Natural Red Food Colour

Ever wondered how the bright red colour is achieved in the Pav Bhaji of famous street stalls? Most of them use synthetic red colour to give that fiery hue to their mash vegetable curry. I never used synthetic colour and made peace with degi mirch or Kashmiri mirch which impart colour without adding significantly to the heat levels in a dish. But I was not satisfied. I was longing for that bright hue. I tried beetroot. It gave decent result but had a slight fuchsia/magenta or purple tinge. Not the crimson/tomato red. A few months ago, I cam across red Cockscomb or Celosia or murga kalgi or Velvet flower. I found out about it during my travels through Kashmir. It is the secret behind the fiery red colour of the famous Rogan Josh of Kashmiri Wazwan. The mutton curry receives its signature red colour from these flowers. They call it ‘Mawal’ there. So I decided to try it in Pav Bhaji as well. I soaked a flower in hot water for 15 minutes and used the water in the curry. It worked! Here is an image of the result. I am going to try this in red velvet cake next. I am also looking to use Alkanet root or Ratanjot soon and will update this post with the result. In the meanwhile, do share your experience with natural colouring agents. Have you used any? How did it go? Anything you would recommend?