"khana bhoon'na" clarification

Lifestyle Parenting, Household Affairs and Cuisine corner
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right so here is the head banging issue:

I thought the bhoon’na means until the water dries completely from the masala and then oil will get separated …

now some of my salans , the masala gets reduced to a thick , thick, thick little paste and even starts burning but the oil doesnt seperate …

I cook in max 4 tablespoons of oil and if it seems its not enough I add a bit more to the masala…

What am i doing wrong ?

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I guess its your perception that oil always has to stand out after bhoonifying. I don't think that's necessary. Depending on what I am cooking sometimes even if there is no oil I still don't cook it any further. Or another trick is to add some water & bhoonify it again. Eventually some oil will show that didn't before. I just recently did that while cooking Karachi Muchli. Kept on adding water, simmering it, then again adding more water to the masala. Didn't wanna add more oil that's why. It took extra 25 minutes though.

cellphone disaster :( :(
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Hmm yeah i guess you are right Bint .. I have that perception of oil seperating coz every cooking show they mention , that point ...

and once a desi aunty even mentioned that tha salan isnt well bhoonafied ... so I am still confused ...

Bhoona is just to ensure that the basic masala doesnt taste kacha .. right?
Infact I am thnking of reducing the oil to 1 or max 2 tablespoons .. and do most of the bhoon'na in water ... is it possible ? has any one tried it?

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Re: "khana bhoon'na" clarification

Oh man...only if we could find a way to cook using lesser oil (not that I use a whole lot). One tablespoon containing a 120 calories is just insane. Just imagine the amount of calories going in a desi dish. :(

I hope I didn't go offtopic here.

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Re: "khana bhoon'na" clarification

To me "bhoon na" means that the tomatoes/onions/garlic has been mashed/cooked into a smooth curry form AND the separation/rising of oil to the surface...indicating the cooking is complete. So, it means both of these things to me.

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Thanks RV , thats very helpful .. can i ask , how long does it normally take bhoonna process?

what i do is , wait for the pot to get really hot then add oil, wait for it to get smoking hot , then reduce fire to near minimum, add onions, cover and let it fry ... stir occasionally , once it starts looking fried and caramalised , round about 15 minutes ...

then i add garlic/ginger two seconds for frying that and then tomatoes and cover and simmer .. it takes an additional 15 minutes ..

if the oil doesnt come on the top , but it turns into thick paste , i keep on adding abit of water just to bring it to the right consistancy and continue simmering ...

is that how you bhunafy your khana's as well ? how long does it take you to bhunofy the masala?

jab bhi..
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Re: "khana bhoon'na" clarification

^Basically that's the gist of it. I think it also depends on what dish your making. I'm estimating it takes about 15-30 minutes for the onion, garlic, tomatoes to mash up into curry form. And adding water helps to thin out the curry and when you see that the oil has risen to the surface of the salan you're done. And you don't have to add water if you find that the consistency of the curry is fine. I've noticed that the oil will rise to the surface even without adding water.

I don't wait for the oil to get smoking hot to fry the onions. I just let it heat for about 2 minutes or so on medium heat (because oil heats up FAST) and then I add the onions and garlic. You don't want the oil to be too hot when stirring the onion and garlic because they can burn easily and that can lend a burnt flavor to the dish. So, just keep on medium heat and after a couple of minutes add the onion and garlic.

Also, cooking will bhunify quicker if you use tomato puree instead of chopped tomatoes. You know how you have to wait for the chopped tomatoes to mash up and form a curry while cooking? Well, if you take tomatoes, chop into smaller pieces, and blend them in the blender without adding water, you will get like a tomato puree...and using this puree will make the "bhoon na" process faster for making the curry because the tomatoes are already in liquid form. Another tip to speed up the process is to use ginger paste and garlic paste because they will already be in liquid form...so you will have to do less "bhoon na" if that makes sense.