Not Just a Man's World

This was an effort to achieve two things.  Firstly, I wanted to try out the rogan josh recipe with a meat other than beef.  Secondly, I wanted to see if it worked alright without the more primal ingredients.  It was a success on both counts and the pork was a particularly good touch.  I also did this as a slow cooker dish this time, but I’ve left the instructions below as non-slow cooker ones in case you don’t have a slow cooker.

So here is the slightly tweaked and updated recipe.

Paleo pork rogan josh

Ingredients (serves 3-4)
2 tbsp olive oil (or ghee)
1kg pork, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1 inch ginger root, peeled and grated (or finely chopped if using a hand blender)
4 fresh red chillies, chopped (seeds from one chilli retained)
Seeds from 4 green cardamon pods – crack them using the side of a knife blade and then peel away the pod skin over a bowl, saving the black seeds and discarding the green casing
4 cloves
2 tsp coriander seeds
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
1 bay leaf
1 inch piece of cinnamon stick or ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
150ml hot water
¼ tsp garam masala

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. Heat the oil (or ghee) in a large flameproof casserole dish and brown the meat in batches.  Remove the meat from the pot and set aside while you prepare the sauce.
3. Using a hand blender or a pestle and mortar grind together the garlic, ginger, chillies, cardamon seeds, cloves, coriander, cumin, paprika and salt to create a red paste.
4. Put the onion in the oil and stir over a high heat for 3-4 minutes (don’t leave unstirred or the onion will burn).  At the end of this time add the spice paste and bay leaf and stir together over the heat until fragrant.
5. Return the meat and any juices in the bowl to the casserole dish, mix in with the spices and onion and simmer for 2-3 minutes.
6. Stir in the cinnamon and hot water (if slow cooking, only use enough hot water to cover the meat).
7. Place in the oven for 1.25 hours – the meat should be tender and the sauce slightly reduced.  If using a slow cooker, transfer to the slow cooker dish and cook on low for 6-8 hours.
8. Discard the bay leaf and cinnamon stick (if using one) and stir in the garam masala.  Skim some of the surplus oil off the surface, unless you are used to oily curries, and serve.

Related posts:

1. Paleo recipes: beef Rogan Josh (primal)
2. Paleo recipes: pork, mushroom and leek casserole
3. Paleo recipes: slow-cooker pork jalfrezi
4. Paleo recipes: slow-cooked coconut ginger pork