Does it sound something unnatural? Okay, you mean to say if it is mutton rogan josh then at the same time it should not be considered as a vegetarian dish. AND if you are looking for vegetable rogan josh then you will not definitely want to see mutton in your dish. Then why is it called as vegetarian mutton rogan josh, absolute nonsense? RIGHT? But WAIT….. it is vegetarian mutton rogan josh, haha.
I think it is irritating, vegetarian mutton rogan josh is an absolutely WICKED name of this dish. Okay let me tell you that no meat is added here, I mean no chicken, no mutton, no lamb, no fish, absolutely nothing. It is a purely vegetarian dish. Then did who give this name? Is he out of his mind? Haha.
Actually, jack-fruit is added, I mean raw green jack-fruit along with all other spices for any rogan josh recipe. I think still you are not satisfied with this answer, IS IT NOT TRUE? Okay fine, actually here in West Bengal most vegetable sellers usually call this green jack-fruit as ‘Gaachh Paatha’ (in Bengali) or ‘Plant Mutton’. That is why I call this as vegetarian mutton rogan josh or simply vegetable rogan josh.
Actually, most of the traditional jackfruit recipes are similar to mutton recipes. There are many jackfruit dishes which are very spicy & come with extra chilli taste. A lot of garlic & ginger are added to jackfruit dishes. That is why Bengali people love green jack-fruit a lot. So I hope you can understand the name of this food is not that much unjustified or you can say it name (vegetarian mutton rogan josh) is not weird at all.
But fresh green jackfruit is not available throughout the year because it is summer fruit so we can see green jackfruit on the plant during early summer. Particularly in Bengal, jackfruit plants can easily be visible across the region. So if you are living in this region during summer then you may observe many jack-fruits hanging on those plants.
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You can try this vegetarian mutton rogan josh or vegetable rogan josh with plain rice or roti/naan/paratha etc. Though I prefer to have this dish with plain rice but you will also enjoy this with butter naan or any other kind of Indian bread.
Vegetarian mutton rogan josh recipe
- 400 gm green jackfruit, remove skin, cut into pieces
- 1 tbsp onion paste or 2 medium size onion
- 3 tsp ginger paste
- 2 tsp garlic paste
- ½ cup water or more
- Salt as needed
- 2.5 tsp red chilli powder
- 2.5 tsp cumin powder
- 2 tsp fennel powder
- 2 tsp garam masala (cardamom, cinnamon, cloves)
- 1.5 tsp asafoetida (Hing)
- 2.5 tsp turmeric powder
- 1.5 tbsp oil for frying
- Remove hard skin of green jackfruit, then cut into pieces, boil those pieces in water for 5-6 minutes, drain water and keep those jackfruit pieces aside for further use
- Heat oil in a cooking wok, add ginger paste, garlic paste and finally onion paste and cook well till it releases oil
- Now add all spices (red chilli powder, cumin powder, fennel powder/paste, garam masala, asafoetida, turmeric powder) to bring actual taste of rogan josh and mix well
- Now add those boiled jackfruit pieces, fry with all spices for next 4-5 minutes
- Then pour ½ cup of water (or more water if needed) and stir to mix with all spices, now cook it on low fire for 5-7 minutes
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