Rogan josh ( English: /ˌroʊɡən ˈdʒɑʃ/);Rogan Josh
Oxford English Dictionary ), also spelled roghan josh or roghan ghosht, is an

aromatic In organic chemistry, aromaticity is a chemical property describing the way in which a conjugated system, conjugated ring of unsaturated bonds, lone pairs, or empty orbitals exhibits a stabilization stronger than would be expected from conjugati ...

curried meat dish originating from

Kashmir Kashmir ( or ) is the Northwestern Indian subcontinent, northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term ''Kashmir'' denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir P ...

, it is one of the main dishes in the wazwan, the traditional multi-course Kashmiri feast. It is made with red meat—traditionally lamb, mutton, or

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a species of Caprinae, goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the ...

—and coloured and flavoured primarily by alkanet flower (or root) and Kashmiri chilies. It is one of the signature recipes of Kashmiri cuisine.

Etymology

A number of origins of the name have been suggested. ''Rawghan'' means " clarified butter" or "oil" in Persian, while ''jōš'' means to "stew" or "braise"''From Bonbon to Cha-cha: The Oxford Dictionary of Foreign Words and Phrases'', Oxford:OUP, 2009, p.297 and ultimately derives from the verb ''jōšīdan'' meaning "to boil". Rogan josh, by this definition, may mean "stewed in ghee". An alternative etymology is that the name derives from the Kashmiri word ''roghan'', "red", along with the word either for "meat", (''gošt'') often romanized as "rogan ghosht" or "gosht", or a word meaning "juice", giving possible meanings of "red meat" or "red juice". The exact etymology remains uncertain as both "rogan josh" and "rogan ghosht" are used to refer to the dish and it is unclear which of the names is the original.Ayto, ''The Diner's Dictionary: Word Origins of Food and Drink'', Oxford: OUP, 2012, p.309

Origin

Rogan josh is a staple of Kashmiri cuisine and is one of the main dishes of the

i multi-course meal, the '' wazwan''. The dish was originally brought to Kashmir by the Mughals, whose cuisine was, in turn, influenced by Persian cuisine. The unrelenting summer heat of the central Indian plains took the

Mughals The Mughal Empire was an early modern empire in South Asia. At its peak, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus River Basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to the highlands of pre ...

frequently to the country's northern region, Kashmir, which has a cooler climate because of its elevation and latitude.

Preparation

Rogan josh consists of pieces of lamb or mutton braised with a gravy flavoured with garlic,

ginger Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is an herbaceous perennial that grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of l ...

and aromatic spices (

clove Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, ''Syzygium aromaticum'' (). They are native to the Maluku Islands, or Moluccas, in Indonesia, and are commonly used as a spice, flavoring, or Aroma compound, fragrance in fin ...

bay leaves The bay leaf is an aromatic leaf commonly used as a herb in cooking. It can be used whole, either dried or fresh, in which case it is removed from the dish before consumption, or less commonly used in ground form. The flavour that a bay leaf ...

cardamom Cardamom (), sometimes cardamon or cardamum, is a spice made from the seeds of several plants in the genus (biology), genera ''Elettaria'' and ''Amomum'' in the family Zingiberaceae. Both genera are native to the Indian subcontinent and Indon ...

, and

cinnamon Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, biscuits, b ...

), and in some versions incorporating onions or yoghurt. After initial braising, the dish may be finished using the dampokhtak slow-cooking technique.Singh (1973), p.58 Its characteristic deep red colour traditionally comes from dried flowers or root of ''

Alkanna tinctoria ''Alkanna tinctoria'', the dyer's alkanet or simply alkanet, is a herbaceous flowering plant in the borage family Boraginaceae. Its roots are used to produce a red dye. The plant is also known as dyers' bugloss, orchanet, Spanish bugloss, or Lan ...

'' (''ratan jot'') and from liberal amounts of dried, deseeded Kashmiri red chilli (''lal mirch''). There are different approaches in preparation: Some use ''praan'', a local form of shallot, and petals of ''maval'', the cockscomb flower, for colouring (and for its supposed "cooling" effect); others may add yoghurt and

asafoetida Asafoetida (; also spelled asafetida) is the dried latex (Natural gum, gum oleoresin) exuded from the rhizome or tap root of several species of ''Ferula'', perennial herbs of the carrot family. It is produced in Iran, Afghanistan, Central As ...

to give additional body and flavor.

Adaptations

While the traditional preparation uses whole dried chilies that are de-seeded, soaked in water, and ground to a paste, non-traditional shortcuts use either Kashmiri chili powder (available in Indian stores) or a mixture of paprika (predominantly) and cayenne pepper, adjusted to taste. ( Madhur Jaffrey's recipeRecipe Source: Rogan Josh - Madhur Jaffrey
/ref> calls for a 4:1 ratio of paprika to cayenne.) An updated version served in Sanjeev Kapoor's restaurants uses white and black cardamom, anise, and bay leaves. Many western interpretations of the dish add tomatoes to the sauce. This is especially common with ready-made pour-over cooking sauces to the point where the dish may be considered tomato-based. The authenticity of including tomatoes is disputed: some authors state that tomatoes are not part of the traditional dish or of traditional Indian cuisine and should not be included. However, other authors have specifically referred to rogan josh as a dish based around meat and tomatoes, while others have identified tomatoes with a Punjabi version of the dish as opposed to a Kashmiri one.

With other meats

There is a variety with beef as well, brisket being preferred.

References