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Ruby red Rogan Josh is a jewel in Kashmiri cuisine. Heady spices feature in abundance flavouring a rich and thick curry sauce that is at once sweet, fruity and smoky. This is my personalised version of the traditional dish that replaces lamb for succulent chicken and is a comfortable heat. Let me share with you my chicken Rogan Josh.
Spice-shy and anti-tomato? Try a dreamy, creamy and mild chicken korma. My dairy-free recipe is a reassuringly safe curry dish you can make with coconut milk and ground almonds.
What is Rogan Josh?
Rogan Josh is a medium-hot curry from the Kashmir region to the Northwest of India. The recipe is said to have been rooted in Persia and before travelling to the subcontinent with the Mughals more than 200 years ago. This is where it picked up the trademark Indian spices it contains today.
With murky origins come conflicting interpretations. The Persian root would suggest that rogan means ‘oil’ and josh means ‘stew’. While in Urdu, a commonly spoken language of the region, roghan means ‘red’ and ghosht means ‘meat’, or ‘red meat’.
Both make perfect sense to me, the former referring to the cooking method and the latter referring to the ingredients.
Rogan Josh truly is gloriously red in colour owing to the vibrant Kashmiri chili and the root of the alkanet flower, which is used as a natural red dye. I haven’t used the root in this recipe so don’t worry, there’s no need to seek it out!
However, this complex-flavoured dish does contain 10 different spices, ground and whole: Kashmiri chilli, cayenne pepper, coriander, cumin, paprika, cardamom, bay, cinnamon, clove, and garam masala. The intricate blend of spices is what makes it unmistakably Indian infusing whole juicy chicken thighs and the tomato and yoghurt gravy.
Featuring in the top five most-loved curries in both the UK and the USA, you might have enjoyed a Rogan Josh in your local Indian restaurant, but have you ever considered making one from scratch?
Recipe Tips and Notes
- Don’t be intimidated by a curry recipe from scratch. The secret is to be organised and take your time. Doesn’t sound like you?! It’s not always me! I have got a jar of This is an affiliate link.Patak’s Rogan Josh paste (not sauce) in my cupboard for those days. Feel free to use a store-bought paste too if you need to.
- This recipe is my adaptation of Madhur Jaffrey’s Lamb Rogan Josh. I bought her cookbook decades ago, the first Indian cookbook I ever bought. Authentic Indian dishes were not as accessible in Canada back then and I learned to cook them from her.
- Traditionally, Rogan Josh is made with lamb. It is tender and delicious, a real treat! But it takes more time to cook. When I’m short on time, I substitute with skinless, boneless chicken thighs, which cook quickly, are a just as tasty twist, and are more economical.
- This recipe calls for the use of whole spices and ground spices in two separate stages. The whole spices get to sizzle in the pan and flavour the oil and the ground ones are blended into a paste that permeates the meat. This attention to detail is what yields a restaurant-quality dish.
- Making curry at home means you’re in control. Kashmiri chilies are fairly mild and can be substituted with paprika. I use 3 tsp + ½ tsp of cayenne for a smoky flavour with a hint of heat. You can adapt the spiciness to your own taste by playing with these two ingredients and their ratio.
- If you don’t have ground Kashmiri chili powder, use paprika. While Kashmiri chili has more of a fruity flavour, paprika is smokier, either will lend the all-important red colouring to the dish. The heat in the curry comes from the ground cayenne pepper. You can also dial this up or down to your preference.
- Use full fat plain yoghurt or Greek yoghurt, but not low fat as it curdles. For an even richer curry sauce, you can use heavy (double (UK)) cream.
- Garam masala is a fragrant spice mix that should be sprinkled into the finished curry. This way the aroma is released and wafts from the dish rather than evaporating and fading before it reaches the table.
Serving suggestions
Our family-style curry feast will always consist of a main meat curry, a vegetarian side, rice and bread. With this chicken rogan josh, I would serve aloo gobi, coconut rice and naan.
I tend to make my own naan flatbreads. It’s so easy once you know how! My recipe uses 5 standard kitchen cupboard staples, and they take a minute to cook. The dough will need a rest though, so you should start that before making your curry.
Storage and leftovers
Leftover curry is a next-day delight! The deeply aromatic flavours intensify, and the dish is even bolder. Store any leftovers in an This is an affiliate link.airtight container for up to 3 days. Either reheat gently on the stovetop or in the oven at 160C/320F for 15 minutes covered with foil.
