Topic: Video demonstrating cooking of Balti in Birmingham

[JerryM]

the more i think about this the more things don't add up - mainly the cooking in the balti pan.

i have steel pan similar to balti dish but a bit thicker material - cast steel as opposed to pressed steel.

i can't keep the base of the pan black ie seasoned. when i add base this "deglazes" the bottom and sides part way up (essential to the taste for me too). so the bottom and lower sides are always metal colour. all the balti dishes i've seen after eating from them are black. if i re season the pan it's soon metal colour again.

on the flaming of the onions this happens now and again but i try to avoid it knowing that the oil will be lost "too early and too much". i've also not detected any real difference in taste when the pan flambes. i'll give it a try though for a longer period like in the video (and specifically for the onion cooking) and then add extra oil to make good what's lost.

i do follow the practise now of adding the base in stages (chef spoons) as opposed to ladle fulls and believe this is important in keeping the pan heat up.

[Mikka1]

Is an item I've been looking for. I'm sure the major stores sell it here in the US but I've not seen it as yet. This is why I found that bit interesting frankly. It's come up in a lot of searches, mostly to do with traditional cooking but at odd times with restaurant fair too.

For me anyway this could be the final chink in my Vindaloo spice compound with onions. Of course until I get some and try it I won't really know.

"tomato powder"....interesting....

[Razor]

Mikka,

I'm sure that I have heard paprika decribed as tomato powder.  I know it's not, but I have heard it decribed as that.

Ray

[Mikka1]

That's a realy good point Ray.
When I open a jar of Paprika I get some of what I'm looking for. Do you remember the Hula Hoops Tomato version?

It's that kind of thing for me? It's so strong but other places seem to have it in differing levels. I've tried Paprika with various things, it could be it but it isn't for me at least. I'll go look this weekend and nab someone, drag them around until I get a packet.  ;D

Not tried it of course. Hopefully I'll have some results, I'm really on the nail but one more thing. Exciting stuff cooking isn't it.
Thanks Ray.

Mikka,
I'm sure that I have heard paprika decribed as tomato powder.  I know it's not, but I have heard it decribed as that.

Ray

[Cory Ander]

Tomato powder:

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-tomato-powder.htm

http://www.thespicehouse.com/spices/tomato-powder

[JerryM]

i tried out the chef's method of allowing the pan to flame and leaving it to go out naturally.

i made 3 off curries and feel i'm going to have to explore this a tad more. it raises more questions than it answers.

the oil on it's own won't flame - it only flames when water is added. i could not get it to flame just by adding chopped onion - i needed to add water and woosh.

curry 1 and 3 flamed much better than curry 2 - all 3 were on par but curry 2 was a league up having smokiness.

my previous experience suggests that allowing the pan to flame has no effect on the taste - which is not what the video suggests (i think maybe - i'm reading too much into the video perhaps).

what was unusual was that i was not aiming for smokiness on these 3 off curries (ashoka balti butter masala) as they are in the category of CTM/Korma which don't need it (the ingredient plays a bigger part in the taste of the dish).

i'm going to have to do a repeat to better understand what's going on.

the one thing i did notice was that the onion cooked out much better (easier - i used medium cut onion slices which normally would have taken a tad more cooking than fine chopped that i normally use) - i think this is perhaps down the the intense steam generated at the same time as the smoke when the pan flames. 

[JerryM]

does anyone know what happens when salt is added to onion. clearly water forms on the surface of the onion - has this been drawn from the onion itself or from the atmosphere.

also does anyone have any BIR info on whether they do "treat" chopped onion in some way before using at dish frying stage ie salted or par boil as examples.

i've tried salt and salt+lemon juice leaving the onion overnight. the salt seamed to improve the cooking. the salt+lemon juice did not seem right in terms of taste. i need to try in curry to be certain.

i managed for the 1 st time to get a pic whilst cooking (i did not matter if the onion burnt). the onion + salt certainly gave flame everytime i added.

Onion + Salt Overnight (onion actually has slight coating of water)


Salted Onion cooking

[George]

Did I miss something or did they not put any base/gravy in it?

You could see it in the final dish but any mention and footage was obviously edited out! How predictable. I wonder what else they left out.

[George]

I bet he would have done much better with a wok!

I bet there's not a single 'Balti' chef in the UK who actually cooks n a small little balti dish. It would never be practical. They all cook in a standard (large) pan and just transfer it to a balti dish for serving and theatrics.

[commis]

Hi

Jerry, salting the onions draws water from the onion in the same way as with tomato.

Regards