Blackened Beef · Slow-Fried Curry
Kala Bhuna
Photo: Dolon Prova / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
The dish gets its jet-black color from technique, not food coloring — beef shoulder is fried in mustard oil and a heavy spice blend for so long that the meat itself darkens almost to char.
Beef is browned in mustard oil with a long list of whole and ground spices, then fried down slowly until the gravy reduces to a thick, near-black coating clinging to the meat. It began as a Chattogram specialty and now shows up at weddings, Eid tables, and mezban feasts nationwide.
Why it's made this way: Chattogram's kitchens developed the technique of frying meat down to this dark, concentrated finish, and the city's kala bhuna is still considered the benchmark version even as the dish has spread across the country.
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Part of World of Street Food — 3248 dishes from 118 countries.
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