Beef Bhuna Bangladeshi Curry
Beef bhuna is a glorious Bangladeshi curry much beloved of the British Curry house, easily identified by its delicious, spicy and thick sauce.
I love using beef in curries; it matches so well with my favourite Indian "herb", fenugreek.
Bhuna Gosht
A Bhuna (pronounced boona) curry is probably one of the most common dishes on a British Indian Curry House menu.
Gosht means meat, and in many recipes would refer to lamb, but for me, this recipe works wonderfully with beef!
A bhuna curry is typified by its rich, heavily spiced, thick and unctuous sauce. For me, it should cling to the meat; above all, it should not be a gravy in the bottom of the bowl.
A Bhuna curry hails from Bangladesh and North-East India.
This explains its popularity in the British Midlands, as much of the "Indian" migration to this area is from Bengal. As a result, many of the hundreds of Indian restaurants I grew up with feature Bengali food.
This recipe, just like my beef dopiaza, oxtail curry, methi gosht, minced beef curry and beef vindaloo sings with the almost sweet, nutty, earthy flavour of fenugreek. It even features in my Anglo Indian beef sausage curry!
Typically, a bhuna is only cooked in its own juices.
My beef bhuna adds a little tomato into the mix, because beef and tomato in a curry just works.
Be sure to check out my lamb bhuna, king prawn bhuna and vegetable bhuna recipes to round out your repertoire of one of the most popular British Indian curry recipes.
Frequently Asked Questions
What cut of beef should I use?
This bhuna is a slow-cooked dish, so go for something robust with a bit of fat, I like shin of beef personally speaking.
It is a cut of meat that I use in everything from my Thai Massaman beef curry through to my take on beef osso bucco!
If you wanted something a little leaner, look for some rump or round for my US-based readers.
How hot is a bhuna curry?
Generally speaking, it is a curry with a medium heat, but that does not mean that everyone will find it medium.
Tolerance to capsaicin is incredibly personal; if you are sensitive to heat, then feel free to tone it down. If you like it hot, hot, hot, then throw in lots of green chilli towards the end of the cooking process.
Do I have to use Kashmiri chilli powder?
No, but I would urge you to start using it for Indian-based dishes.
It packs a huge amount of flavour without being overly hot, which means that you can use a lot and get loads of chilli flavour and maintain the use of your taste buds.
A note for US-based readers!
Tomato puree to us Brits means tomato concentrate; I believe that tomato puree in the US is what we call passata.
Serving Suggestions
This bhuna dish is a thick curry, and to me, that usually means it gets served with chapatis.
But for this recipe, I went full-on curry feast.
As a result, it got served with boiled rice, poppadoms, kachumber salad and a minty yoghurt raita.
If you wanted to stick with the curry, you can really go to town with the rice, and this recipe loves sweetness.
Therefore, something like this fruity pilau rice would work wonderfully.
Equipment Used
I only mention specific brands of equipment if I think they make a material difference to a recipe. But if you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments section below the recipe.
- Hob/stovetop.
- 24cm or 10" saucepan with a lid.
- Chopping board.
- Kitchen knife.
- A combination of weighing scales, a measuring jug, measuring cups and spoons.
- Stirring and serving spoons.
Beef Bhuna Curry Recipe
Ingredients
- 400 g Beef 14oz
- 2 tablespoon Ghee
- 2 Cloves Garlic
- 30 g Ginger 1 Thumb Sized Piece
- 2 Green Chilli Peppers
- 1 Large Onion 250g
- 1 teaspoon Turmeric
- 1 teaspoon Garam Masala
- 1 teaspoon Ground Coriander
- ½ teaspoon Ground Cumin
- 2 teaspoon Kashmiri Chili Powder
- 3 Medium Tomatoes 400g
- 100 ml Water ⅓ Cup + 1 tablespoon
- 2½ tablespoon Tomato Puree
- ½ teaspoon Sugar
- 1 tablespoon Dried Fenugreek Leaves
- ½ teaspoon Salt
Instructions
- Slice the green chillies as finely as you can.
- Chop the ginger and garlic into as fine a dice as you can manage.
- Peel, top and tail the onion, then cut it in half before slicing into 1cm (just under ½") thick half-moon shapes.
- Cut the beef into 3-4cm (1½") cubes.
- Heat the ghee in a 24cm or 10" saucepan over a medium heat. Add the chilli, ginger and garlic and cook gently for 30 seconds.
- Throw in the onions and cook for 5 minutes.
- Add in the cumin, ground coriander, chilli powder, turmeric and garam masala and stir to toast for 60 seconds.
- Roughly chop the tomatoes into a 1.5cm (½") dice.
- Add the tomatoes, tomato puree, sugar and water and cook for 10 minutes.
- When the tomatoes have begun to break down and the sauce has thickened a little, season your beef generously with salt.Add the seasoned beef to the pan with the fenugreek leaves and stir.
- Cover with a lid and cook covered on a low simmer for 60 minutes.
- Remove the lid and cook for a further 90-120 minutes on low until the sauce is thick and unctuous.
- Stir the curry every 12-15 minutes for this last hour, adding a splash of water if needed to keep it all moist.
Hi I’m so looking forward to trying this curry but I was wondering do you think I could bulk it out with some veggies so as to feed 4 people? Kind regards Dave.
Hey Dave...
Sorry it took a few days to come back to you, we are in the process of moving house, so everything is all a bit messy around here (including my brain)!
