Rogan Josh Shepherd's Pie

A classic curry hailing from the Kashmir district bordering India and Pakistan (and from Persia before that). It's everything you want a lamb curry to be - spicy, fragrant and creamy with shards of perfectly cooked meat.

20 minutes prep

3 hours cook

Serves 4-6

Hugh Woodward

Ingredients

the curry:

2 tbsp ghee/vegetable oil

2 cinnamon sticks

6 clovescardamon

2 red chillis

2 carrots, finely diced

1 large onion, finely diced

1 celery stick, finely diced

1 tbsp flaked sea salt

30 g of eachginger and garlic

3 tbsptomato paste

1 tbspground coriander

1 tbspground cumin

1 tspturmeric

1 tspgaram masala

400ml water

4 lamb shanks

140ml double cream

100ml yoghurt

150g garden peas

Curried mashed potatoes:

1 tbsp ghee/vegetable oil

1/2 tbsp coriander seeds

1/2 tbsp cumin seeds

1 tsp turmeric

1 tbsp flaked sea salt

800g mashed potatoes

2 diced green chilli

There's nothing wrong with enjoying this curry the traditional way, but this wouldn't be a Twisted recipe without our hot take on it would it? So we're suggesting you cover it with a layer of spiced mashed potato to make it a kind of subcontinental spin on a shepherd's pie.

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Find an ovenproof large heavy bottomed casserole and heat the ghee and spices until they begin to crackle.

Add the vegetables and gently sweat for around 10 minutes until softened along with the salt, then fry off the ginger and garlic along with the tomato paste and ground spices then deglaze with the water.

Nestle in the lamb shanks (you can use stewing lamb pieces if you can't get your hands on any), cover with more water if needed and bring to a simmer. Place in the oven and cook until the lamb is falling off the bones, roughly 2 to 3 hours. Stir through the cream, yoghurt and peas and check the seasoning. Pour into a 20cm by 30cm baking dish.

In a small frying pan heat the oil and fry the whole spices, then tip (along with the other ingredients) into a big bowl and mix through the mashed potato. If you want, then the spiced mash to a piping bag with a star nozzle - either way, spread this over the curry, whack the oven temp up to 180°C, drizzle the mash with a little more ghee and bake until the pie is bubbling.