Topic: Shababs Balti: Chicken and Mushroom

[Kashmiri Bob]

A few recent pics using Misty Ricardo's balti base and balti chicken recipes.

Base gravy



Close to spec.  I added a green finger chilli.  Have a habit of doing this; can't help myself.  Reduced the water added to 600 ml.  Felt there was no need to use 1 L.


Base gravy prior to blending



No problems blitzing the whole spices with my handheld blender.  Didn't sieve.  A thick gravy; thicker than Taz base.


Base gravy thinned in use.  Usual rule of thumb; thin until the oil separates nicely




Balti Chicken and Mushroom

Again, close to spec.  Pan cooked.  I didn't add the chilli powder. Added a couple of sliced fresh mushrooms late on. In no great rush cooking it.



 Well, another top notch authentic Birmingham Balti.  Amazing.  Like buses.  You wait for ages and then two turn up at the same time.  Is it better than MDB's Al Frash?  No.  Is it as good.  Possibly; will need to do a side-by-side comparison.

Presentation needs work.  All my efforts are looking like takeaways.  Not a bad thing I suppose.  Will see what can be done presentation wise soon in the new bowl. 



Rob

Links to recipes:

Balti base

https://mistyricardo.com/balti-base-gravy-recipe/

Balti chicken

https://mistyricardo.com/balti-chicken-shababs/

[livo]

This is a lot of fun. That looks great.  I told you it's a thick gravy.  I just did another half batch and I could not get any amount of oil separation. It was glistening on top but that's all. I even added extra water and continued to cook for half an hour before giving up for the night.  I'll heat it back up tomorrow to see what happens when I cook another dish.

[Kashmiri Bob]

This is a lot of fun. That looks great.  I told you it's a thick gravy.  I just did another half batch and I could not get any amount of oil separation. It was glistening on top but that's all. I even added extra water and continued to cook for half an hour before giving up for the night.  I'll heat it back up tomorrow to see what happens when I cook another dish.

Nice one!  Hope it goes well.  I would have missed these recipes, so thanks for the heads-up.  It's a good one.  A "bostin' balti", as per the local dialect.  It is also all fun.  I like picking things apart.  Just now I was checking out the Shababs spoon-offs I have.  What to do with them?  To be fair, would be happy to start off another balti with a CS, or so.  However, it looks quite angry,  which to me suggests an ex-hot curry.  Haven't done one for a while, but I am well-seasoned in this technique, archduke level, at least.  Balti Chicken Phall from me next then, in gory detail.  Shababs actually do have a Balti Tindaloo on their menu, but reckon this effort will be hotter, by some way, and more fruity.

Rob

[livo]

I cooked the Chicken, Mushroom and Spinach Balti last night, using the new batch of base gravy. Both Mrs L and I felt it was much better than the similar dish (no mushroom) cooked the day before using the first batch. The difference is that the whole spices were removed before blending.  This was a big improvement and I would recommend it.  I think it was mainly the black cardamom that overpowers the dish.

Pics.

900 ml of Misty Ricardo's Shababs Base Gravy (whole spices removed).  I only managed to get a glistening of oil on the surface. No real separation even upon adding extra water and reheating in preparation for cooking the Balti. I much preferred this to the first attempt with the spices ground up.  I reduced the number of Black Cardamom to only 1 for a half quantity.  This batch also has Sweet Paprika instead of hot Indian Paprika.  Much nicer curry by far.

Ingredients for Chicken, Mushroom and Spinach Balti.

Chicken and Spinach Balti

Ingredients for Chicken and Spinach Balti with first batch of gravy.  Still a nice meal but not as good as the second batch of gravy.

[Kashmiri Bob]

Good stuff livo.  I like the idea of forum members cooking the same/similar dish and discussing it in the same thread.  It makes sense.  Not sure what's going on with the oil separation.  Perhaps next time make a full batch.  It's still a small quantity.  Less chance of something going wrong?  Would appreciate your advice on scaling up to 3 kg.  I didn't follow your explanation last time.  Actual amounts would be great, MDB or MR; I'm not very good on the math.   

