Topic: Three baltis

[Les]

Good recipes Mick,
Which one do you use?

Les

[mickdabass]

Hi Les
I used this one posted by Martinvic earlier in the thread. I chose it because I had all the spices in stock except dried mint - only had fresh but by the time Id roasted it in a frying pan, is was pretty dry lol

INGREDIENTS FOR BALTI MASALA

Makes about 200g ( Or enough for 20 single servings)

 3 Tablespoons coriander seeds
 3 Tablespoons white cumin seeds
 1 six inch piece of cinnamon broken into pieces
 1 Tablespoon black peppercorns
 1 Tablespoon fennel seeds
 1 Tablespoon black mustard seeds
 The seeds of six black cardamom pods (4 black 3 Green)
 1 Tablespoon fenugreek seeds
 1 teaspoon onion seeds
 10 cloves

 1 Tablespoon dried fenugreek leaves
 1 Tablespoon dried mint leaves
 30 dried curry leaves
 7 bay leaves


 2 Tablespoons turmeric
 2 Tablespoon ground garlic powder
 2 Tablespoons ground ginger powder
 1 Tablespoon ground red chilli powder
 1 Tablespoon Premium Curry Powder
 1/2 Tablespoon Tandoori Masala powder
 1/2 Tablespoon All Purpose Seasoning

[Les]

Cheers Mick gonna give this one a go,
Bit confused Mick, is this 3 recipes or all in one recipe?

Les

[mickdabass]

Its one - well thats how I interpreted it

[Les]

Thanks Mick,
All in one it is  ;D Just seemed like a whole lot of ingredients for one mix powder.

Les

[martinvic]

Hi Mick

Glad to see you giving the Balti Masala mix a go.

To avoid any confusion re the cardamom pods, I think I added the bit in brackets as an alternative, because others seemed to use just the green pods.
And yes it adds up to seven, not the six, because I thought it would be about the same equivalent, as the black pods I have are much bigger than the green.

Martin

[mickdabass]

Cheers for that Martin. I was going to pep it up a bit with some aniseed and maybe some rose petals too - just to try and give the finished product a bit more of a fragrance to it. It worked very well as it is really. I used 2 tsp in the balti.
Regards

Mick

[martinvic]

I'd go steady with the amount of Anise added, although not the same I think the Fennel seeds will already give some of the Anise flavour in that recipe, but Anise itself is much stronger.

Shame I have nothing to compare against myself, haven't had a real Balti in years.
I do use some of that same Balti mix alongside my normal spice mix (about 50/50) when I make a Balti.
I found it a little too fragrant for my tastes on its own.

Martin

[mickdabass]

I'd go steady with the amount of Anise added, although not the same I think the Fennel seeds will already give some of the Anise flavour in that recipe, but Anise itself is much stronger.

Shame I have nothing to compare against myself, haven't had a real Balti in years.
I do use some of that same Balti mix alongside my normal spice mix (about 50/50) when I make a Balti.
I found it a little too fragrant for my tastes on its own.

Martin

Good call Martin - I hadnt thought of that. I havent got any aniseed but was thinking of star anise - which I sometimes add to my tikka marinade instead of fennell. I will report back when I have some results

Cheers

Mick

[JerryM]

Bengali bob,

now had chance to read the post from the start - best post for ages for me - loved it.

glad mickdabass and others are interested too - far better chance at cracking it.

1st off - i've never been to the triangle (spark hill i think). i've only ever needed to go to the Khyber Pass on Alum Rock Road. if you get chance would be good to try TA from this place too so that we know we're on common ground. i call it a balti house.

2nd - i don't feel we can rule anything out - too much conflicting info.

3rd - going to be difficult to crack without knowing what the base tastes like.

where i'm upto. i've been trying to track down lovage seed as this is the only spice in the BBComp (Birmingham Balti Company book) that i haven't tasted. i now think it's ajwain as no shop i've tried has lovage seed.

in short i think the base is essentially what i would call stripped back (c/w BIR). the BBComp base looks it and intend to make a small batch. it uses the balti masala "mix pwdr" which i'm really interested in and feel must be the differentiator. will also do desktop comparison of the various masala's in this post.

ps for info i have made the LB base in the past and it is very good. the mix powder is defo not balti and the garam not 100% right either.