Naga Bhuna Masala Recipe
Directions
- 1Add the oil to a frying pan on medium high heat.
- 2Throw in the Asian bay leaf, green cardamom and cumin seeds. Stir and fry for 30-45 seconds to infuse the oil.
- 3Add the onion and green pepper. Cook for 1-2 minutes until soft and browned slightly, adding the garlic slices in after the first minute.
- 4Next add the ginger/garlic paste, stirring until just starting to brown and the sizzling sound reduces. Don’t let it stick to the pan.
- 5Add the mix powder, chilli powders, tandoori masala, salt, and kasuri methi.
- 6Fry for 20-30 seconds, stirring very frequently. Add a little base gravy if the mixture dries out and sticks to the pan to avoid burning the spices and give them enough time to cook properly.
- 7Add the tomato paste, coriander stalks, fresh naga chilli or a good naga pickle, and turn up the heat to high.
- 8If using pre-cooked chicken or lamb add it now and mix well, making sure the meat pieces are coated in the sauce.
- 9Add 75ml of base gravy. Mix and let cook for 30-45 seconds with no further stirring.
- 10Then add a second 75ml of base gravy, stir into the sauce, and leave on high heat with no further stirring until the sauce is reduced a little, and small dry craters form around the edges.
- 11Stir in a final 75ml of base gravy and add the tomato segments.
- 12Leave to cook on high heat for 4-5 minutes. Stir and scrape once or twice to mix the caramelised sauce back in, but do this only to prevent the sauce from sticking too much and burning. It’s important to let the sauce adhere to the bottom and sides of the pan, which produces a great flavour. Add some extra base gravy near the end of cooking if it appears to be thickening up too much, although the bhuna should have a thick final consistency.
- 13Shortly before the end of cooking (e.g. 1 minute), turn down the heat and add the yoghurt, mango chutney and the fresh coriander leaves.
- 14Stir together, then taste and season with extra yoghurt, salt, or mango chutney if desired.
- 15Fish out the Asian bay leaf and the green cardamom pods (if you can spot them). You can also spoon off any excess oil from the surface of the curry if you wish.
- 16Serve, garnished with a slice of tomato or cucumber and a sprinkling of extra coriander
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp Oil, Ghee or a combination
- 1 Tej Patta (Asian Bay Leaf)
- 2 Green Cardamom Pod, split open
- 0.5 tsp Cumin Seeds
- 75 g Onion, very finely chopped
- 25 g Green Pepper, very finely chopped
- 1 -2 Garlic Cloves, thinly sliced
- 1.5 tsp Ginger/Garlic Paste
- 1.25 tsp Mix Powder
- 1 tsp Extra Hot Chilli Powder or Deggi Mirch
- 1 tsp Kashmiri Chilli Powder
- 1 tsp Tandoori Masala
- 0.25 tsp Kasuri Methi
- 0.5 tsp Salt, to taste
- 4 tbsp Tomato Paste
- 1 pinch Red Food Colouring (optional)
- 1 tbsp fresh Coriander Stalks and Leaves, finely chopped
- 1 -2 fresh Naga Chillies, very finely chopped or 1 TBSP Naga Pickle
- 175 g Your Main Ingredient e.g. Pre-Cooked Chicken, Lamb, Chicken Tikka, Vegetables, etc.
- 250 ml Base Gravy
- 2 -3 Tomato segments
- 2 -3 Natural Yoghurt
- 1.5 tsp Mango Chutney
Equipment
frying pan
Tips
- Dilute the base gravy with water to the consistency of semi-skimmed milk and heat it up before using it.
- The amount stated in each recipe is for the diluted version. Please feel free to add extra base to the curry if you like more sauce.
- Experiment with the hottest chillies you can find. Make it with pre-cooked lamb or any main ingredient you like, such as chicken, chicken tikka, vegetables, prawns, etc.
- To stretch it out to go further, add a bit more meat and base gravy
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