Lamb Rogan Josh with homemade naan bread

First off, heat a saucepan and dry roast the cardamom, coriander, paprika, turmeric and cloves until fragrant. Remove from the pan and transfer to a pestle and mortar.

Next, heat the olive oil until very hot and brown the lamb knuckles. Remove the meat from the pan.

Heat the butter in the same pan, and sauté the onion, ginger, garlic and chillies.

While that is happening, grind the dry-roasted spices in the pestle and mortar and add them to the sautéed ingredients.

Add the cans of tomato, stock and yoghurt and simmer for 5 minutes.

Transfer your Rogan Josh gravy to a food processor and blend. Sieve this blended sauce to get rid of all the hard pieces from the spices to ensure a silky smooth gravy.

Return the sauce to the pan, add the browned meat and cinnamon stick and leave to cook on low heat for 2 – 3 hours, stirring every now and then.

For the naan bread

Combine the instant yeast with sugar and hot water. Leave until frothy. Add the warm milk and yoghurt. Mix.

Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl (flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.) Add the frothy yeast mix to the dry ingredients, mixing through and kneading the dough until combined and sticky. You should be able to form the dough into balls easily. Cover with cling wrap and leave for about 1 hour.

After an hour, roll the dough into small balls using flour to dust the surface of your workspace. Flatten or roll the dough into a thin disk, dab with melted butter and transfer to a cast iron skillet/pan on medium heat. Be sure to use a lid while the naan bread cooks. You will see small bubbles showing on the top side of the bread. Dab the other side with butter and turn it over – covering the pan/pot with a lid while cooking. It takes about a minute or two on each side.

Serve your Lamb Rogan Josh with yoghurt, fresh coriander and homemade naan bread for a delicious comforting feast.

Serves 4 – 6.

Recipe reprinted with permission of Anina’s Recipes. To see more recipes, please click here.