Topic: Does ANYONE remember the old style Bhuna?

[Secret Santa]

A couple of posts I've read recently have made me wonder if anyone remembers the taste of the old style Bhuna. You couldn't mistake it for anything else, it was very savoury, and delicious, and unlike any other curry.

I recently made CK's bhuna which has had rave reviews from many on here, but to me it was a very ordinary curry which was a long long way off the real deal.

So is there anyone, apart from me, who is totally dissatisfied with the bhuna recipes on this forum, or anywhere else for that matter, and longs for a taste of the old fashioned ones?

BTW CK I'm not having a go at you specifically, it was just that yours was the most recent one I'd tried. I've had Bhunas in BIRs that were worse!

[PaulP]

Hi SS,

I have a persistant memory of a place when I was a student in Leeds around 1982.
The bhuna there was to die for - thick tasty sauce and loads of it.

I know what you mean about the typical bhuna recipes on this forum but would also suggest that a lot of other recipes are too similar compared to my memories of long ago BIR food.

Sometimes I wonder if my taste buds have changed in all these years. When I was eating curries 27 years ago it was quite a new taste for me and now it isn't.

On a positive note I can now cook a curry better than a ready meal or a bad BIR so there is some progress to be had - I may investigate the spiced/reclaimed oil ideas next.

Nobody said this would be easy.

[rallim]

The first Indian restaurant I ate in, was in Glasgow in the early 70s called the Lahore. A tacky looking place, now when I think of it with chipped plates, but the food was out of this world. The Bhuna they cooked was a dryish dish with aromatic savoury spices and just the right amount of garlic coming thru'. mmmm brings back memories. Think I know where your coming from SS.

[parker21]

hi guys maybe PP or anyone else could go to the shish mahal in glasgow if it is the same chef that has beeen there for 30 years maybe he could shed some light? i know it is in the bad reviews section but that only 1 person has given it bad press, pp and another have questioned that!
regards
gary

[JerryM]

i'd put this in the madras category in terms of ease of cracking - no chance.

it's what appears a very simple dish that we're after and this is when it get's very difficult to replicate.

i use the ashoka bhuna korahi a lot but it's not what Secret Santa is talking of. i have tried quite a few off the site including CK's but again they don't quite do it for me either. having looked at the ashoka plain bhuna recipe i've written out the following recipe for me to try next time i have base:

oil 4 tbs, chopped onion 4 tbsp, g/g paste 1 tsp, tom puree 1 tbsp, bassar 1 tsp, base, onion paste.

i've left out chilli and chopped coriander as i'm sure they are defo not in the dish. i've also gone for bassar as the spice mix as i feel it get's u closer to that 70's taste than the other spice mixes i use. i guess some would have to add methi as an ingredient.

ps i'd add that i like the dopiaza version a tad better down to the combination of smooth and crisp onion in the sauce.

[adriandavidb]

I have a persistant memory of a place when I was a student in Leeds around 1982.
The bhuna there was to die for - thick tasty sauce and loads of it.

I too was a student in Leeds, 1982-85; I have never found anywhere since , the flavour of the grub in the 'Islamabad', opposite the leeds University Parkinson Building.  I've been chasing it ever since, as has Secret Santa I think.  There were a couple of other good 'cheepies' just up the road: Chakwells and Nafees, as I recall!

[Panpot]

Intersting Post, I too long for the old taste but it does seem to have been lost in the mist of time. Next time I am up in Glasgow I will go to The Shish Mahal and have a go with the Bhuna. It was a thick dryish sauce back then and a real favourite. The Kohinoor and the Shish competed in the infamous Gibson Street beside Glasgow University, happy memories and great food. My other favourite was Chicken Biriani with the quarter boiled egg through the rice and chicken with a typical curry sauce of the time.

[Cory Ander]

I too long for the old taste but it does seem to have been lost in the mist of time

I really don't see this to be the case PP.  BIR fare may have changed somewhat (dishes, recipes, ingredients, etc), throughout the years, but many BIRs still produce curries from "yesteryear" (i.e. the 1980s), in my opinion.

[SnS]

I too long for the old taste but it does seem to have been lost in the mist of time

I really don't see this to be the case PP.  BIR fare may have changed somewhat (dishes, recipes, ingredients, etc), throughout the years, but many BIRs still produce curries from "yesteryear" (i.e. the 1980s), in my opinion.

I thought you lived in Australia CA ? Have you moved back to UK ? Do they have BIR's in Australia (AIR's) producing curries like they used to here in UK in the 80's ? 

How can you possibly know whether BIR's here are still producing curries from the 80's ... I don't know of any .. if there are, they must be as rare as rocking horse sh*t.  :

[Secret Santa]

but many BIRs still produce curries from "yesteryear" (i.e. the 1980s), in my opinion.

Really? Excellent news, care to name a few of those 'many' BIRs that do? I for one would be very grateful.