Last night I made the recipe in the Penzey's catalog listed under rogan
josh seasoning. I followed it about as exactly as I follow any recipe.
I didn't measure exactly, and I added mushrooms since they were in the
fridge. The mildly spicy beef stew came out well, not Indian restaurant
wonderful, but good enough for me to keep experimenting with this.
Until now, my forays into cooking Indian at home have involved throwing
curry powder onto something. Now I'm inspired.


I wondered about putting yogurt in since I don't normally cook with it
(or eat it plain for that matter), but it didn't seem to hurt anything.
I'm not sure I could taste it though. Maybe I was expecting it to
taste more creamy or more tangy.


I made saffron rice to go with it with toasted almond slivers and currants.


Thanks to all of you who turned me on to Penzey's. I'm pleased.


--Lia

Julia Altshuler wrote:

> I wondered about putting yogurt in since I don't normally cook with it
> (or eat it plain for that matter), but it didn't seem to hurt anything.
> I'm not sure I could taste it though. Maybe I was expecting it to
> taste more creamy or more tangy.

This is how I make it, to the great happiness of my guests from the
Indian subcontinent:
Pressure cook goat meat for 20 minutes with a dried hot chili in it.
Open PC and pick out any bones (I can't get boneless goat). Add the
spices, the yogurt and anything else in the recipe (like salt), and
pressure cook for an hour, open it up and simmer it 20 minutes with
small diced potato and serve. I bet you could do it with lamb without
the PC, but mutton or goat is what it was designed for.
blacksalt

kalanamak wrote:

> This is how I make it, to the great happiness of my guests from the
> Indian subcontinent:
> Pressure cook goat meat for 20 minutes with a dried hot chili in it.
> Open PC and pick out any bones (I can't get boneless goat). Add the
> spices, the yogurt and anything else in the recipe (like salt), and
> pressure cook for an hour, open it up and simmer it 20 minutes with
> small diced potato and serve. I bet you could do it with lamb without
> the PC, but mutton or goat is what it was designed for.


Come to think of it, there was another place I deviated from the recipe.
The recipe called for upping the heat at the end to evaporate water
and thus thicken the sauce. It didn't look like that was going to work
so I made a quick roux and thickened with that. I'll bet a potato would
work as well as a slight thickener.


I used to like goat when I lived in Miami, but I never cooked with it,
just ordered it when I went out. Up here, I wouldn't know where to
begin to find it. (Up here is suburban New England. I'd have to drive
to a major city, shop, have a cooler in the car, pack it with ice, a
whole expedition, feh.) I've got lamb available in the grocery store,
but chose beef because we'd had lamb more recently.


Part of my trouble when I'm excited about experimenting with a new
recipe is that I want to make variations on the same thing over and over
until everyone I know is sick of it. Already I'm thinking of using my
rogan josh and yogurt idea for the chicken I have in the fridge, and
this is when the leftovers from last night's rogan josh and beef still
haven't been consumed.


For more creaminess and tang, I'm thinking I'll use sour cream instead
of yogurt. The only yogurt I could find that didn't have fruit added
was low fat. Either that or I could have bought a quart of full fat
yogurt when I only needed a cup. How does yogurt freeze for cooking?
Could I freeze it in 1 cup portions and use it in stew? I've never
cared for yogurt as a snack or breakfast food. I only bake (and now
cook) with it.


--Lia

"Julia Altshuler" > wrote in message
news:ugPTb.169712$sv6.910877@attbi_s52...
> Last night I made the recipe in the Penzey's catalog listed under rogan
> josh seasoning. I followed it about as exactly as I follow any recipe.
> I didn't measure exactly, and I added mushrooms since they were in the
> fridge. The mildly spicy beef stew came out well, not Indian restaurant
> wonderful, but good enough for me to keep experimenting with this.
> Until now, my forays into cooking Indian at home have involved throwing
> curry powder onto something. Now I'm inspired.
>
>
> I wondered about putting yogurt in since I don't normally cook with it
> (or eat it plain for that matter), but it didn't seem to hurt anything.
> I'm not sure I could taste it though. Maybe I was expecting it to
> taste more creamy or more tangy.
>
>
> I made saffron rice to go with it with toasted almond slivers and
currants.
>
>
> Thanks to all of you who turned me on to Penzey's. I'm pleased.
>
>
> --Lia

I advise you to use Penzey's recipe to the letter. It is devised to get the
best from their mix. I have cooked Rogan Josh at 2 (3?) R.F.C. cook-ins with
great success. I combine both the recipe on the jar and the one in their
catalog, using the maximum called for and extra ingredients in each. If you
are unable to follow a recipe I would recommend using something other than
Penzey's mix. It is really an easy recipe and is always a success. I usually
use leg of lamb although I did use beef at one cook-in by request of a
friend. The beef was fine but not as complex as the lamb. It is my "best"
meat dish - the one I rely on most. Try it again following Penzey's recipe
to the letter. You won't regret it.

Charlie