We have an Indian restaurant just north of where we live in BWV called North of Bombay. It’s a lovely place, nicely decorated in a contemporary style, close enough to walk (about 20 minutes) and the food is very good and it’s never crowded and the service has been very good. But for some reason, we ALWAYS order takeout or delivery. Indian is like that for us. And they have a crappy wine list. But they have the most delicious Beef Bhuna that we’ve ever had so that is the recipe I was trying to replicate for our Indian themed dinner party. Their menu describes it as Eye of round cubes cooked with fresh onions,green pepper, ginger, coriander, tomatoes, herbs & spices. So when I was searching the net, those were the key ingredients I was looking for. The recipe below is loosely based on this recipe but I changed it to replicate the flavours of North of Bombay’s Beef Bhuna. I also changed up the technique because I wanted to cook it slow and low as per Bœuff Bourguignon.
Beef Bhuna
Tender beef cubes drenched in a mildly spicy, fragrant, flavourful gravy
Serves 4-6 as part of a bigger menu
Ingredients:
- 400 g eye of round beef, cut into 2.5 cm or 1 inch cubes
- 1 Green Pepper, cut into similar size squares as the beef
- 1 red onion, finely chopped
- 2 tsp of mild curry powder
- 1 tsp of Chilli Powder
- 1 tsp Garam Masala
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper (omit if you find this too hot)
- a pinch of ground cardamon
- 1/2 tsp coriander
- 4 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 2 tbsp fresh ginger, finely minced
- 1+ cup water
- 1/2 cup beef stock
- 1/4 cup cilantro leaves, roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup chopped green onions
Directions:
- Pre-heat oven to 300° F.
- In an oven-proof pan (like Le Creuset’s dutch oven) sear the beef in about 1-2 tbsp high flash point oil (like peanut or canola). Remove from pan. De-glaze with a 1/2 cup of beef stock, pour over the meat.
- Add finely chopped onions and cook well (I saw Madhur Jaffrey on Martha Stewart once and she said that Indian cooking doesn’t sweat the onions, but they cook the onions dark, but not burned).
- Add the curry, chilli, cayenne, cardamon and coriander and cook JUST until you can smell it. Add the garlic, fresh ginger and garam masala give a quick stir. Now add the water and combine well. Return the beef to the pan and give it a good stir. Cover and bake in the 300° F oven for 2-3 hours or until beef is fork tender. Check frequently and add water as required; you don’t want it soupy, just a nice light gravy. About 30 minutes to serving, add the green pepper — you don’t want the green pepper soft and mushy.
- Serve hot garnished with cilantro leaves and green onions with Basmati rice and Naan.
Kitcheninspirations 