Topic: PanPot's Ashoka Onion Paste (Bunjara)

[Panpot]

Gary, well done mate, it looks the business. I personally like Stephen remove them and so don't need to blitz it but hey if you are happy with end result why not continue to do what you have done.  Did you enjoy the smell and the realization that this brown magical concoction was what you had been searching for all these years? I am cooking with it tonight having cooked  Aders excellent Thai Green Chicken posted elsewhere on the site last night.

[gazman1976]

yes it was lovely panpot , what other recipe would you recommend with it ?

[Panpot]

Gary all of the Asoka ones though they were split up but you should find them OK. The Bhuna Karahi using Pataks tandoori paste is fantastic. Tonight I will be doing one together with a Dopiazza.

[alfieb]

Just made this used one cup of oil. There now seems to be to much oil Im going to blend to a paste. Should i remove some of the oil as looking at the pictures of others seems to runny. if i Do remove some of the oil would this be ok to reuse. cheers

[JerryM]

Just made this used one cup of oil. There now seems to be to much oil Im going to blend to a paste. Should i remove some of the oil as looking at the pictures of others seems to runny. if i Do remove some of the oil would this be ok to reuse. cheers

the amount of oil (within reason) does not matter (it do think it affects how quick the onions cook). i would just blend what u've got and put it in a jam jar and leave it in the fridge overnight. if there is too much oil on top then use it to start off a main dish in place of fresh or reclaimed oil. the oil is real good stuff and for sure should not be chucked.

just for info i used to in fact add extra fresh oil on top to store the bunjarra in the fridge until i was converted to freezing it (any leftover that is).

[natterjak]

I made my first Bunjara yesterday but instead of frying the onions to caramelise them I used a slow cooker.  This has pros and cons.  The obvious con is the time taken, around 9 hours total.  That will have some of you falling off your chairs but it wasn't an issue for me as you just leave it to do its thing and stir maybe 3 or 4 times at 2 hour intervals.

The advantage is you can control the caramelisation without fear of burning the onions so you can get them good and dark and sweet.  Basic technique I used was to put the chopped onions, oil and cinnamon & bay leaves in the slow cooker.  Cook on high for 3 hrs with the lid open a crack (this allows the water to sweat out of the onions), then turn down to low with the lid closed for 5-6 hrs depending on how long it takes.  You have full control over how far the onions go and of course you can taste them at your leisure towards the end to see if any bitterness remains. 

The final stage is back into the frying pan to fry the cumin in oil, add the ginger/garlic paste and stir round, then put the caramelised onions in the pan with the spices, salt and tomato paste.  Give it a good stir then finish with tomato pulp and stir cook for 5 mins.  I removed my cinnamon stick after the slow cooker stage.

I'm a total newbie so far be it from me to suggest this is an improvement on the original techique, simply an alternative that people might want to consider.   I've attached a photo but it was taken on my phone and the exposure is a bit wrong.

[Ramirez]

Looks good, natterkack. The bunjara tastes so good I could eat it by itself (although it is quite salty). Used it in a recipe yet?

[JerryM]

i was making bunjarra yesterday and found the difference in appearance quite suprising.

i tend to alternate between the original and the ashoka. Nb i've always used tandoori masala in place of the garam masala in the ashoka recipe as per the original paste.

made a few slight tweaks yesterday. used i think asian bay in the recipe for the 1st time. i also dropped the tin toms and left out the garlic ginger paste. Panpot stated somewhere that the Chef had said the g/g was unnecessary.

i feel this is the best bunjarra i've made.

ashoka bunjarra 3hr gentle simmer (black cumin, tandoori masala, asian bay, no tin toms, no garlic ginger, added water)

[Peripatetic Phil]

as per the original paste.

"as per the original post" ?!

i feel this is the best bunjarra i've made.

I've never really understood what role bunjarra is intended to play in BIR cookery; could you say how you intend to use what you have just made, Jerry ?

** Phil.

[Stephen Lindsay]

I made my first Bunjara yesterday but instead of frying the onions to caramelise them I used a slow cooker.

natterjack, I recall that when PanPot first posted the Ashoka recipes he said that the bunjara should look like Branston pickle and yours looks exactly like that. I have a slow cooker but I didn't think of using it for making the Ashoka bunjara, but, as you say, it would seem the ideal method for cooking this recipe.