Ratan Jot (Alkanet): What It Is and How It’s Used in Rogan Josh

Now if you are a fan of Indian and Pakistani food, you will be familiar with both these dishes and their signature red colour. Sadly, these days, artificial food colours are often used in tandoori chicken and the traditional Kashmiri rogan josh has been butchered with the use of tomatoes. All in the name of the colour red.

What is ratan jot?

Ratan jot is a natural red dye obtained from the roots of certain plants in the borage family. It has traditionally been used to give some Kashmiri dishes, particularly rogan josh, their characteristic deep red colour.

Ratan jot is used primarily for its colour rather than its flavour.

Alkanna tinctoria is one of the plants associated with ratan jot and has small, blue, trumpet-like flowers.

Another plant commonly sold as ratan jot is Arnebia speciosa, previously known as Arnebia nobilis. In fact, the name ratan jot has been applied to several different plants, which makes identifying the roots sold under this name rather tricky.

Ratan Jot is also called alkanet, but rather confusingly, is not the same as the British Common Alkanet (Anchusa officinalis) or the Evergreen Alkanet (Pentaglottis sempervirens).

Alkanna tinctoria is also known as Dyer’s bugloss, Spanish Bugloss and Languedoc Bugloss, the latter two, give you an idea of where it is also grown.

It’s the roots of these plants that give us the prized deep red colour. Besides Indian cooking, it is also used by the cosmetics industry as well as the art and furniture industries.

As you can see in the images, the root is quite big, and has layers of brittle, almost paper-like coverings.

How Ratan Jot Was Traditionally Used in Cooking

When I use it to finish a curry, I’d combine it with other spices like fennel, cumin and aromatics. I’d tie the ratan jot in some muslin, then heat it in a small frying pan along with the other ingredients. The muslin was then removed, leaving the red, aromatic oil to pour over the curry.

If I’m finishing a curry with it, I use it with other spices like fennel, cumin and aromatics. So in this instance, I tie it up in some muslin, then heat it up in a small frying pan, along with whatever else I’m using. Then all I do, is lose the muslin and pour all the red, aromatic oil over the curry, to finish.

You’ll see me doing this in the Kashmiri Rogan Josh recipe, found here.

A note on food safety: Ratan jot can refer to several different plants, and some, including Alkanna tinctoria, contain pyrrolizidine alkaloids that can be harmful to the liver. Since commercially sold roots aren’t always reliably identified, I no longer recommend using unidentified ratan jot in cooking. The photographs here illustrate how the colour was traditionally extracted.

Alkanet’s Medicinal Qualities

Alkanet has a long history in traditional medicine, with all sorts of medicinal qualities attributed to it over the centuries. Here’s what Nicholas Culpeper had to say about it.

It helps old ulcers, hot inflammations, burnings by common fire and St. Anthony’s fire … for these uses your best way is to make it into an ointment also if you make a vinegar of it … it helps the morphy and leprosy … it helps the yellow jaundice, spleen, and gravel in the kidneys. Dioscorides saith, it helps such as are bitten by venomous beasts, whether it be taken inwardly or applied to the wound, nay, he saith further, if any that hath newly eaten it do but spit into the mouth of a serpent, the serpent instantly dies … It also kills worms. Its decoction made in wine and drank, strengthens the back, and easeth the pains thereof. It helps bruises and falls, and is as gallant a remedy to drive out the smallpox and measles as any is; an ointment made of it is excellent for green wounds, pricks or thrusts.

Nicholas Culpeper, The Complete Herbal, later edition (based on his seventeenth-century writings).

• Nicholas Culpeper was a seventeenth-century English botanist, herbalist, physician, and astrologer.
• Pedanius Dioscorides was a Greek physician and pharmacologist (AD 40 – AD 90).

These are, of course, historical medicinal claims, rather than treatments supported by modern clinical evidence.

Where to buy Ratan Jot?

You can still find ratan jot online, especially from specialist herbal and botanical suppliers. However, since the name can refer to several different plants, I’d be cautious about buying it for culinary use without reliable information about its botanical identity and food safety.

If you’re looking for a traditional Kashmiri rogan josh, have a look at my recipe and video here.

If you found the article useful, don’t forget to leave me a comment and that all important, 5-star rating! Thank you!

And if you buy ratan jot or use it, share an image on any platform and tag me @azlinbloor, and hashtag it #linsfood

Lin xx

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