Topic: Chili Lime Chicken Bhuna

[RebeccaVT]

I'm not really sure which section to post this in.  I've never actually had a BIR curry, but this recipe is based on the Ashoka recipes and I wanted to share (it came out really good!).  I made my own changes to try to replicate one of my favorite dishes from one of my favorite American Indian restaurants.  ;D


Chili Lime Chicken Bhuna

Peanut Oil
Butter Ghee
Bunjara Oil
1/2 Red or Green Bell Pepper, sliced thinly
1/2 lg onion, sliced thinly
1tbs Ashoka Ginger Garlic Paste
1tbs Tomato Paste
Juice from one lime
2tsp Fenugreek Leaves
1T Curry Powder (Rajah Hot Madras)
1T Chili Powder
Salt to taste
1tsp Sugar
1lb Marinated Chicken (lemon juice, cilantro, g/g paste, veg. oil)
1-2T Ashoka Base
1T Ashoka Bunjara
1/2c Chopped Cilantro Leaves (coriander leaves)



Heat oils on med-high heat

Add Peppers and onions and fry for 2-3 minutes
Stir in Ginger/Garlic Paste, using back of chef's spoon to blend together
Stir in lime juice
Add Fenugreek, Curry, Chili Powder, Sugar- fry for another 30sec.-1minute
Add chicken
When the chicken is almost cooked, add Base sauce and Bunjara and continue until chicken is cooked.
Add Cilantro during last 2-3 minutes of cooking. 


Notes:

I use mostly peanut oil with a small spoonful of Butter Ghee and Bunjara oil for extra flavor.  The amount of oil you use is entirely up to you (restaurant style curries obviously being more oily then not).

Tomato paste would be the thick, concentrated tomato paste.  I think in Britain it is referred to as Pureed Tomato?

I used less salt in the Bunjara and Ashoka base then called for, so salt to taste

[joshallen2k]

RebeccaVT,

That pic looks awesome. Not nearly as much base as the usual BIR curries, but I know what you mean by the North American Indian dishes.

Looks pretty spicy too... I may give this a go!

-- Josh

[RebeccaVT]

Thanks Josh!  We really enjoyed this curry.  It did have a nice amount of spice to it.  I wasn't really sure just how much gravy a bhuna should have, but I think you could easily add more base sauce to this if you wanted.

I also wanted to note that I use peanut oil when I cook asian food, but I'm not sure how common it is for BIR's.  I think it was used quite a bit in India though.

[chinois]

Wow that looks brilliant! Top notch photo also! 
As for peanut oil, it's flavourless isnt it so will be no different to using any other standard cooking oil with regard to taste.
How come you didnt use the bunjara oil exclusively?

[RebeccaVT]

I was making a fairly large batch of curry, and just simply didn't have enough Bunjara oil to use entirely.  I also wasn't sure how strong of a flavor it would be, so I didn't want to use too heavy of a hand. 

I find that peanut oil has a slight peanut taste to it, but it's not really noticeable through all of the other strong curry flavors.

[Secret Santa]

Hi RVT

Well if the bhuna tastes half as good as it looks then you must be on to a winner. Traditionally bhuna is a very dry curry so your choice of a little base was probably the right one. BIRs tend to be a mixed bag, some making the bhunas dry and others with lots of sauce.

[Unclebuck]

Never heard of it but...That is a thing of beauty! 

[SKAZE]

Am i being dumb but what is 1T Ashoka Bunjara ?

[Secret Santa]

http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=3215.0

About a third of the way down the page!

Also try using the search facility on the home page, that usually gets results.