Bhuna Gosht (Mutton/Goat Bhuna)

Bhuna gosht is a delectable braised meat dish popular in North Indian and Pakistani cuisine. If you want to make an impressive fuss- free meat dish with minimal ingredients, make this authentic bhuna gosht. This classic curry needs no marination, is made without tomatoes and is one-pot! 

Bhuna gosht is super easy to make in pressure cooker or instant pot (to save time), however on a lazy days, go for slow cooking on stove top(instructions included).

In north indian states of Lucknow and Delhi, bhuna gosht is made by browning and cooking mutton with onions, indian spices and a touch of yogurt. For this simple recipe of bhuna gosht, you need basic ingredients. The secret to its flavorful success lies in the technique, which I'll guide you through in this post.

Growing up, Sundays were dedicated to indulging in meat dishes. While a simple mutton/goat curry was a regular, rich bhuna mutton prepared in our traditional desi pressure cooker held a special place in our hearts. Bhuna gosht, though easy to make is not a light dish, its pretty oily and heavy.

I could hear the sound of steel spoon hitting the walls of the cooker while mom would bhuno the meat, followed by the hissing of the pressure valve when she closed the lid for that final run. The delightful aroma of browned onions, fragrant spices, and tender meat permeated the entire house, creating an irresistible anticipation for the meal that awaited us.

What is meaning of Bhuna

Bhuna dishes are known for their intense and well-developed taste due to browning over a constant heat. Bhuna or Bhunai means to fry spices and onions in ghee or oil along with meat over high heat. You start with sliced onions, whole green chilies and ginger julinnes, and by the end of bhunai, a thick spice paste remains. The spice paste (bhuna masala) formed by melding of flavors has complex layers and is a thing of beauty!

Interestingly enough, a bhuna curry refers to the style of cooking used to make the dish instead of being a dish itself. Using this technique, you could make chicken bhuna, mutton bhuna masala, lamb bhuna etc.

In my family, we have a deep fondness with bhuna dishes. Whether it's a humble vegetable dish, meat or a flavorful chicken bhuna masala, our taste buds insist on the magic of high-heat "bhuno" technique to fully approve of the rich and aromatic flavors.

When you bhuno the meat on high heat, you are essentially avoiding or slowing the steaming process, you are searing it and not letting it release its juices quickly. While the meat does release moisture during the browning process, the high heat ensures that the fat renders, oil of spice paste separates and the meat gets seared. In due course of time there is an explosion of flavors.

Origin Of Bhuna

Bhuna dishes can be traced back to royal kitchen of north east Indian states of West Bengal. However, over time, this technique took over the culinary scene of the entire indian subcontinent.

Is bhuna spicy?

Bhuna dishes have exceptional intensity. They could be pretty spicy if you prefer so. Due to frying over heat, the ingredients like sliced onions, garlic ginger and spices etc turn into a paste which when combined with the flavor of meat make the masala taste extremely concentrated. Reduce red chilli powder and skip green chillies to tame the heat.

About Bhuna Gosht

Gosht is meat.

The star of the bhuna gosht is the meat - typically mutton, goat, or lamb. Bone in meat is preferable. In my recipe for bhuna gosht, the base is goat meat or use mutton or lamb. It is also known as mutton bhuna, bhuna gosht masala or mutton bhuna masala.

You are going to start by browning the onions and then frying (bhuno) the meat with onions for the most part, about 12-15 minutes. Yes, it does need some patience and elbow grease, however the taste from all that searing and sautéing is impeccable.

Then, we are going to pressure cook the meat until soft (but not falling apart), add the yogurt and our special super-fragrant freshly ground garam masala (spice blend ) and then bhuno the meat again until its shiny and oily.

The oil separating from meat, or what we call "taar" that you notice in the pictures is indicative of traditional bhuna dishes.

Jump to:

• What is meaning of Bhuna
• About Bhuna Gosht
• Ingredients
• How To Cook Bhuna Gosht Masala
• Recipe Tips
• Serving Suggestions
• Bhuna Gosht

Ingredients

• Meat - Growing up, it used to be mutton, however, now I make bhuna gosht with lamb or goat meat because I don't get mutton here. Make sure that the meat is trimmed. I prefer to use bone in meat (like goat), however this recipe will work perfectly with boneless lamb shoulder or lamb leg. Beef stew meat will work too.
• Mustard Oil - For, authentic north indian dishes like these, I use pure mustard oil for that pungent smokiness. You could use ghee instead or avocado oil works just fine.
• Onions - Sliced. Browned onions are the key to this recipe and I prefer using red onions because they have a sharp taste.
• Ginger & Garlic - I minced the garlic and julienne the ginger. You could use ginger in any form in this recipe- julienned or in a paste form. Store bought garlic paste is fine to use. If you have ginger garlic paste in the freezer or a jar in the fridge - go ahead and use it!
• Other Ingredients - Plain Yogurt , green chilies, salt

Spices

There are 3 ways in which spices are used to make bhuna gosht. Again nothing complicated!

• Whole Spices to temper the oil - bay leaves, cinnamon(cassia bark)
• Powdered Spices - Coriander Powder, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, kashmiri chilli powder. I like using degi mirch which is a red chili powder specifically for curries - it lends both the heat and color.
• Whole Spices to finish- We are going to make a fresh and fragrant ground spice powder to finish bhuna gosht with black cardamom, cumin seeds, black peppercorns and cloves. Or use garam masala powder you have at home. 

