Topic: Balti base gravy

[Madrasandy]

Came across an old book Id lost, only has 25 pages , but it has a balti base and a balti chicken recipe.
I haven't tried either yet but reckon they are worth a try, other stuff in the book has been very good and simple.

[Onions]

Historical! Thanks Mister Birmingham

Balti = much more complex then? Even that base-!

[littlechilie]

Thanks Andy, I can see myself working with this ;D

[Madrasandy]

Hope so LC , I'm having a play when I get the time.
Interesting to here your results though

[chewytikka]

Hi MA
Circa 1995 Mr Bham's Imperial Balti Express
free book when you bought a set of Balti pans, rumour has it! ;D

Previously explored under the belting balti flag.
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,1442.msg12602.html#msg12602

Bad idea blending whole spices in a base sauce.IMO
cheers Chewy

[littlechilie]

Hi MA

Bad idea blending whole spices in a base sauce.IMO
cheers Chewy

I'm in complete agreement about blending whole spice in base sauce ChewyT, I have no problem frying to flavor the oil, then removing spice before adding the onions.
Quite common in traditional indian recipies, thanks for the link update I will have a good read.

[livo]

I'll give this a go, and also do some experiments with comparisons to other "Balti" sauces and adjustments.

CT's comment re Ground whole spices = bad idea.  Probably even more so considering there are 3 cinnamon sticks in that small amount of gravy.  Is it just me or is that a lot of cinnamon? 3 X (I'm assuming 4" sticks ) seems like a lot of cinnamon to me for a gravy to serve 4 people.

[littlechilie]

Hi Livo having read the link ChewyT provided, the opinion seems to suggest we are to use very little cinnamon for best results.
LC.

[livo]

Yes, OK. Thanks LC.  Just read the linked thread and cinnamon definitely looked to be overdone and this is confirmed by older posts. Maybe using Cassia Bark instead would lessen the impact of that flavour. 

Also quite normal in book recipes is the above requirement use of gravy.  I will reduce both cinnamon and liquid.  I'll try both pre-cooked and raw chicken for the finished dish to compare.

Another thing worthy of note from the linked thread is the claim that the finished dish made from the frozen portion of gravy was better than when it was used fresh.  I'd say just resting in the fridge for a day or two might work just as well but once again confirming that curries are better with a bit of aging.

Strange how the original recipe in the pic uses 1 Dessertspoon and 2 Teaspoon measures. They are the same thing.

[littlechilie]

Yes old measurements  can confuse, I can always remember my mum using a desert spoon to measure!

Sometimes old recipes will specify dessert spoon (roughly equivalent to today