The Secret Of Bhuna

I have always been a lover of spices and use spices in all my recipes, for me if its not spiced its not food. Hence the food from the Subcontinent as well as South East Asia is always in my list of favorites.

The flavors that spices bring to your food is just yum, and no wonder people traveled thousands of miles for these spices and so was the beginning of the Silk Route.

One of the simplest of the recipes from India which is full of flavors and cooked almost completely with spices is the Chicken or Lamb Bhuna. Its a local favorite and some of the legendary food places have made fortunes serving the simple but very tasty recipe.

I had my first Chicken Bhuna at the Bade Miyan in Mumbai, served with roomali roti this was heaven in my mouth, full of flavors. They also had a Chicken Bhuna Roll which was also yum, it nothing but the chicken bhuna wrapped in roomali roti.

If you are in India do not forget to visit Bade Miyan in Colaba, Mumbai for the best Chicken/ Motton Bhuna.

The bhuna recipe comes from Eastern India and is anything cooked on spices. The ingredients are very simple and include Curd, Red Chillies, Garam Masala, Garlic Paste and salt.

Here is the recipe of Chicken Bhuna I made and you should try to.

Boil 8 or 9 Red Chillies in little water, add garam masala, and Garlic paste in it and make a fine paste. To the paste add a cup of Curd and mix well, now add salt to taste. Taste the mix for taste. Now if you using chicken, put the chicken pieces (boneless or with bones) to the mix. Make sure the chicken is well covered with the mix. Put in the freezer for atleast 2 hours. This will make the chicken tender.  When you are ready to cook, heat oil in a wok and once is smoking, put the pieces of Chicken along with the gravy in the oil. Now cook slowly on simmer with lid on, it should take 20-30 mins, do check in between.

Once all the spices are absorbed you are ready to serve, Serve with Fresh Coriander and mint leaves and Onions with any kind of bread.

Filipino Favorite- Chicken Adobo

The moment you think of Philippines and Food, the first thing which comes to your mind is Adobo. Its a simple recipe which has achieved legendary status. Though Adobo name comes from Spanish for Marination, this recipe is an original from Philippines.

My association and fascination with Filipino culture started with the song Bebo Bebo by Black Eyed Peas. Even the song has a mention of Chicken Adobo. Later I met and made quite a few Filipino friends during my stint in the middle east and heard amazing stories of how Chicken Adobo is enjoyed in Philippines. The whole family sits together and enjoys chicken adobo on holidays.

Chicken adobo (or fish adobo/beef adobo/pork adobo/seafood adobo/potato adobo) is made with vinegar, in the original recipe, coconut vinegar is used but you can make it with any kind of white vinegar. Though its not well documented but legends has it that the original reciepe before the Spanish conquest was only vinegar and salt. But now the reciepe also includes garlic, soya sauch and black pepper.

The process is simple, wash your chicken well, put in a sauce pan, add soya sauce, add vinegar, add black pepper, add crushed garlic, add Bay leaves (and sugar if you like it sweet) mix well and marinate for at least 3 hours (best is when you marinate it overnight).

Post marination, you may add little water and put on slow flame, cook for 30 mins with lid covered. And the Chicken Adobo is ready. Serve with White Rice.

(Serves 4)

     1 kg      chicken pieces, cut up or whole
     6-7       chopped Garlic
     50 ml     soy sauce (or more to taste)
     5 g      ground black pepper
     500 ml    water
     250 ml    vinegar (rice vinegar or white wine  vinegar  work
               best)
     2         bay leaves