Kala Bhuna (Bengali Spiced Beef Stew)

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We will be seeing South Asian recipes on this Sunday funday, hosted by Mayuri.  I chose a slow simmered dish called kala bhuna.  This curried stew is built with deeply flavored spices, extracted by an oil base and long cooking.  This was my first bottle of mustard oil and I love the scent!  Just be sure to open the lid of the pot away from your face so you don't get a blast of mustard vapor in your face.

We got an enthusiastic three out of four thumbs up on this meal.  One kiddo has a preference for yellow coconut curry when it comes to flavor profiles that she considers under the Indian food umbrella.  It may be that the spices we tend to think of as more typically sweet, like cinnamon and cardamom, tend to throw her off.  But the rest of us really enjoyed this.  The house smelled amazing while it was braising.  Hubby happily had leftovers the next day.  I wish I had remembered to pick up limes, they would have been fantastic served on top as they should have been.  I left the extra chilies off the top of mine, thinking it was already spicy, but the stew was actually well balanced in the bowl and would have been fine with the extra pops of heat.

Kala Bhuna (Bengali Spiced Beef Stew)
from Serious Eats

For the Spice Blend:
2 tsp black peppercorns
5 blade mace, or 1½ tsp ground mace
1½ tsp wild celery seeds (radhuni) (I had to use regular celery seeds, which have a different flavor without the citrusy notes of radhuni)
2½ tbsp cumin seeds 
1½ tbsp coriander seeds 
8 cloves
10 green cardamom pods
2 black cardamom pods
2 tsp mustard seeds

For the Kala Bhuna:
2½ - 3 pounds boneless chuck, cut into 1½ - 2-inch cubes
2 medium red onions (454 g total), halved and thinly sliced cross-wise, divided
2 tbsp ginger paste
2 tbsp garlic paste
1 tbsp + 1 tsp Kashmiri red chili powder
1 tsp ground turmeric
½ tsp ground nutmeg
3 large bay leaves
1 (2-inch) cinnamon stick
6 Indian or Thai green chilies, split in half lengthwise, divided
1 tbsp (15 ml) distilled white vinegar
½ tbsp (9 g) coarse kosher salt; or ¾ tsp table salt by volume, or the same by weight
1 cup (240 ml) mustard oil or canola oil, divided*
2 tsp panch phoron**
1½ tsp dark soy sauce
2 tsp garam masala

To Serve:
Steamed white rice
½ medium red onion, thinly sliced lengthwise
1 English cucumber, thinly sliced cross-wise
Lime wedges
2 - 3 Indian or Thai green chilies, thinly sliced cross-wise

Preheat oven to 300ºF.

For the spice blend: In a small skillet over medium heat, toast the black peppercorns, mace, celery seeds, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, cloves, green cardamom pods, and black cardamom pods.  (If using canola oil instead of mustard oil, add 2 tsp black mustard seeds.)  Stir and toss the spices until they are warm, fragrant, and slightly browned, about a minute.  Remove from heat and transfer to a bowl to cool slightly, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a spice grinder or grind with a mortar and pestle until finely ground.

The spice blend can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 4 to 6 months. 

For the stew: In a 5 - 7 quart Dutch oven, combine beef, half the sliced onions, ginger paste, garlic paste, red chile powder, turmeric, nutmeg, bay leaves, cinnamon stick, 3 of the green chilies, vinegar, salt, ¾ cup mustard oil or canola oil*, and all of the spice blend. Using your hands or a wooden spoon, toss the mixture well to evenly coat with spices. 

Heat the Dutch oven on high and cook, stirring often, to cook meat until the whole mixture is warmed through, 4 to 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook until the meat releases a good amount of moisture, about 5 minutes.

Add ⅔ cup water, stir and bring to a simmer.  Cover with lid and transfer to the middle of the oven.  Cook until meat is tender and knife pierces it easily without resistance, about two hours.

When meat has cooked for 1½ hours, add the remaining ¼ cup mustard or canola oil and 2 teaspoons panch phoron to a small saucepan over medium heat. When the seeds begin to sizzle and pop, reduce heat to low and add the remaining onions.  Cook and stir until golden brown and tender, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

Using thick oven mitts or kitchen towels, carefully transfer the pot to stovetop.  Add the fried onions, dark soy sauce, and garam masala.  Using a heat-proof rubber scraper, stir and scrape the bottom and sides.  Scrape and cook, uncovered, until the sauce has reduced and darkened, and remaining sauce is thick and coats the beef, about 12 to 15 minutes.  Scrape the bulk of the mixture to one side and skim off excess fat the drains out as needed. (Try not to break the chunks of beef while stirring.) Add the remaining three green chilies.  Remove from heat and let rest, covered, until the chilies are fragrant, about 5 minutes. Serve the stew with white rice, sliced red onions, sliced cucumbers, limes wedges, and a sprinkle of the sliced chilies.

Once cooled, the stew can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 4 days.  It will also freeze in an airtight container for up to 6 months.  This stew is great served immediately, but the flavors build even more after a day as the meat sits in the sauce. 

It was almost a half cup+ perhaps of spice!  Yum.


Distributed over the meat, not too much spice mixture.

The meat will release plenty of juice in a few minutes.

I only had ground fenugreek seeds, so I left that out
of the initial frying of the panch phoron and onions.


Add the onions as soon as the mustard
seeds start to pop.

This smells utterly amazing.
As it simmers, the excess oil will pool slightly and may be
skimmed off.  Or it will pool to the edge if you scoop
the mixture toward one side of the pot.  You can pick
out the bay leaves and cinnamon stick at this time.

Wash hands after handling the chilies, of course.
And don't touch your face!

Notes:

*If using canola oil instead of mustard oil, add 2 tsp of black mustard seeds to the spice blend while toasting.

**Panch phoron is an Eastern Indian and Bangladeshi "five spice" whole seed blend used to temper curries, vegetables, dals, and pickles.  It’s made of cumin, brown mustard seeds, fenugreek, fennel, and nigella seeds, and often used in achars and is commonly available at any South Asian grocery store.  (A homemade blend can be made with 1 tbsp fennel seeds, 1 tbsp cumin seeds, 1 tbsp black or brown mustard seeds, 1 tbsp nigella seeds, and 1 tbsp fenugreek seeds (which can be reduced to 1½ tsp to prevent bitterness).

Be sure to check out the rest of our South Asian foods:

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