Rogan Josh Seasoning: Kashmiri Versions, Store Blends and What Makes It Red

In Kashmir, the red in rogan josh comes from a flower or a root as well as from chilies. Rogan josh seasoning is the spice mix for that red lamb or mutton curry, and in Kashmir it isn’t one blend. Hindu Pandit and Muslim cooks make the dish differently, and according to food writer Tara Deshpande, both get its color from dried Kashmiri chilies plus a natural red colorant: cockscomb flower (mawal) or alkanet root (ratan jot).¹ The store-bought “rogan josh seasonings” sold in the U.S. and U.K. are something else again, built on paprika, chili and the warm curry spices.

At a glance

Four named versions side by side

The two Kashmiri versions below are full recipes, so we only list which spices and colorants they use. The two store blends are ingredient lists without quantities.

The two Kashmiri recipes share only Kashmiri chili, the two cardamoms and cinnamon. The Pandit version skips garlic and onion, swaps asafoetida and aniseed in for the garlic, and cooks the meat with yogurt. The Muslim version uses garlic and no yogurt.¹ The store blends add cumin and coriander, which neither Kashmiri recipe lists, and lean on paprika. Penzeys says its version comes from Rajasthan, not Kashmir.²

A fifth version sits somewhere in between. PepperScale’s homemade rogan josh seasoning is a dry blend like the store ones, with cumin and coriander, but it’s built on Kashmiri chili: 2 tablespoons of dried Kashmiri chilies ground to powder, 1 tablespoon ground cumin, 2 teaspoons garlic powder, 1 1/2 teaspoons each ginger powder and ground coriander, 1 teaspoon each paprika and ground cardamom, and 1/2 teaspoon each cayenne, black pepper, cinnamon, cloves and salt.⁴ There’s no red colorant, no black cardamom and no saffron. PepperScale calls it very aromatic from the cardamom, cinnamon and cloves, and suggests using it the way you’d use other curry powders, including in eggs and as a dry rub for red meat.

Where the red comes from

The Kashmiri versions build their red in layers. Both use dried Kashmiri chilies. PepperScale credits Kashmiri chilies with mild heat and a bright red color, and puts them at 1,000 to 2,000 Scoville heat units. That’s the usual range for the pepper, not a measurement of any particular batch.⁴⁵ The Pandit version adds ratan jot, which Deshpande describes as a kind of wood shaving known as alkanet root, or mawal, dried cockscomb flowers. Her fallback is beet powder.¹ The Muslim version uses mawal, saffron and turmeric.

Some cooks use tomato for color. Deshpande considers that incorrect, a stand-in for when mawal and ratan jot aren’t available.¹ Store blends lean on paprika for their red.

Name and origin

Deshpande writes that rogan josh is a Persian name: roughan means “oil” in Persian and josh means “to boil.” She adds that the techniques and ingredients behind the dish are diverse.¹ She names the elaborate feast it belongs to, the Wazwan, and counts Central Asians, some of whom came to be called Mughals, among the groups that shaped Kashmiri culture.

Two claims you’ll see often couldn’t be traced: that rogan shares a root with a word for “red,” and that the Wazwan has exactly 36 courses. Neither shows up in the source we checked.

How to use it

• For the curry. Penzeys has you brown lamb or beef in oil, then brown onion, add the seasoning and salt, return the meat with water and yogurt, and simmer it slowly. For a stronger result, it suggests 2 tablespoons of seasoning per pound of meat.² The Spicery stirs its mix into an onion, garlic, ginger and tomato sauce.
• Heat. Deshpande’s Muslim version takes the seeds out of the chilies. Penzeys calls its blend “just a little spicy” and suggests extra cayenne if you want more heat.²
• Going Kashmiri style. If you can find Kashmiri chilies and mawal or ratan jot, Deshpande’s two recipes are a good place to start.

Buying

Know what you’re buying. A paprika-based U.S. or U.K. blend won’t taste like a Kashmiri rogan josh made with mawal and aniseed. The Spicery’s label warns that its blend may contain celery, mustard and sesame.³

Health

None of the sources we checked support a health claim for rogan josh seasoning. On one of its ingredients, NCCIH says it’s unclear whether cinnamon supplements help with diabetes, and that research doesn’t clearly support using cinnamon for any health condition.⁶

Related

• Garam masala, curry powder and Madras curry powder
• Indian spices and spices for lamb
• Asafoetida, black cardamom and saffron
• Paprika and paprika vs cayenne