The Elusive Adil's Balti

[Kashmiri Bob]

So I have just tried to connect some info on Adil's, most of which is already on here, in the Three Baltis thread. Joining up the dots. Also of interest is my more recent visit to the Khyber Pass balti house.

Whilst tasting different the Adil's and Khyber baltis share some similarities. Both are very light and airy. Their sauces look similar; colour/texture. Thickness too. The overall impression. Almost as if the owners/chefs in these two places knew each other. They did. The owners are related (cousins).

The Khyber baltis contain pineapple pulp. The sweetness of the pineapple is offset/balanced, in part, with lemon (zest). It's quite possible that Adil's did similar, with a different tropical fruit. Lychee pulp ticks all the boxes. Floral, almost perfume, musky and sweet. I found a distributor in Holland selling it in bulk 20 and 100 kg drums. But the Chinese supermarkets here looks to be my best option, and will be my next stop. The sweetness here would be offset by the inclusion of tandoori masala powder, which we know to be in the Adil's balti.

The first photo is from the 3Bs thread. Adil's balti sauce, leftovers. Glutinous appearance. The other (stock) photo is commercially produced Lychee pulp. 








Incidentally, for the OP Balti chicken & mushroom I added some besan (chick pea flour). This my be part of it too. Recall Jerry's "unknown paste", spotted in the Punjab Paradise balti house video.

Rob

[Kashmiri Bob]

Visited Birmingham's Chinese Quarter yesterday. First time for me. Wow! What a place. Lot's of eateries of course, with mouth-watering food aromas, wafting everywhere. I felt hungry straight away, even though I had not long since had my breakfast. A range of prices for the restaurants. Looked at a menu in the window of one of them that had lots of pictures. It was £138 (set meal for two). I think this was for the afternoon service. Included a scallop dish by the looks of it. Chicken feet too. Not sure what the main was. It looked really nice though. Was parked in a nearby multi-storey with the clock running, so decided to just get what I came here for.

Found these two sat side-by-side in a smaller than expected supermarket. Nice to see and somehow strangely reassuring.





Also got a bag of Chinese cinnamon and a packet of Rajah tandoori masala seasoning. Couldn't find any Lychee pulp, or a distillate. I have already acquired 1 kg Lychee puree from Amazon though. Occured to me later that the usual Asian supermarkets I go to probably also stock Lychee products. I just haven't had any reason to look for them until now. So they will be my next port of call. Will also get a bottle of Rooh Afza, which I have tried before, but want to have a look at again, for completeness.

Anyway, I am hoping for some success, or at least some progress. If not, I am going straight back on the powdered Unicorn horn road. The Adil's balti is an itch that just won't go away.

Rob