BIR Lamb Rogan Josh

BIR Lamb Rogan Josh is a modern British recipe (from British Indian Restaurants) for a classic red curry of lamb in a spicy Bengali-style gravy flavoured with panch phoron (Bengali five-spice). The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: BIR Lamb Rogan Josh.

prep time

10 minutes

cook time

60 minutes

Total Time:

70 minutes

Serves:

4

Rating: 4.5 star rating

Tags : CurryBIR CurriesChilli RecipesSpice RecipesLamb RecipesBritish Recipes


For a long time this was one of my favourite curries… with extra chillies on top, of course. Here, finally is the classic BIR (British Indian Recipe) for a spicy yet aromatic chilli of lamb in a tomato-based gravy with Bengali spices. Note that cassia is used here rather than cinnamon as it helps turn the curry red.

Ingredients:

1kg thick lamb leg steaks (with the bone), cut into large chunks and trimming off any fat
4 tbsp vegetable oil + 1 tbsp ghee
4 cloves
4 cardamom pods
1 piece cassia bark
1 Indian bay leaf (tez pata)
1 tsp Panch Phoron
2 tbsp garlic paste
1 tbsp ginger paste
1 tsp sea salt (or to taste)
1 tbsp tomato purée (tomato paste)
420ml (1 ¾ cups) Home-made tomato puree
5 whole green chillies, tips broken
8-10 cherry tomatoes, halved
handful of fresh coriander (cilantro), chopped
boiling water as needed

For the Spice Mix:
3 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
2 tsp hot chilli powder (I used Scotch bonnet powder)
2 tsp curry powder (Madras curry powder for preference)
3 tsp ground coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin powder
½ tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
½ tsp garam masala

3 green chillies, sliced lengthways, to garnish

Method:

Place a wok or curry pan over high heat. Once hot add in the oil and ghee are hot add the cloves, cardamom pods, cassia and Indian bay leaf. Fry for 1 minute then add the panch phoron, ginger paste and garlic paste. Stir everything into the oil, fry for around 90 seconds to remove the rawness then season with 1 tsp salt.

Now add in your lamb and stir to coat in the spices. Continue cooking for about 5 minutes, until the lamb is coloured on all sides. At this point add 500ml (2 cups) boiling water and use to deglaze the pan. Cover the pan, reduce the heat to medium high and cook for about 30 minutes, until the lamb is tender and cooked through. After about 20 minutes you will probably need to add a further 250ml (1 cup) boiling water.

If you want this faster then don’t cook the lamb from scratch but use pre-cooked lamb instead. Add only 250ml boiling water and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the lamb in later.

Now add in all the spices (except the fenugreek leaves and garam masala) for the spice mix along with the tomato purée. Stir well to combine so the tomato puree dissolves into the oil then add the fresh tomato purée. Combine the ingredients together by stirring thoroughly. Cover the pan and simmer for 5 minutes.

Break the tips of the whole green chillies and add to the pan (this ensures the sauce penetrates the chillies and extracts the heat). Stir in 500ml (2 cups) boiling water, mixing well to combine. Cover the pot with a lid and cook for 10 minutes, by which point the gravy will have thickened.

If you are using pre-cooked lamb instead of fresh lamb add it to the pot at this point.

Crumble over the dried fenugreek leaves and scatter over the garam masala then scatter over the halved cherry tomatoes, followed by a generous handful of chopped coriander. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pan and simmer for 5 minutes.

Turn into a warmed serving dish, garnish with the sliced chillies and serve.