Vegan Kashmiri Rogan Josh Curry & Paste (Gluten Free)

“Kashmiri Rogan Josh”, a name that brings to my memories pristine snow-covered mountains and valleys with breath-taking natural beauty as far as you can see. I haven’t been to Kashmir for several decades now and all my memories are limited to when I was a little girl visiting the absolutely gorgeous landscape. My mother however, did bring back this recipe and made it quite often on colder nights to warm us all up.

Authentic Kashmiri Rogan Josh is made without onion or garlic and, more importantly with no tomatoes! The gorgeous red colour actually comes from a herb called Alkanet, widely grown across India and some parts of Europe. I couldn’t find any locally so have substituted with sweet red Paprika. In my recipe, the meat traditionally used has been replaced by cubed vegetables mainly, sweet potatoes and eggplant lightly cooked in the Airfryer.  With a gorgeous coconut yogurt and spices gravy, this mouth-watering dish is definitely a keeper!

Let’s make our Kashmiri Rogan Josh Curry and Paste,

For the Curry Paste,

• Green Cardamom Pods – 8
• Black Cardamom Pods – 2
• Cinnamon Bark – 2″ piece
• Cloves – 10
• Indian Bay Leaves – 4
• Fennel Seeds – 1 tablespoon
• Dried Ginger Root – 1 tablespoon
• Black Pepper Corn – 1/2 teaspoon
• Sweet Red Kashmiri Chillies, whole – 12 or, Sweet Paprika Flakes – 2 tablespoons
• Garam Masala – 2 teaspoons. Click here for my recipe.
• Lemon Juice – 2 to 3 tablespoons

Grind the dry spices to a fine powder and then mix in the lemon juice. Store in a glass jar in the fridge until ready to use.

Vegan Kashmiri Rogan Josh Curry

(Vegan, gluten free, onion and garlic free curry with sweet potatoes and eggplant.)

INGREDIENTS –

Vegetable stock – 2 tablespoons instead of Oil – 1 tablespoon
Rogan Josh Curry Paste – 2 tablespoons
Sweet Potatoes, peeled and cubed into 2″ pieces – 1 cup
Eggplant, cubed into 2″ pieces – 1 cup
Coconut Yogurt, whisked – 1.5 cup
Fresh Coriander Paste – 1 tablespoon

DIRECTIONS –

1. Cook all the vegetable chunks in the Airfryer until lightly golden for 15 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius.

2. In the mean time, add the veggie stock (if substituting for oil) in a deep pan.

3. Add in the paste and cook well.

4. Stir in the air fried vegetable pieces and coat well in the spice paste mix. Add in spoonfuls of veggie stock to prevent the vegetables from sticking to the pan.

5. Add the whisked coconut yogurt and simmer until the spices infuse into the veggies.

6. Take off the heat and mix in Coriander paste.

Serve warm with steamed rice or, flatbread.

NOTES –

This Kashmiri Rogan Josh curry and paste are easily made with other chunky vegetables like mushrooms or zucchini or, even Seitan pieces would taste delicious.
Authentic Rogan Josh is made without onions, tomatoes or garlic.