Kashmiri Pandit style Roghan Josh

Kashmiri food is one of India’s great food traditions. It is also, unfortunately, one of the least known. Its ingredients are unconventional, long years of Persian and Afghan influence have tempered the use of spices and the end result is a cuisine where the meat (almost always mutton) holds its own without being overpowered by the masalas.

Roghan Josh is among the few Kashmiri dishes that any meat eater would claim to have eaten in a Mughlai restaurant. This is one of the great tragedies of the dish- for it is definitely not Mughlai and is never prepared in the way it is served in Indian restaurants – at home or abroad. Restaurant Roghan Josh is nothing but a qorma (a yoghurt based gravy) with plenty of whole spices and occasionally tomatoes and cream. The final product may be edible, or even tasty, but is far from the dish it claims to be.

Roghan Josh with Rice, Kashmiri Onion pickle and Haakh 

There are two ways of preparing Roghan Josh in the Valley. The more complex one is the Kashmiri Muslim variant which uses onions, ginger, garlic and some curd and in many ways is quite similar to mainstream North Indian curries, albeit with a different taste. The easier but lesser known version is the Kashmiri Pandit variety. True to its Brahmin roots, it eschews aromatics like shallots and garlic and instead relies on dried and powdered spices. This is what I am chronicling here.

Serves two

Ingredients-

Mutton: 500 g

Do not use boneless mutton. As a stew type dish, a lot of the flavour comes from the simmering bones. Make sure there is some white mutton fat in the meat as well. Roghan means the melted fat that floats to the top after cooking. Meat without fat would not taste half as good.

Cloves: 3

Cinnamon stick: 1

Black Cardamom: 2

Cumin (whole): Half a teaspoon

These four spices are the holy quartet of Kashmiri cooking and are always used to temper the oil and impart flavour

Kashmiri Chilli Powder: One tablespoon

Absolutely essential. You can use crushed whole Kashmiri chillies also. They are very low on heat but impart a wonderful colour and aroma. If you want your dish to be hotter, add in an extra half a teaspoon of normal red chilly powder.

Yoghurt: 2 tablespoons

Dried Ginger powder (Sonth): Half a teaspoon

Asafoetida (Heeng): A pinch

Heeng and Sonth are what differentiate Kashmiri Pandit cooking from the Muslim one. These are direct substitutes for ginger, garlic and the flavour of onions.

Fennel (saunf) powder: 3/4th of a teaspoon

2 green cardamoms and half a teaspoon of cumin freshly ground together.

Salt: As per taste

Mustard Oil: 2 tablespoons

Yes. No ghee. The roghan in the mutton is enough. The unique aroma of mustard oil imparts an earthiness to the dish that any Kashmiri will vouch for.

Hot Water

1. Heat the mustard oil till it turns pale and add in the Asafoetida
2. Add in the mutton and fry on high heat till it changes colour and turns pale brown
3. Add in the cloves, cinnamon, black cardamom and whole cumin and keep frying
4. When you can smell the spices, mix in the chilly powder and yoghurt. Reduce flame and stir till the white of curd disappears
5. Now add in the dried ginger powder, fennel powder, salt and hot water. The amount of water would depend on how you wish to cook. If cooking in an open pan, all of the meat should be well submerged. If pressure cooking, leave some of the meat pieces poking out of the water.
6. Cover and cook till tender
7. Once the meat is done, check for salt and add the crushed cumin and cardamom powder. Mix well and cover for a couple of minutes.
8. Serve directly on white rice with a side of pickled onions

And that is it. No fancy technique, no frying the masala till the oil separates or what have you. Kashmiri cooking is all about the spices and meat cooked long and slow. You will be surprised at how many dishes share these ingredients and how they all manage to taste very different.