Topic: Kushi Basic Balti

[Cory Ander]

my own observation of balti is more sauce and less meat

Course it is Jerry (I'll try not to sigh too much Jerry.... )...... :-X


"Balti...also known as Karahi, it is a Kashmiri curry, freshly cooked and has a rich aroma of spices. It is not really very hot or flavored with chillies, it's just seriously delicious. Traditionally this dryish, slightly oily and spiced up dish is eaten with a bread in the right hand, and the food is scooped up.....their spicing is a little subtle; fresh garlic, ginger, coriander leaf and aromatic spices including clove, cassia bark, cardamoms, aniseed, fennel, cummin and garam masala. Liquor doesnot get served here as the restaurateurs are mostly Pakistani Moslems"  (http://monadarling.com/lifestyle/whats-cooking-in-the-balti.html)

"The food served in the Balti pan are freshly cooked aromatically spiced curries. Balti food at its best is very aromatic, but not excessively spiked with chillies. Traditionally it is eaten without rice or cutlery. Balti bread is used to scoop up the food.... Balti food is both simple in its concept and cooking, and complex in its flavours. True Balti food is dryish and slightly oily and spicily tasty" (http://recipes.chef2chef.net/recipe-archive/25/140741.shtml)

"So what does Afzall say a Balti is?...It's a joke. Hundred per cent joke, he says. It was an invention for the goras (white folk). A Balti is like curry. It exists and doesn?t exist. Do you know what a curry is? I have never had a curry in my life!  We tried to civilise the natives by introducing different kinds of cuisine. In particular, we introduced the tandoor and karahi dishes. We soon discovered that the goras had problems pronouncing the word karahi, so as a joke we said why not call it a Balti. It will make life easier for the goras.? (http://www.birminghampost.net/life-leisure-birmingham-guide/postfeatures/2008/11/03/birmingham-asked-what-makes-a-balti-65233-22173155/)

"A Balti curry is cooked quickly over a high heat and is served, sizzling hot, in the Balti dish. Knives and forks are not usually used to eat the curry. Instead, naan bread or chapattis are used to scoop up the curry" (http://www.curryfocus.co.uk/Blog/2007/12/15/balti-curry-what-is-it/)

[Secret Santa]

this may be what some have experienced but it's certainly not universal. there is no way u can get to a vindaloo from a madras by chilli alone. they are very different dishes. don't be taken in by imitations.

I agree entirely Jerry. It seems that we are fortunate enough to have experienced the delights of REAL differences between our madrases, vindaloos and phals.

Actually I find the statement that they basically only differ in the amount of chilli used quite laughable.

[Cory Ander]

Actually I find the statement that they basically only differ in the amount of chilli used quite laughable.

Laugh away SS, as is so often your want...... :

[commis]

Hi
We are taking Balti here,they use heat statements as vindo ect. Yes just by ramping up the chili, just a simple way of describing there food.
Regards

[JerryM]

commis i'm fine going along with what u say - i know very little of balti. my comment was down to BIR madras and BIR vindaloo.

there is no point arguing the point - each to there own.

i't's an ambition of mine to crack the BIR version of vindaloo at some point - once sylheti and bahar are either sorted or failed.

[Razor]

Hi guy's

Who'd have thought  this little post would have caused so much debate :  For what it's worth, here's my slant on thing's.

BIR/Balti will be a million miles away from the original dishes, so the variance in taste and opinion is not suprising.  Just by definition BIR (British INDIAN Restaurant, should suggest that it is INDIAN cuisine.  To my knowledge, there are very few actual INDIAN restaurants about, most of which are Bangladeshi or Pakistan, so regional variance's are naturally going to occur, and yes, I am aware of Indias history and the fact that these other countries were once part of India.  But the country is vast, big enough to have a number of different languages, so it's bound to have dishes of the same name but with a different look and taste, from region to region.  As these chef's came to Britain back in the day, they bring their interpritation of that dish, including it's differences!

So, to say that a Vindaloo is nothing more than a basic curry with extra chilli, is neither right or wrong, It's just another variation of the dish.  I am in no doubt that there are "OK" vindaloo's and there are "great" ones too, and that will be the variation! 

The chef's that can make a curry for a quid, but sell it at 7 quid, are likely to be the ones who just add the extra chilli, the ones that make a curry for 2.50 but sell it for 7 are likely to be the ones that add the "magic" that some of you guy's are aware of.  D you see where I'm coming from?

For instance,  I get seekh kebabs from my local TA.  There are absolutely nothing like any restaurant ones I've ever tasted.  They have no food colouring in them, the texture is not as firm, kinda rubbery really but in a good way.  They are really spicy and the dominant spice is defo Jeera (Cumin)  They are absolutley beautiful but a million miles away from the restaurant ones, which I also love.  I've raised this point with the chef at the TA, who is from Pakistan BTW, and he, without doubt, tells me that these kebabs are the genuine artical!!!

I guess what I'm saying, at the risk of being a waffeling old fart   is, we will never truly crack the enigma that is BIR or Balti for that matter, until we all accept the regional differences, British and Asian, and just go with what makes YOU happy.

I'm willing to bet good money, that if any single one of you guys, knocked up YOUR take on YOUR favourate dish, and give it to Joe public to taste, they would think the dish had just come straight out of the best BIR in their repective cities and "Ta Dah" we have another variation!

God, I hoped that lot make some sense ;D

Ray

[JerryM]

Razor,

quite agree on the slant and for sure regional difference has it's part to play.

all i and Secret Santa can go off is the hymn sheet we've grown up with:

Madras (fairly hot): using a greater proportion of spices and tomato puree which lends a fairly hot taste to its richness

Vindaloo (very hot): involving greater use of spice, garlic, ginger and black pepper to produce a hot taste.

they are in fact making comparison to plain curry (medium): produced from a wide but basic range of spices for a medium taste

[joshallen2k]

"A Balti curry is cooked quickly over a high heat and is served, sizzling hot, in the Balti dish. Knives and forks are not usually used to eat the curry. Instead, naan bread or chapattis are used to scoop up the curry" (http://www.curryfocus.co.uk/Blog/2007/12/15/balti-curry-what-is-it/)

Ha! That probably explains why I remember it being the only dish that automatically came with naan. And also why I remember it being no more than an overspiced Bhuna.

[JerryM]

Razor,

made this last night - oooooooh. the onion just melted and sat so well with the fresh tom.

i really had to be strong to make it to spec. i had tom puree, lemon dressing, bunjarra all twitching ready for call up.

boy am i glad i resisted - this really hit the spot. loved it to bit's - so did the good lady.

the recipe yellow sticky goes in my KD1 book - exactly to spec.

pic for info:

[PaulP]

I'll have to add this to my to-do list.

Razor, would you recommend the book - I wouldn't expect you to post every recipe from it on here. I'll try one of these recipes and will probably buy the book if I like it.

Thanks for posting this stuff - I guess you are happy with the results yourself?

Paul.