Topic: Three baltis

[Invisible Mike]

Shabab's balti cooking, from 24mins. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b07zchsg/hairy-bikers-chicken-egg-6-uk-2

[littlechilie]

Great find Mike, very interesting to see chef in action although I thought he slightly over cooked the dish..
Fresh ingredients can't go wrong ...,

[Invisible Mike]

Yes he did ruin it a bit didn't he! I'd be interested to know if the garam masala was shop bought or homemade and if the base was really just onions, garlic, ginger and spices as he says.

Some vids on their website aswell. Note the tray of dark red seasoned oil. http://shababs.co.uk/media-center/

[littlechilie]

I'm going to take a look now, many thanks.

[littlechilie]

Hi Mike, nice red oil from precooking meats and reclaiming the oil, you can see a little of the meat stock sediment at the bottom of the spoon. But Wow to the amount of oil and Garlic!
Another fantastic insight, simple fresh food,  I use the precooked stock and oil myself it makes a big difference to the flavour.
Many thanks for the link I enjoyed viewing these videos.

[littlechilie]

Hi Mike, loved the history Chanel vid, I have never seen the chicken tikka cooked on stove from fresh and reduced down like that. I will be trying this method as looked nice and juicy after marinating all night..

Must say the spices and garam masala all looked shop brought to me They all looked fine commercial grind.. what did you think ?
Thanks.

[chewytikka]

Good TV MM.  ;D ;D ;D A bit of Theatre

But not the best advert for the restaurant.

The young owner totally hammered / incinerated the dish, taking flaming for the camera to the extreme.
Had to laugh as the Bikers were scraping the stuck chicken off the bottom of the Balti Pan
and Dave Myers said he liked the charcoal crispy bits, Really.

A bit of a shame as Ive tasted a couple of baltis from the same place and
they were probably as good as your going to get in that area.
page 40 on this thread.

Another thing I noticed, He showed his Stamped Balti Pan, then switched it
to an Uncles Balti Pan to cook the dish, of which he had a good stack of, on the cooker.

Anyhoo, a good watch apart from the CBBC format, Biker team must be running out of ideas.

Just watched the other promo vids, his kitchen staff seemed a bit -issed off about
celebs learning to cook and in there domain.
Why would you fry Tikka off in a wok, with loads of oil when you have a Tandoor Oven sitting there?
Much more entertaining TV if they used it on camera.

cheers Chewy ;D

[Invisible Mike]

LC Yes I thought the GM was about the same shade as say the East End version, which does make replication a little easier for us I suppose.

CT I didn't notice him swap the pan, well spotted. I did notice the use of fresh chicken, not pre-cooked, in Si and Dave's curry. I wondered if that was standard?

I also noticed one other thing... Did you see the guy put a little indent in the naan bread before whacking it in the tandoor??? 

[foureyes1941]

I compared the cooking of these baltis and noticed that the Adil one never added onions which I find strange. There appeared more spices added in the Shabab version, what do you think?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7CBbWW-4U0&feature=share

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8MhbLHpUGc&feature=share

[Invisible Mike]

Every balti house's interpretation of the dish is different in my experience but I think that's what makes things more interesting when visiting different places.


Check out the oil on top of the base in this vid 1:20. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=T-HxmACgdEs