Topic: Lamb bhuna

[George]

The first time I think I came across this dish was at a Sunday buffet in a small town BIR. The slow cooked lamb dish was delicious even though all the other dishes were mediocre. I asked the owner if it could be ordered off the menu mid-week and he said to ask for lamb bhuna. I never did get around to it and have never ordered 'lamb bhuna' because I very much doubt if a speedily cooked bhuna would provide the same depth of flavour. The next time was at a lunch buffet in the middle of Glasgow. The sauce was devine.  Next, I came across Aldi's bhuna (as in my photo) and, when cooked with lamb, it's something like 75% as good as the buffet offerings. This makes it worthy of recommendation in my opinion. Aldi and Lidl offer a range of curry sauces in jars, topped with curry powder in a compartment on top. None of the others which I have tried are anything special.

[livo]

I've tried Jalfrezi and Dopiaza variety of these product and didn't think highly of either.

[George]

livo - so you have Aldi down under? I am recommending the specific jar in my photograph - not any of the others.

[livo]

Yes, we do.  I'll keep an eye out for that one.

[Peripatetic Phil]

Had great trouble finding it, George.  A very helpful Aldi assistant, as well as getting me a free trolley, took me to where the Aldi own-brand curry sauces were shelved, but it wasn't amongst them.  In the end I succeeded though (it was in a completely different location), and also picked up a saag masala at the same time.

** Phil.

[George]

Phil  - thanks for checking it out. I think the bhuna is a special which appears only every few months and, yes, is in a different location. I've had some really tasty chicken saag chilled food dishes from supermarkets so looked forward to trying Aldi's saag sauce but it wasn't in the same league.

[Peripatetic Phil]

The first time I think I came across this dish was at a Sunday buffet in a small town BIR. The slow cooked lamb dish was delicious even though all the other dishes were mediocre. [...] Next, I came across Aldi's bhuna (as in my photo) and, when cooked with lamb, it's something like 75% as good as the buffet offerings.

So when you made the Aldi version, George, did you follow the (almost unreadable) recipe on the jar ?  I ask because I am cooking it tonight, and while I am being guided by the recipe, I am making a number of real-time adjustments :

• Use 300gm lamb instead of 340gm (all I had)
• Use 50ml oil (mustard oil) rather than 15ml
• Bhoon the spices before the lamb, not vice-versa
• Use only half of the sauce.

** Phil.

[Secret Santa]

• Use only half of the sauce.

** Phil.

Wouldn't it be better to use the whole jar and cook it down till it's thick, bhuna style, seeing as it's bhuna?

I actually picked up a jar of the bhuna and also a jalfrezi only because the panic buying has got me spooked a bit. Normally wouldn't go near any of the pre-made curries.

[Peripatetic Phil]

• Use only half of the sauce.

Wouldn't it be better to use the whole jar and cook it down till it's thick, bhuna style, seeing as it's bhuna?

Well,I am certainly cooking it down to a near-dry consistency ("real bhuna", not this modern travesty) but if I use twice as much sauce I'll get more spice, and I am not convinced that the dish will benefit from it.  At the moment I can still taste the lamb (a flavour that I love) but I think that might be masked wwere I to add extra spice content ...

I actually picked up a jar of the bhuna and also a jalfrezi only because the panic buying has got me spooked a bit.

Good thinking, but I think you'd do even better to freeze an assortment of the Morrison's own-brand curries ("Flaming phal", "Volcanic vindaloo" and so on).  They also do a bhuna which is not bad, IMHO.

** Phil.

[George]

So when you made the Aldi version, George, did you follow the (almost unreadable) recipe on the jar ?  I ask because I am cooking it tonight, and while I am being guided by the recipe, I am making a number of real-time adjustments :

• Use 300gm lamb instead of 340gm (all I had)
• Use 50ml oil (mustard oil) rather than 15ml
• Bhoon the spices before the lamb, not vice-versa
• Use only half of the sauce.

** Phil.

Sorry for the delay in replying. I followed the quantities and order of adding ingredients as on the jar. I then added the sauce slowly, a bit at a time until all the sauce had been used up and the sauce was bhuna-like, i.e. mostly evaporated off with not much left. So the sauce would have been quite concentrated and maybe that's why it tasted good.