Adding vegetables to this dish to bulk it out would be fine, the obvious addition (for me) would be potatoes, I would add them at stage 14. If you are using "floury" potatoes you might need extra water and additional salt, but it should work out just fine.
Enjoy
Brian 🙂
Tasty and easy
Hi I am thinking of making this for a family gathering as it is my favorite curry and has great reviews.
Do you think it would work in the slow cooker from stage 11 please?
Just checking this is a table spoon of Fenugreek Leaves for 2 people?
Thanks.
Hi Ali...
This is one of my favourite curries and it always seems very popular with visitors to my site 🙂
1) Unfortunately slow cookers don't reduce down the sauce enough in this recipe, I have tried and it results in a very wet curry and because there is no evaporation the flavours do not develop in the same way.
2) Yes, I use a load of fenugreek in this recipe, if you feel that it is too much to your taste reduce it by half at the start and then crush in the rest at the end of the process if you think that it can take more.
Enjoy
Brian
What cut of beef is best to use? Also can’t get fenugreek leaves what can I substitute?
Hi James
I mention in the post that my preference is for shin of beef in this recipe, but any stewing beef will see you alright and if it has a bit of fat and sinew in it then even better.
As for a fenugreek substitute, there really isn't one, it is a unique flavour. You could look at using dried fenugreek powder, but be aware once the packet is open then it loses it's flavour very quickly, but you could add a half teaspoon of it at section 8.
Enjoy
Brian
Best one I have found yet. Found the Kashmiri chilli on line but had to get the flakes and grind them myself as couldn’t wait for them to come . Found the fenugreek an hour away tho. Really good curry😋
Excellent, glad you found the ingredients and it was worth the hunting.
Have just found this recipe and can’t wait to try it tonight. Might not be able to get the Kashmiri chilli or fenugreek here tho. Looks brilliant thank you.
Are the 2 green chilli peppers bell peppers or some other type?
No they are chilli peppers, depending where you are will define what you can get your hands on, I use finger chillies in the UK.
I do believe I have elevated myself on my family to rock star status with this easy to follow recipe. Thank you for sharing
Happy to help Davy... glad you and yours enjoyed it 🙂
I want to make for 6, but know you can't just triple ingredients. Can you please advise on what to do to correctly upscale.
Hey David.
The ingredients will be fine tripled, and generally speaking, the timings will differ significantly and will depend greatly on the size of the pan that you use.
Enjoy
Brian
I have just cooked the Bhuna. Best recipe so far. Thanks. Just curious that the lamb isn't marinated before cooking. Would appreciate you comment
Hey John... Glad you liked the curry.
I personally find that a marinade has a diminishing return when it comes to flavour the longer you cook a dish, this simmers for 3 hours giving plenty of time for the meat to get some really intense flavour. The other reason for a marinade is to break down the meat and if I were cooking this with lamb then I would consider a marinade to make the meat really soft, something acidic works really well here so lemon juice or yoghurt.
But I have designed this dish to be cooked with shin of beef which I do not think needs a marinade, just a long old cooking time.
I am a huge advocate of changing up a curry sauce to work with the main ingredient, so the bhuna sauce that I would make for lamb would be subtly different to the one that I make for chicken or beef.
I hope that makes sense.
Brian
'Place in the oven'
At any particular temperature?
Nah any temperature 😉 Just kidding, sorry... I used to have a preheat your oven at the start of my recipes and later edited to remove that, it would seem I skipped adding the temperature back into this recipe. I've updated now, but it is 180°C or 350°F, thanks for the head up 🙂
That looks so delicious, Brian! I love the adjective unctuous for this tomato sauce!
All of those spices and tomatoes and rice sound like they would be so delicious together. Love that you've done another type of British Curry house recipe.
I will have to give this a try
I live in a sleepy part of France and have trouble getting coriander so I'm not holding out much hope for fenugreek leaves...can they be left out?
Also the beef here is to be avoided, can I use chicken?
Haha, I feel your pain... I am in deepest darkest Hungary and need to make a 350km round trip to Budapest to keep my spice cupboard stocked. Fenugreek leaves come dried and last a few months in the freezer, of course you can omit them though it will change the flavour but hey cook with what you have and use a recipe as a base. Chicken is fine for this although make sure you go for the brown thigh meat rather than the breast if you want to taste any chicken at all and make sure you change up the cooking times, the thighs will take a lot less time to cook.
That looks so delicious, Brian! I love the adjective unctuous for this tomato sauce!
It is one of those words I love, it sounds all round and rich, just like the food tastes and feels 😀
All of those spices and tomatoes and rice sound like they would be so delicious together. Love that you've done another type of British Curry house recipe.
Thanks Ginny, British Indian food played such a pivotal role in me learning to love to cook and developing my cooking skills.
Beef bhuna sounds very nice and tasty !
I had tried this dish with my family friends few years ago ... was curious about finding the recipe
Alas! I found the recipe
Thanks for such a lovely recipe!
Enjoy, this is very much a British Bangladeshi take on it and a recipe I am really proud of, took a while to get it right.
I will have to give this a try
Have fun 🙂
I don't live too far from the Balti Triangle so I eat Indian food pretty regularly! I don't think I've actually tried a bhuna before though; the sauce sounds delicious so I will give a paneer version a try.
Superb, it's been nigh on 10 years since I've visited the UK... Bhuna was always a favourite of mine although I went through a phase of eating pathia all the time.