Bhuna is a humble snack made of puffed and beaten rice, roasted gram and peanuts tempered in fragrant mustard oil, spiced with salt, ground turmeric, coriander powder, red chilli powder and dried mango powder. It is a firm favourite of the Khunnah family from Kanpur, India.
Nirupama Khunnah, married at the age of 19 years, into the large Khunnah family, was the oldest of the five daughters-in-law. Extremely traditional, the family consisted of three generations living together as a joint family, still common in parts of India today. With regular visits by relatives from the extended family and friends, the women of the family were perpetually in the kitchen cooking snacks and full meals. Bhuna, a staple snack was always available.
The Bhuna recipe has its origins two generations before Nirupama married into the family. The recipe has lasted through the generations due to its delicious taste and easy availability of ingredients. There was a reluctance to part with the recipe from mother-in-law to daughter-in-law as each wanted the credit and the accolades for the delicious snack. Only by secretly watching it being made did the later generation replicate the recipe. Its ingredients are all ‘andaza’ or in approximation, but Nirupama has penned the recipe down for us.
Most of the ingredients in the Bhuna recipe are commonly available in grocery stores in all parts of India. Puffed rice, beaten rice, roasted channa, roasted peanuts and all the spices used, can also be bought at most Indian grocery stores all over the world.
Puffed rice, an important ingredient in the recipe, is also a common ingredient in Indian street food snacks. It’s traditionally made by heating rice in a hot sand filled oven, the heated sand helps to puff the rice. It’s also called ‘laiyya’, ‘murmure’ or ‘muri’. As it has no taste of its own, its addition helps in adding volume in both savoury or sweet preparations.
Similarly, beaten rice or rice flakes, is another common ingredient in Indian snacks. Rice is parboiled, rolled, flattened and then dried to produce flakes. The flakes come in different thicknesses depending on the pressure used in the flattening process. It’s called ‘Poha’, ‘Powa’ and is easy to digest and used extensively all over India in savouries and sweets.
Roasted Gram or ‘Chana’ is easily available and a cheap snack in India. It is dry roasted with skin on in a large wok over a slow flame to crisp. The skin helps to enhance the flavour and it can be bought with or without the skin. It is a nutritious and healthy snack on its own or can be added to other savouries.
Peanuts or ‘Moongphalli’ are another common snack staple in India. They are eaten raw, roasted over hot sand and salted, boiled or deep fried. It is highly nutritious and adds crunch and flavour to savouries.
Mustard oil or ‘Sarson ka Tel’ is oil extracted from black Mustard seeds. It’s very pungent and aromatic. To get the full flavour you use it raw. To reduce its pungency, it is boiled to a smoking point, left to cool completely and then used in cooking. Many people use half mustard oil and half neutral vegetable oil to reduce the flavour further. Mustard oil has many health benefits.
For years, Nirupama tried to get the right taste by remembering the flavour. She used the spices in approximation, tried different techniques, till she got the recipe to the level of taste as the original.
She collects all the ingredients except the spices and systematically sautés each ingredient separately in mustard oil and then mixes them all in a large dish. A trick she uses to get an even taste is that she mixes spices half into one lot of ingredients and the rest into the other half. She adds the mustard seeds tempered in the remaining mustard oil and gives the whole lot a good mix so that the flavours blend well. She then leaves it to cool completely before storing it in air tight jars to keep the crispness in.
Bhuna is best eaten as a snack with piping hot fragrant tea or coffee. The hotness of the beverage brings out sharpness of the spices and increases the taste.
Bhuna
Puffed Rice, Peanuts & Roasted Gram Snack
Ingredients ~
250 gms puffed rice/murmura
100 gms beaten rice/poha
100 gms roasted gram/chana
100 gms peanuts
200 ml mustard oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp tumeric powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp dried mango powder
1 tsp salt
2 dried whole chillies
Method ~
1. Add the peanuts to the wok/kadai and dry roast them till fragrant. Take out of the wok into a bowl.
2. Add 100ml mustard oil to the wok/kadai. Heat the oil till fragrant.
3. Once cool, roast the peanuts in the oil till shiny and slightly browned. With a large spatula remove the peanuts from the wok, trying to leave the excess oil in the wok. Remove and collect in a tray large enough for all the ingredients.
4. Next roast the gram/chanas in the mustard oil till the chanas take on a golden colour. Remove the same way as the peanuts.
5. Add the remaining oil to the wok and saute the beaten rice. Again, remove and add to the ingredients on the tray.
6. In the remaining oil, temper the mustard seeds and the whole chillies. Add the puffed rice/murmura and sprinkle half of all the spices. Stir to mix.
7. Stir the remaining spices into the oil roasted ingredients on the tray. Add the puffed rice/mumura also to the tray. Mix thoroughly.
8. Adjust the spices to your taste though on cooling the intensity of the spices lessens and the whole Bhuna crisps up. On cooling if you feel you want to increase the pungency of the spices, go ahead and add more.