I have just made DPR's Bhuna Prawn Puri without the Puri to see what it was like. Granted I used my recent test base and the IG spice mix but otherwise followed his recipe.

Now I was expecting a similar dish to a typical Prawn Puri but it was nothing like it. I mean even taking into consideration the changes I had made, it was wide of the mark.

My question is whether Bhuna Prawn Puri is different to Prawn Puri?

Quote from: Axe on April 28, 2010, 09:54 PM
My question is whether Bhuna Prawn Puri is different to Prawn Puri?

Well if I ordered bhuna (something) I would definitely expect a difference from the ordinary version otherwise why call it bhuna? And that probably explains why it is so far from what you would normally expect.

lol I was going to say a bhuna prawn puri without the puri is a prawn bhuna hehe...though a puri (bread thing/blown chapatti) usually comes with a fairly wet gravy here, is that what you were expecting, Axe but with prawns?

I think my question has been ambiguous, want I meant was, is there any difference between a Bhuna Puri sauce and a normal Puri sauce?

Perhaps I should have asked what does Bhuna mean?

EDIT: to make it read better.

The sauce that normally arrives with a puri round these parts consists mostly of onion and tomato but has a flavour that I can't really explain other than it is not what I had ended up with from the DPR recipe. It could be described as a loose but semi dry sauce, but calling it sauce seems a little odd, if you get what I mean.

Quote from: Axe on April 29, 2010, 10:00 PM
is there any difference between a Bhuna Puri sauce and a normal Puri sauce?

Perhaps I should have asked what does Bhuna mean?

EDIT: to make it read better.

Well if the restaurants I've seen are anything to go by, bhuna just means adding a dollop of Pataks bhuna paste.

Bhuna itself is a cooking method which would take too long to do in a BIR so it's a bit of a misnomer, well an outright lie actually, on the part of the curry houses.

I've just Googled 'Bhuna' and now see what the problem is, DPR's recipe is not a Bhuna as you've pointed out. I wonder why he calls it a Bhuna


This looks much more like what i'm looking for: http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/633889 Coconut

Surprised to see the coconut milk. I'll have to try this one.

Quote from: Axe on April 30, 2010, 03:26 PM
I wonder why he calls it a Bhuna

I was wondering the same as I just watched him cook it and he provides an answer of sorts. At about 4.15 in the video he says that bhuna means it has to be very dry. Well he's sort of right about that, but the way he's cooked it isn't bhuna method, it's bog standard BIR style.

It's probably along the same lines as his explanation for vindaloo as being aloo meaning potato...and we all know that ain't true either!

I wouldn't pay too much heed to what he says during these demos as he's clearly not all that clued up about the 'facts', just copy his style perhaps?

I think your right but its a shame though, especially as he has gone to so much effort.

What did you think to the recipe in the link?

Quote from: Axe on April 30, 2010, 03:51 PM
What did you think to the recipe in the link?

Sounds ok to me, although it's not really BIR style.

I'd go with it up to where the coconut milk is added because I wouldn't use this, instead I'd add a bit of base sauce instead.

I think the ones I've had have been like you describe, a thin sauce, mostly tomato and onion, and lightly spiced.