The Cultural Geography Of Rogan Josh
If we talk about origin of our favorite Rogan Josh, there could be so many outcomes to get. The meaning of Roughan is oil or clarified butter in Urdu & Persian, where the meaning of Josh is to stew or braise to ultimately derives from the verb jušidan which means to boil. Rogan josh, by this definition, can be understand as the stewed in ghee.
Rogan josh is Kashmiri cuisine staple. It’s one of the main food dishes of Kashmiri multi-course meal, Wazwan. Rogan Josh was originally brought into Kashmir by Mughals, whose cuisine was influenced heavily by Persian cuisine. Heat of summer of Indian plains was the reason behind Mughals’ attraction towards Kashmir, which has cool climate thanks to its latitude & elevation.
Rogan josh includes mutton braised with flavoured gravy or the pieces of lamb with ginger, garlic & aromatic spices like bay leaves, cinnamon, cloves & cardamom. And in a few versions with yogurt or onions. Once the initial braising done, the dish might be finished using dampokhtak slow cooking technique. It’s deep red color shows from root of Alkanna tinctoria or dried flowers & from deseeded lal mirch (Kashmiri chillies) & liberal amounts of dried. The chillies with paprika flavor approximately are actually milder than typical Indian cuisine dried cayenne pepper. The spices of the recipe emphasises the aroma instead of heat. Saffron is a part of a few traditional recipes.
Well, there are some differences in the method of preparation between the Muslim & Hindu dishes in Kashmir. Hindus don’t use onion, garlic or praan but add yogurt for additional flavour & body. But the Muslims uses petals of maval, praan, local shallot tasting of garlic, Cockscomb flower for colouring and cooling effect. I found the cool & tasty recipe on Living Foodz.
This Jammu and Kashmir dish is a staple in British curry houses with partly Bangladeshi cuisine menu. It’s an example of dishes from subcontinent which got co-opted when they left the area.