It’s a little different though. Almost a dry curry. Chicken coated in sauce. No gravy really. Think chicken dunked in a spicy tomato puree. Chicken cooked in its own juices. Terrible description. I know. But it’s the best I can come up with. You’ll see what I mean if you make it.
Chicken bhuna isn’t really a dish at all
I’m going to get some pretty good comments for this. I really don’t think it’s a dish. Everybody’s recipe is different. Really different. It doesn’t even have a standard spelling. Chicken bhuna. Chicken bhoona. I’ve even seen bhunao. According to Collins dictionary it’s a dish where spices are dry roasted and then moistened with liquid. Not sure where that comes from. Doesn’t even make sense. Has nothing to do with any recipe I’ve ever seen. What I see everywhere is “a thick, well spiced curry”. Seriously? What is that exactly? I’ve looked pretty hard to try to understand. Books. Internet. Video. I think it’s a secret. Only the chosen bhuninati know the truth. As far as I can tell bhuna is actually a technique. You can make just about any curry a bhuna. Wikipedia says chicken bhuna is a curry cooked in oil with no additional water. That I believe. So if this isn’t your idea of chicken bhuna please point me to the definitive description. Because I can’t find it. Chicken coated in delicious sauce. That’s what I’m going with. That’s what this chicken bhuna recipe is about.
Don’t go crazy browning the onions
Heresy. I know. I am going against everything I say in every Indian recipe on this blog. But in this case you don’t want your onions deeply browned. I’m not saying to sweat them until they are translucent. That would be crazy talk. But just take them to the point where the edges are brown. And use bigger pieces for chicken bhuna. The onions aren’t supposed to completely disappear into the sauce here.
Make chicken bhuna your own
Think of this recipe as a baseline. There’s no standard. So you can’t go wrong. I like it this way. There’s a nice mix of powdered and whole spices. Pretty good heat. A little heavy handed on the tomatoes. Tamarind for that hint of tang. That’s my way. But there’s no right or wrong. It’s good with green chilies. Some people like green or red peppers. Yoghurt. Even bigger pieces of onion. Lemon juice instead of tamarind. Or both for extra tang. Play with it. Make this one the way it’s written. Or makes it your own. Just make it. It’s tasty stuff.