Note - Use green cardamom pods (seeds only) if you do not have black cardamom. However, please note that these two varieties of cardamom have a very different flavor profile and are exactly not a substitute for each other. Black cardamom is woody and smoky(perfect for meat) while green cardamom is sweet and balmy (used in deserts, pilafs or chicken, paneer dishes etc)

How To Cook Bhuna Gosht Masala

Browning the Onions

You can do the below steps on saute mode in an Instant Pot.

1. Place a pressure cooker on low medium flame on stove. Add mustard oil and let heat up for a minute and a half to do away its raw smell. If using oil or ghee, you don't need to wait that long. (image 1)
2. On low flame, add the bay leaf and cinnamon stick to the hot oil. Stir around using a cooking spoon for 30 seconds taking care not to burn. (image 2 & 3)
3. Add the sliced onions next. On low to medium flame, for the next 8-10 minutes we will fry the onions to golden brown. You can stir intermittently to make sure that onions are not burning or getting too dark or black. Images 5, 6, 7 and 8 show the different stages of browning onions.

Pro Tip - Browning onions is key to the taste of bhuna gosht, please don't rush this step. Avoid stirring too much else the onions will start steaming or breaking down instead of frying.

Bhuno the gosht & onions

4. Add the goat meat, ginger juliennes(if using, else add ginger garlic paste later) and green chillies(if using). Stir around to mix the meat with the onions. For the next 6-8 minutes, bhuno(fry) the meat with browned onions. The meat will change color, its pink color will fade and slowly it will start browning. We have initiated the bhuna process. Depending on the quality and quantity of meat, you will start noticing some moisture and hear faint sizzling sounds.(images 9,10,11)
5. Introduce the garlic paste (or ginger-garlic paste), salt and powdered spices at this stage. Again stir around to coat the meat and continue to bhuno. You will notice that by 12 or 14 minutes, the meat will be much darker and the sizzling sounds will be loud. There will be liquid releasing from meat. Continue to bhuno the meat for up until 15 minutes. (images 12, 13 and 14)

Tip - As the name "bhuna" suggests, the cooking process involves continuous stirring. Keep stirring the meat regularly to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pan and to develop deep flavors.

Pressure Cook Meat & Finish With Spices

6. Add little water (⅓ to ½ cup) now. Don't add lot of water, just enough so that meat is not going to dry while pressure cooking. Bhuna gosht is commonly dryish with thick masala. (image 15, 16)
7. Close the lid of the pressure cooker (image 17) or turn IP to pressure mode. Cook on low medium flame for 3-5 whistles or until the meat is 85-90 percent cooked. Switch off the heat and let pressure come down. For IP, cook for high pressure for 6 minutes, let pressure release naturally for 7-8 minutes and then release manually. (image 17)

Pro Tip - During pressure cooking, we don't want to cook meat completely. Meat should be soft and tender but not be falling off the bone. This is because we will bhuno it more with yogurt in next steps.

8. Make fresh garam masala for finishing - While the meat is pressure cooking, in a small sauce pan dry roast the cumin seeds, black cardamom seeds, black pepper corns and cloves. Dry roast until slightly smoky. Cool slightly and then grind into a powder using spice blender.
9. Open the lid of pressure cooker or IP. Return cooker to stove or start saute mode for IP. On low flame, add the whisked yogurt to the meat and stir around. On low medium heat, bhuno the meat with yogurt for 6-8 minutes. Cover the cooker (without pressure) for 7-8 minutes or until the meat is tender, looks shiny and the yogurt has cooked off. You will notice oil separating from meat at this stage. (image 18,19)
10. Sprinkle the fresh ground spice mix that we made and mix.(image 20) Bhuna gosht is ready!
11. You could garnish bhuna gosht with fresh chopped cilantro, mint or more ginger.

Stove Top Bhuna Gosht

Follow steps 1 to 5 above in a heavy bottom wide pot(dutch oven is great).

For step 6, you will need ¾ to 1 cup water since stove top needs more liquid due to long time needed for cooking meat.

Follow the steps 8-9 as noted. Bhuno the meat after adding yogurt and cover again if needed until meat is cooked through.

Recipe Tips

• Choosing Meat - I personally find the taste to be better when I use bone in meat like mutton or goat meat. However if you cannot find, boneless lamb will work too.
• Don't skimp on oil - Else the taste from bhunai will not come through. Plain and simple, you need oil to bhuno meat. That said, the oil quantity mentioned in the recipe card is for goat meat which tends to be leaner. If using lamb, use less oil.
• Use a Heavy Bottom Pressure Cooker- A heavy bottom cooking pot or cooker maintains even heat distribution and prevents the meat from sticking or burning during the bhunai. Though the instant pot gets the job done, I personally favor the pressure cooker or stove top pot for this dish.
• Bhunai and slow cooking - Even though we use pressure cooker to tenderize the meat, a lot of deep flavors develop in the meat while we bhuno it. This long and constant bhunai or frying makes this dish different from usually goat or lamb curry.

Serving Suggestions

• Traditional Indian way to serve bhuna gosht is with tawa roti, roomali roti or paratha (indian bread cooked on griddle). However, we love it with doughy naan too. Add sliced onions, a fresh salad like kachumber, boondi raita and green chutney to brighten up your indian meal spread.
• You could definitely serve with steamed basmati rice or jeera rice.
• If you are making bhuna gosht with boneless meat like lamb, you could shred the lamb using fork and pile on top of dinner rolls.
• A tangy side such as a pickle - garlic achaar or tamarind chutney will also balance the taste of this dish.