Crockpot Rogan Josh - Slow-Cooked Lamb Curry

Crockpot Rogan Josh

The crockpot is probably the most under-utilized appliance in my kitchen. It's ideal for these wintry days when temperatures plummet to single digits which makes it bone-chilling to open doors and windows so the house can be aired out. Today I dusted off the crockpot and boldly plugged it in. 

I've never used the crockpot (or slow-cooker as it's sometimes called) to cook Indian meat curries. My sister has, but I think she did a lot of the prep on the stovetop and then put it all in the crockpot to cook slowly. I decided to take the shortest shortcut possible, combined everything in the crockpot and allowed it to do its thing. The result was totally amazing. 

My Beli Mashi (Mum's sister) spent a few months with us when I was living in California and she taught me to make Kashmiri Rogan Josh. I marinated the meat with the rest of the ingredients for a couple of hours, then dumped all of it into the crockpot with sliced onions and set it on high for 2 hours. After giving everything a good mix, the crockpot was set to low, potatoes were added and cooked for 5 hours.

The meat just fell off the bones and the potatoes were cooked to perfection. I doubt meat curries in my house will ever be cooked on the stovetop again. Without the botheration of stirring and making sure it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan, it was completely stress-free cooking!

Ingredients:

2 lbs. leg of baby lamb, cut in stew-sized pieces

2 russet potatoes, peeled and cut in large chunks
1-1/2 cups simmering water (I used beef broth)

1/2 tsp. turmeric powder

salt to taste

2 Tbsp. Kashmiri mirch/paprika or chili powder to taste

1 tsp. ginger powder

1 + 1 tsp. fennel powder (reserve 1 tsp. for garnishing)
2 Tbsp. concentrated tomato paste 4 Tbsp. tomato ketchup

1/2 cup deep fried onions

2 large onions, sliced

4 Tbsp. vegetable oil (mustard oil is preferable)

1 Tbsp. ghee

4 cinnamon sticks

4 black cardamoms/badi elaich/boro elaichi

Method:

1. Combine meat with all the ingredients, except water & 1 tsp. fennel powder, and marinate for 2 hours.
2. Pour marinated meat into a cold crockpot and plug it in.
3. Set crockpot to high and cook for 2-1/2 hours.
4. Add potato chunks along with simmering water and stir well.
5. Reduce setting to low and cook for 5 more hours.
6. Unplug crockpot, sprinkle remaining 1 tsp. fennel powder and allow to rest for 10 minutes.

Serve with steamed rice or chapatis.