Topic: LB's Balti Spice Mix

[JerryM]

This spice mix is taken for Lynette Baxter's Balti Cookbook (ISBN 0-86288-275-3).

Balti Spice Mix:

10 ml (2tsp) paprika
2.5 ml (1/2 tsp) chilli powder
5 ml (1tsp) salt
7.5ml (1 1/2tsp) ground coriander
5ml (1 tsp) ground cumin

Mix together and store in air tight container

It is surprisingly simple to make but produces a good "toffee/chocking" smell on frying at the curry cooking stage (which i believe a crucial factor in achieving the curry taste).

To use it, mix it with tomato puree (suggest 2 tbsp) and enough water to make a runny paste.

The cooking method is as used by many on this site and is repeat here for info only.

To make the curry:

1) fry garlic/ginger paste in oil on a medium/high heat until the rawness smell has gone (removing pan from heat as required to prevent burning)
2) take pan off heat and add spice mix paste and stir to mix with garlic.
3) return pan to heat and stir/fry until water has almost gone (a "toffee or choking" smell should be created)
4) add small amount of base (typ 50ml) and stir/fry until water has almost gone
5) add rest of base (typ 150 - 200ml), rest of ingredients and cook gently for 5 mins

[haldi]

I've completely missed this book
Is it any good?
Does it use a curry gravy/base?

[Cory Ander]

Hi Haldi,

I'm not sure if it's a different book but I have Lynette Baxter's "Balti - The Complete Cookbook" (ISBN 1-85605-246-x).  Lynette Baxter is apparently a home economics graduate and works on (or did work on) product and recipe development for high street retailers.

It is easy to spot many similarities (i.e. wads of similar text) between it, Pat Chapman's books, and the "100 Best Baltis" book (all published around the same time and this and the "100 Best Baltis" following on the heels of Pat Chapman's earlier books I believe).  They seem to have often used the same reference source (or each other's books of course).

This spice mix is, as near as damn it, the same as that in the 100 Best Baltis Cookbook (except for using a little more salt, cumin and chilli).

Yes, it uses a "balti sauce" (and has a recipe for a "quick balti sauce", just like 100 Best Baltis), together with this "balti spice mix" and a "balti garam masala".

I've made the balti base (and used several of her recipes) and am not overly impressed with it.

Nevertheless, like the other books, this book is also a useful reference and is worth having.

PS:  I can't understand how a "spice mix" cannot have tumeric in it.  Those deep yellow stains are, to me anyway, a clear indication of a genuine BIR curry (every bit as much so as "the BIR smell" and "the BIR taste"!)!  ;D

[Chris303]

Not much flavour in there IMHO.

I love the Pat Chapman balti masala

Onion Seeds, Lovage Seeds, Cumin Seeds, Coriander Seeds, Mustard Seeds, Fennel Seeds, Fenugreek Seeds, Casia, and more.... delicious 

[JerryM]

Cory/Haldi,

it's the same book as listed by Cory.

in terms of is it any good - it's a bit like KD plus
1) i do rate the spice mix feeling i've achieved a step change in curry making since using it. i do want to compare it against say yours Haldi which has good ratings (any chance of a link)
2) the base i feel is very similar to KD but i feel slightly more delux. it's not as good as parker21 (and i feel sure saffron which i've not yet tried). interestingly for me it contains garam masala.
3) i feel the make your own garam masala is pretty good (got me into using star anise)
4) there is a much greater range of recipes than KD. i've only made the chicken balti which was ok, close but not quite at restaurant/takeaway taste

turmeric hmm - this is a big unknown for me as i don't like the taste and as a norm i don't use it at all having compared like for like bases and curries in the past with and without it. like cory says though it must be their due to the yellow stains. i feel (from KD book) it must be added at the base stage not at final cooking as otherwise the taste in the restaurant/takeaway dish would be strong which it is not.

[Bobby Bhuna]

Seeds, Lovage Seeds, Cumin Seeds, Coriander Seeds, Mustard Seeds, Fennel Seeds, Fenugreek Seeds, Casia, and more.... delicious 

That does sound pretty tasty!

[ast]

1) i do rate the spice mix feeling i've achieved a step change in curry making since using it. i do want to compare it against say yours Haldi which has good ratings (any chance of a link)

Hi Jerry,

If you're talking about the one I use, I've got the proportions on my Jalfrezi recipe.  The Vindaloo has it too, but its buried in the Saffron thread since I haven't quite decided if it's stable or not.  I suppose it might be "good enough", and I can always alter the spice mix later.

The Jalfrezi's here:  http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,2326.0.html and Haldi's post where I nicked it from is here:  http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,2296.0.html.

HTH,

ast

[JerryM]

Ast, thanks for links.

the Haldi takaway spice mix is very interesting compared to LB given the significant differences.

i am going to have to give it a go using CA's curry masala for the curry powder.

comparative proportions (HD:LB):

1) turmeric (20%:0%)(also present in the curry powder and not a taste i like)
2) paprika (20%:30%)(a spice i like)
3) cumin (11%:17%)(a spice which can overpower)
4) curry powder (20%:0)(an opportunity to add depth of spice). i am not convinced on it's inclusion in a spice mix, believing it better to add in it's own right at cooking stage ie say 1 tsp of both.

when i say "i like" i mean a spice i feel i can relate to in the finished restaurant/takeaway dish.

[Chris303]

Recipe for Pat Chapman's Balti Masala Mix moved to here by CA http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,2454.0.html

[JerryM]

i been experimenting with several ratio's of "spice mix" and have adopted the LB spice mix to a slightly modified version as follows:

Balti Spice Mix (LB+):

20 ml (4tsp) paprika
2.5 ml (1/2 tsp) chilli powder
5 ml (1tsp) salt
20 ml (4 tsp) ground coriander
5ml (1 tsp) ground cumin
5ml (1 tsp) sugar

background

in making a curry with the LB spice mix alone i found the curry still lacking compared to a BIR in what i thought was depth of spice. i thought the answer was to add more spice and have therefore explored the effects of various curry powders.

i used the same base and same cooking recipe/technique and tried various ratio's and even complete substitutions of various spice mixes (CA's Curry Masala, Chris303 Balti Masala, Chris303 Madras Masala, Chris303 Rogan Josh Masala). i also compared the finished dishes with leftover curry from my local TA.

results:
1) the masala's on their own were worse than LB on it's own
2) a ratio of 50:50 LB:Masala was a big improvement
3) the choice of which masala was best to use in the 50/50 mix was too close to call with all producing very good curries
4) the 50/50 LB/Masala spice mix was not as sweet as the TA
5) the cumin was detectable in the 50:50 but not in the TA

conclusions:
1) the LB+ spice mix gets closer to TA taste
2) the LB+ is best used with another curry powder typ 50:50 ratio
3) this still does not quite get to BIR taste which i now feel is down to not having one of those hot live flame burners (for my next trial i am going to try to use by gas bbq and try to cook directly off the burner)

for info the recipe i used was 1 tsp garlic/ginger paste, 1 tsp LB or LB+ (plus 1 tsp of Masala or 1+1 tsp masala and no LB ie 2 tsp total in various ratio's), 2 tbsp tom puree in water per 200ml of base and for final testing a splash of worcester sauce.