Easy Authentic Rogan Josh

The one thing I try to stick to with these recipes are to find the healthiest way to cook them. I find a lot of Indian food cooked in the UK to be a bit too oily from the large amount of ghee that is used which is unnecessary. Also, the best thing for me about this dish, is that it uses a lean cut of meat so the fat is removed making this a very healthy curry. The flavour doesn't need to be from 'marbled fat' running through it - it is so packed with flavour from the spices you can use lean meat.

In fact this dish is also good with skinless chicken breasts. Here I have used lamb. Its warming a spicy and I love it.

1 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled 
3 garlic cloves, peeled
2 tbsp. water
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
500g lamb leg steaks, trimmed of any fat and diced
seeds from 5 cardamom pods
1 bay leaf
5 peppercorns
1 cinnamon stick
4 cloves
2 onions, peeled
1 tbsp. butter
1 tsp. ground coriander
2 tsp. chilli flakes
2 tsp. cumin seeds
2 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. salt
4 tbs. plain yogurt
100ml water
1 tbsp. garam masala
1 tbsp. dried curry leaves, crumbled
fresh coriander for garnish

Finely chop one of the onions and put in a bowl. In a hand blender, puree the other onion and add it to the bowl. Put onions to one side. In hand blender, blitz the garlic and ginger with 2 tbsp. water to make a paste. Put to one side. In a pan add 1 tbsp. of oil and fry the lamb cubes until browned. Remove from the pan and set to one side.

In the same pan, add the bay leaf, peppercorns, cloves and cinnamon stick with a further tbsp. oil. Cook until the bay leaf is beginning to brown and then add the chopped and pureed onions along with the tbsp. butter. Cook for 5-10 minutes on a medium heat until browned. Then add the garlic/ginger paste and continue to cook for another 5 minutes. Now add the meat and resting juices back to the pan and stir fry for 1 minute.

Add one tablespoon of the yoghurt and stir in. Then add another, until 4 tbsp. have been put in. Combine well and then add the water. Bring to a boil and then simmer on the lowest heat for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. You may need to top up the water if its drying out.

After the 2 hours the lamb should be melt in the mouth soft with a thickened sauce. Add the garam masala and the curry leaves and stir through for last 5 minutes of cooking.

Serve with basmati rice and fresh coriander. And a naan bread of you like. Delicious!

Mango Cake with Mango Buttercream Filling

I have had a large tin of mango puree in the store cupboard for quite a while, that was kindly given to me. I had intended on using it in a savoury dish but hadn't got round to it. So I decided to make a mango cake - its really easy too.

I used to dislike mangos up until I was sitting at breakfast one morning in Tenerife and had some fresh mango for breakfast, which was juicy, sweet and just divine! I have never looked back. Now, I don't know why, but I rarely see mango cakes. It is now probably my favourite fruit and I think there needs to be more mango recipes out there. I plan to experiment this week.

Ingredients:

170g butter

225g caster sugar

3 eggs

1/2 tsp. vanilla essence

180g self raising flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 cup tinned mango puree (about 400g)

 

 

Set the oven to 160 C and line a greased loaf tin with greaseproof paper.

 

With a hand mixer, mix the butter and sugar on high until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time and incorporate. Add the vanilla essence. Fold in the flour and baking powder and then stir in the mango puree to make a batter. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and cook for about 1 hour, checking occasionally. The cake is ready when you put a skewer in the middle and it comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cook completely.

 

For the buttercream filling:

 

225g butter, room temperature

125g icing sugar

1/2 cup (about 200g) mango puree.

 

Beat first the butter and then add the sugar in, a bit at a time. Keep beating and then add the mango puree until incorporated. If it is too thin, add some more icing sugar. The buttercream will firm up in the fridge. (Notes on buttercream at the bottom of this page).

 

Cut the cake in half lengthways and spread the butter cream on both inside levels. Put in the fridge to firm up a little and then press the top gently onto the bottom, with the buttercream touching. Dust with icing sugar to serve.

 

 

Slightly ironically, the day after I made this I managed to snag a bargain of 8 large mangos for £2.79 in a local food store! So now I have to get my thinking cap on to use them up.

 
 

Note: Troubleshooting buttercream. If the butter won't incorporate, its probably because the butter is too cold. Scoop a few spoon of the mix and heat in the microwave. Then add that back to the main mixture and beat together. If the buttercream splits, it usually means you need to use a higher strength beater. Put the mixture into a tall pot and use a hand blender. You should get perfect smooth buttercream.