Almond-Pork Curry (Rogan Josh)

Well friends, the votes are in.......Dont know what I'm talking about? I was conducting a poll on my blog about the reader's favourite set of lemon rice pictures. And the winner is...Set 2 (Pictures 2 & 4) which, as many of you guessed, is my choice too!! Yaaay!!! I believe I proved my point, we should stick to what we do best. JM is the best at photography between the two of us and I guess food styling should be left to me! But to tell you the truth, I value JM's suggestions a lot, but sometimes, we do disagree!! That happens, right? Like a few readers mentioned, the pictures of rice in the bowl does look wholesome and would probably be how I would serve when I have guests over. Thanks a lot everyone who took a minute to participate in the poll, I had a lot of fun!!

Please dont forget to vote for my entry: Black forest cake at the "Great Cooks Community: Kid Friendly Cooking" event. I would really appreciate your support. Click on the link below and vote for JZ's black forest cake. For the original recipe, click here.

http://www.greatcooksblogroll.com/group/greatcookscountyfair

Last night I made "Rogan josh" at home. Until now I thought "rogan" meant lamb in some other language. After a bit of research on the net, I am as confused as ever. On wiki, it is mentioned that rogan means clarified butter and josh means fiery, hot or passionate! It is also mentioned that almost always it is made with lamb. But another site mentions that rogan means red. I am more inclined to go with rogan = red! If anyone knows the actual deal, please let me know. Anyhow, I was going through the Betty Crocker's Indian cookbook and the chef mentioned that lamb can be substituted with beef or pork. So I adapted the recipe to be made with pork. When I work on unfamiliar territories like this one, I usually follow the recipe as such. The speciality of this particular recipe was that it involved baking the meat in the oven for a long time and the meat came out succulent, moist and perfectly cooked! I just do not have words to explain how rich, creamy and tasty it was. I wish you all couldve had it!! As you all might know, this Kashmiri dish is a rich curry with almonds and cream, so dazzle the eyes of your guests with this "fit-for-a-king" recipe! Enjoy!

Recipe:

Lamb/Beef/Pork - 1 lb, cut into 2" cubes
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Red onion - finely chopped, 1/2 cup
Ginger - finely chopped, 2 tbsp
Garlic - 5 medium cloves, finely chopped
Slivered almonds - 1/2 cup, ground
Red chilly powder/ cayenne pepper - 1/2 tsp
Vegetable oil - 2 tbsp
Tomato sauce - 1/2 cup
Water - 3/4 cup
Fresh cilantro - 2 tbsp, freshly chopped
Whipping (heavy) cream - 1/2 cup

To grind together:

Cardamom seeds - 1/2 tsp
Whole cloves - 1/2 tsp
Black peppercorns - 1/4 tsp
Coriander seeds - 1 tsp ( I used coriander powder)

Method:

Heat oil in a heavy pan over medium-high heat.

Add the cumin seeds and sizzle for 15-30 seconds.

Toss in the onions, ginger and garlic and stir-fry for 3-5 minutes or until onion and garlic are light brown.

Add the ground almonds, ground coriander, salt, red pepper, cardamom powder, ground cloves and ground black pepper.

Stir-fry for 1-2 minutes or until the almonds are partially brown.

Stir in the tomato sauce and 1/4 cup of water and reduce heat.

Partially cover and simmer for 4-5 minutes or until a thin film of oil separates from the sauce.

Stir in the meat and a half of the cilantro.

Heat oven to 300F.

Cover and simmer for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the meat is partially cooked.

Stir in the remaining water.

Spoon the meat mixture into an ungreased casserole/baking dish and cover with foil.

Bake for 40-45 minutes.

Uncover and bake for 45 minutes longer or until the meat is tender and the sauce is slightly thickened.

Remove from the oven and gently stir in whipping cream and cilantro.

Seve hot with rice or any Indian bread.

Source: Betty Crocker's Indian Homecooking, Recipes by Raghavan Iyer.

Tips:

1. I used about 2.3 lbs of pork. For this, I just doubled all the ingredients except salt.
2. I had less that a cup of almonds, so I used a few cashews to compensate.
3. I used store-bought 12 oz can of tomato paste which yields about 1 cup.
4. While adding water with the tomato paste (to simmer) I had to add more than what was mentioned in the recipe.