Due to the yoghurt content in this chicken rogan josh recipe, I wouldn’t freeze it. Dairy products become grainy and watery on thawing and this alters the texture of the dish.
More curry recipes
- Chicken Curry with Potatoes
- Butter Chicken Curry
- Chickpea and Butternut Squash Curry
- Indian Kofta Curry (Meatball Curry)
Chicken Rogan Josh
Equipment
- This is an affiliate link.Food processor
- This is an affiliate link.Cast iron pan
Ingredients
For the paste
- 1 large onion
- 6 cloves garlic
- 2 inch / 5 cm peeled ginger
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2-4 tsp Kashmiri ground chilli, or 3 tsp paprika plus 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp This is an affiliate link.smoked paprika
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
For the curry
- 1 tbsp ghee, or vegetable oil
- 1kg / 2lbs skinless boneless chicken thighs
- 5 cardamon pods
- 2 This is an affiliate link.bay leaves
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 5 whole cloves
- 100g / 1/3 cup This is an affiliate link.canned chopped tomatoes, or 1 large chopped tomato
- 6 tbsp plain yogurt, full fat
- 250ml / 1 cup This is an affiliate link.chicken stock , or water
- 1 tsp This is an affiliate link.garam masala
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- In a small food processor or a blender combine all the ingredients for the paste, blend till smooth. Set aside till needed.
- In a large pan melt the ghee and add the chicken pieces seasoned with salt, brown over medium heat until golden but not cooked all the way through. Remove from the pan.
- To the same pan add the cardamon pods, a cinnamon stick, two bay leaves and the cloves, cook while stirring until the bay leaves start to colour, then stir in the prepared paste and cook for 5 minutes or until there is no more liquid left, just visible oil around the edges and the paste will turn ruddy brown from red.
- Add the chopped tomatoes and stir to combine, then bring the chicken back to the pan and stir till it is coated in the sauce, add in the yogurt 1 tbsp at a time. Pour in the chicken stock and bring to a simmer, let it bubble away for for 15-20 minutes until the sauce thickens.
- Finish off with a sprinkling of garam masala, stir in and serve with basmati rice, naan or chapati.
Notes
- Don’t be intimidated by scratch curry—stay organized and take your time. To make it far simpler, I use Patak’s Rogan Josh paste (not sauce)
- Traditionally, Rogan Josh is made with lamb, which is delicious but takes more time to cook. When I need to save time, I substitute with skinless, boneless chicken thighs, which cook quickly and are tasty and economical.
- This recipe uses whole spices and ground spices in two separate stages. The whole spices will flavour the oil, and the ground spices are blended into a paste that permeates the meat. This extra detail is important for a restaurant-quality dish.
- Kashmiri chilies are mild and can be substituted with paprika. I use 3 tsp + ½ tsp of cayenne for a smoky flavour with just a hint of heat. You can change the spiciness to your own taste by playing with these two ingredients.
- Paprika can be used if you don’t have ground Kashmiri chili powder. Kashmiri chili is fruitier, while paprika is smokier, but either will lend the all-important red colouring to the dish. It’s ground cayenne pepper that adds heat to the curry. You can shift this up or down to your preference.
- Use full fat plain yoghurt or Greek yoghurt, but avoid low fat as it curdles. For an even richer curry sauce, use heavy (double (UK)) cream.
- Sprinkle garam masala on the finished curry so its aroma stays vibrant when serving.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Surely the cinnamon stick, cloves and bay leaves are removed at some point but I can’t see anything about that in the instructions. The cinnamon and bay leaves would be fairly easy but the cloves? Hard to find and aren’t they still going to be hard and hurt if you accidentally bite down on one?
Yes, Andrew, they are either removed or just eaten around. Whole spices are used in authentic Indian cooking, there is no way around it.
Good on you for acknowledging that this was originally Madhur Joffrey’s recipe. Recognized it immediately, have been doing my own take on this for years. Look forward to trying your own.
Hi John this has been significantly changed from Madhur Jaffrey’s recipe. I used it as an inspiration for ingredients but the method is very different. We all take inspiration somewhere. I didn’t grow up in India, so it would be silly of me to say I know exactly how to make an authentic Indian curry but I learned from a few sources over the years, then of course we change ingredients or methods to make it our own. I hope you enjoy this version. I tried to make it simple and straightforward.