Bhut Jolokia Lamb Rogan Josh Recipe

Method

1. Heat your oven to 160°C. First make your spice blend. Heat a small oven and flameproof casserole dish (max 9” diameter) with a tight-fitting lid over a medium heat. Dry fry the following spices for 2-3 minutes without burning: coriander seeds, cumin seeds, black peppercorns, cloves and the seeds from the cardamom pods. Transfer to a spice grinder and grind finely.
2. Roughly chop the onion, garlic cloves and peeled ginger and purée together in a blender or small food processor.
3. Add sunflower oil to the casserole dish over a medium heat. Spoon in the pureed onion, garlic and ginger along with the ground spices, fine salt and ground turmeric. Fry for 3-5 minutes, stirring regularly to prevent sticking. Then the lamb neck and brown for a further 5-7 minutes.
4. Meanwhile prepare your bhut jolokia chilli. Make tiny snips around the chilli pod using the tip of sharp scissors. Each cut shouldn’t be large enough for seeds to come out. They are just to help the chilli infuse the curry sauce.
5. Add 200ml water, the bhut jolokia chilli pod, bay leaves, cinnamon stick and chopped tinned tomatoes to the pan with the onion and spices. Stir and bring to the boil. Cover with lid and place in the oven for 1 ½ hours to cook. Check and gently stir the curry halfway through the cooking time, taking great care not to break up the chilli pod.
6. If the stew has a lot of liquid, rest the lid back at a slight angle when you return it to the oven and leave a 1cm gap to allow extra water to evaporate, so the sauce can thicken. Alternatively, if the curry looks dry, add a little water and place the lid on tightly.
7. When the cooking time is up, remove from oven, discard the chilli pod, cinnamon stick and bay leaves. Add the sugar and stir well.
8. Serve with plenty of yoghurt and cooked basmati rice.