Topic: pat chapmans balti curry club booK, is it worth trying out?

[Derek Dansak]

i have had this book for years, and never used it. is it worth the effort to make all the balti masalla pastes? i suspect its not, but thought someone might have tried the book, and could let me know. cheers dd

[haldi]

I got the hardback version when it first came out
The curries I tried, didn't taste like any baltis I ever bought
They weren't horrible though
It's down to the base tasting "wrong" again
And from memory I think his "spice mix" was fairly complicated
I enjoyed reading the recipes and looking at the pictures
I don't regret buying it

[JerryM]

not a pat fan.

i would give credit though to his garam masala which got me going in a much better direction having started out using KD's recipe and being disappointed.

[Derek Dansak]

"They weren't horrible though"   ummm, i was kind of expecting that kind of response from a pat book. cheers Haldi, that saves me trawling through the recipies, and getting disapointed with the outcomes. instead i will try one of the new dansak recipies from this site. the one including pineapple juice looks interesting. I agree with Jerry that the garam masalla is good. i use that sometimes in my traditional indian recipies. beats the shop brought stuff.

[adriandavidb]

I have the book too, never tried any dishes out 'though!

I CAN recommend AlI Hador's book, that someone on this site put me on to.  I use his method of pre-cooking lamb, and also his bombay potato, 'top shout'!

[Derek Dansak]

maybe there is an amazing curry buried in that pat chapman book, waiting to be unleashed in all its glory!  there is usually one very good curry per cook book (at least).

[Cory Ander]

Hi DD,

It's a good book DD, I'd recommend it to anyone wanting to broaden their curry cooking knowledge.

The introduction on the origins of "balti" makes for an interesting read.

The best section (in my opinion) is the "balti specials".  They are well worth trying.  The "special balti base sauce" used for these is quite different from your usual and is an interesting and refreshing change from the usual we see and refer to (maybe we are missing a trick or two because of their similarity?)

The "special balit base sauce" is based (excuse the pun) on milk, water, onions, garlic, ginger, carrot, celeriac, mooli and spices (no tomatoes).  It does pick up an unusual astringent "twang" (from the cassia I think), but is well worth trying....as are the accompanying "balti special" curries (bhoona, dhansak, ceylon, dopiaza, jalfrezi, kashmiri, kofta, korma, madras, vindaloo, malay, patia, phal, rogan josh, etc). They make very tasty curries.  I'd be surprised if you weren't pleased with them.

The other recipes in the book don't use a curry base.

I'm still not quite sure what makes these "baltis" though?

The breads work well.

The "tandoori dry mix masala" and the "red masala paste" work well for CTM, etc.

I didn't go much on the "green masala paste" (coriander and mint).

The "aromatic salt" is interesting.

There is nothing much wrong with the "balti masala mix", the "balti masala paste" or the "balti garam masala".

I think anyone can see, from the above list, that the book is worth trying.  I think it is one of his best.

[Secret Santa]

not a pat fan.

i would give credit though to his garam masala which got me going in a much better direction having started out using KD's recipe and being disappointed.

Seriously?! I'm amazed. The one thing I really liked about KD's efforts was the garam masala. I still think it is the best version of a garam masala that I have ever used.

[JerryM]

Secret Santa,

i do agree about KD's having used it for years. however the pat garam masala has a few more ingredients which i found good.

i did make the pat mix to spec for a while. however as we do i tried a bit of tinkering  and ended up with a cross between the 2.

i can post the merged spec if their's interest.

[Derek Dansak]

Ok CA, i think  its time to dust of the cover, and give the book a try. sounds like you got a lot out of the book, nice one! its nice to give the bir style cooking a break some weeks, and return to the roots, with some more traditional indian cooking. gosh, i am sounding like madur jaffrey! lol