Mutton on the bone, browned in hot fat and simmered with yoghurt, fennel, dried ginger and Kashmiri chilli into a deep red gravy that's fragrant more than fiery.
What makes it rogan josh
Mutton on the bone, browned in hot fat.
Kashmiri chilli for colour, with fennel and dried ginger for flavour.
Yoghurt whisked in — and no tomato.
Where it comes from
One of the great dishes of the wazwan, and the Kashmiri dish best known abroad. The name is usually read from Persian — rogan for fat or oil, josh for heat or intensity — and it's often linked to the Mughal emperors who summered in Kashmir, though that's more story than record.
Muslim and Pandit families cook it differently. Muslim cooks often use onion, garlic and cockscomb flower for colour; Pandit cooks leave out onion and garlic and use more yoghurt and asafoetida. The restaurant rogan josh made with tomato and onion is a relative, not the thing itself.
How it varies
Pandit rogan josh
No onion or garlic; asafoetida and more yoghurt.
Restaurant rogan josh
Onion and tomato, and more spice — the version most of the world knows.