Kala Bhuna

Ingredients

Beef

• 1.5 kgbeef with fat and some bone, in 4 cm cubes
• 3 tbspginger garlic paste
• 2 tspturmeric
• 2 tbspred chilli powder
• 1 tspground cumin
• 1 tspground coriander
• 2 tspsalt
• 150 mlmustard oil

Onion

• 5onions, thinly sliced
• 150 mloil, for the beresta

Whole spice

• 4cardamom pods
• 2cinnamon sticks
• 6cloves
• 4bay leaves
• 2star anise

Bhuna masala

• 1 tbspcoriander seed
• 1 tspcumin seed
• 6dried red chillies
• 1 tspblack pepper
• 1 tspfennel seed
• 2cardamom pods
• 1small piece cinnamon

To finish

• 6green chillies
• 2 tbspghee
• 1 tspradhuni or nigella, optional

Directions

1. Fry the sliced onions slowly in oil until deep brown and crisp, then lift them out and crush most of them. This is beresta.
2. Take the onions further than looks safe, right to the edge of burnt. That deep caramelisation is where the black colour and half the flavour of kala bhuna come from.
3. Marinate the beef with the ginger garlic paste, turmeric, chilli, cumin, coriander, salt, mustard oil and half the crushed beresta for an hour.
4. Use beef with fat on it and some bone in the pot. Lean beef dries to leather over the long cooking and there is nothing to keep it moist.
5. Put the beef and its marinade into a heavy pot with the whole spices and no added water at all.
6. Cook it covered on a low heat for about an hour, letting it release its own liquid.
7. No water goes in at any point. Bhuna means fried, and the whole technique is cooking the meat down in its own juices and fat until they reduce away.
8. Uncover and keep cooking on a low to medium heat, stirring every few minutes.
9. Now the long part. Over the next hour to ninety minutes the liquid disappears, the meat begins to fry in its own fat, and the colour goes from red to brown to near black.
10. Stir often and scrape the base as you go, because the fond that forms is the flavour and burnt fond ruins the pot.
11. Toast the bhuna masala spices in a dry pan until fragrant, then grind them fine.
12. Add the ground masala and the rest of the beresta for the last 15 minutes.
13. Add the ground spice at the end, not the beginning. Ground fine and cooked for an hour it goes flat and dusty; added late it stays sharp.
14. It is finished when the meat is almost black, dry to the eye, and coated in a thick dark paste with oil separating at the edges.
15. Slit the green chillies and push them in, add the ghee, cover, and leave it off the heat for 10 minutes.
16. Serve with plain rice, khichuri or paratha.
17. It is a Chittagong dish, cooked for weddings and for Eid, and the darkness is the whole measure of whether it has been done properly.

Technique

• It is meant to be dry, with no gravy at all, and a saucy kala bhuna has not been cooked long enough.
• Mustard oil is the Bengali fat here and it gives a pungency other oils do not.
• It keeps for days and is better on the second, which is why weddings make it in advance.

Substitutions

• Mutton or goat, cooked the same way.
• Any neutral oil in place of mustard, accepting a milder result.

Variations

• Made with goat, as kala bhuna khashi.
• With more chilli, as it is served in Chittagong.
• With a spoonful of the beresta held back and scattered over at the end.

History

Chittagong speciality, cooked slowly in mustard oil with a hand-ground spice blend until the sauce darkens and clings to the meat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kala Bhuna?

Kala Bhuna is a main from Bangladesh: beef fried down with onion and spice until almost black, dense and intense. Chittagong speciality, cooked slowly in mustard oil with a hand-ground spice blend until the sauce darkens and clings to the meat.

How long does Kala Bhuna take to make?

Kala Bhuna takes 30 min plus 1 hr marinating of preparation and 2 hr 30 min of cooking. The recipe makes 6 servings. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Kala Bhuna?

Yes, within limits. Mutton or goat, cooked the same way. Any neutral oil in place of mustard, accepting a milder result.

What is the most important thing to get right in Kala Bhuna?

Put the beef and its marinade into a heavy pot with the whole spices and no added water at all.