buttery soft.
• Once the mutton is done, add ginger powder, fennel seed powder and whisked yoghurt.Stir and mix for sometime(2-3 mins) to ensure that the gravy is homogenous.
• Top up the gravy with the remaining amount of ghee and serve hot with pulao.