I made 2 x Shababs Balti Chicken last night.  This is one:




Again, a top notcher.  Out of this world.  I will try describe the "perfection" references, etc.  So going back to the Balti Triangle, or nearby, historically, you just couldn't get a curry like this easily anywhere else in Birmingham.  This holds true today.  Then there was the quirky decor of the balti houses. The bowls and compulsory naans, which invariably led to groups of diners/families trying out each others' balti.  Importantly, all this was relatively inexpensive.  The Birmingham Balti experience.

Why is it so good, imo?  The most perfectly balanced curry spicing I have come across.  Nothing takes over in the slightest.  The depth of flavour is off the chart.  Rich and deep, an obvious sweetness to it, like nectar.  The flavour segue to perfection and yet sparkle, simultaneously; truly moreish.  It's like nothing else.  As Mick said, it's a "beast".  I can't really compare it to many of the typical BIR offerings these days, even the really good ones, and I haven't had one of those in a long time.  Most recently, a few years ago, the Madras at Shazanz kebab house (Birmingham) comes to mind.  Exceptional (old school) quality, way, way above the rest, imo.  But, not even in the same league as the Birmingham balti, way off.  Mick's base recipe is so elegant.  It needs nothing, no additional spices, to make the perfect Birmingham balti.  Misty's Shabab recipe is different, the base is relatively bland, no depth and the heavy tomato additions dominate.  The finished dish, however, is absolutely fantastic.  Two different Birmingham balti dishes.  They taste quite different too, but not massively.  The pedigree of both is evident, pure balti, the Holy Grail. 

So I'll have the last night's other Shababs Balti chicken later on today.  Have half of the base left in the freezer.  Will leave this until next week, when I'll make another batch of Mick's base, for side-by-side assessment.  I did make the Balti chicken phall.  Oh my word!  Did a taste test before freezing it.  My giblets are not what they used to be, so this is for Friday.  May need the weekend to recover!

On Shababs one thing I forgot to mention was that on my recent visit I enquired about their frozen range.  You can get a frozen balti and a naan.  Can't remember how much it cost; it was reasonable though.  The waiter told me it takes time.  How long? I asked.  "24 Hours notice", he said.  Might pre-order one of these the week after next and pick up a fresh one too.  Some of their finest kebabs and perhaps a Saag Bhaji.

Rob

[Secret Santa]

Well I was going to make up another batch of MDB's balti base as I do rate it highly ... just as long as I don't use it for making a balti which to me is bland. With just a teaspoon, maybe a teaspoon and a half, of bassar masala though, what a difference! Different to a standard BIR curry but in a very good way. With the bassar masala, to me, it has just a hint of what I'm missing in the taste from the curries I used to get in the early eighties. Still not fully there though. If you haven't tried this livo have a go I think you'll like it.

Anyway, so I'm now debating whether to try MDB's base again or have a go at this one instead. I suppose I'll have to give this one a go though or I'll feel like I'm missing out.

Livo, as you seem to be the one across this balti business the most at the moment could you collate the various methods into a simple list, I've lost track. Nothing complicated just name and maybe provenance of base sauce and a link to its recipe (e.g. MDB's  from Shababs, link to recipe). There should be about four (?) by my reckoning. I don't class that one with cream as a balti. Is there a balti korma, a balti pasanda?

[livo]

Rob, i recall there used to be monthly group testing of dishes here when the forum was more robust. Just before my time and I saw the end of it just as I started up. I think it just sort of fizzled out due to lack of participation.  You've got me confused though. I see the spiciness / blandness of the Shababs / MDB gravies the exact opposite. I agree with you on the tomato influence though.

I don't think I added the full amount of oil to my last batch of gravy Rob. That could've been the reason I didn't get separation.  As for scaling up or down, I usually just do linear scaling for base gravy, but in these 2 gravies I'd be more inclined to make some non linear adjustments to the spices. In Mick's gravy for example I wouldn't use triple cassia for triple quantity onion. Probably 1.5 - 2 X would do. Same thing for black cardamom in the Shababs gravy.

Santa, you should give Misty Ricardo's Shababs gravy a shot. You'll like it I think, but I recommend removing spices before blending (black cardamom at least).  I'll see what I can come up with regarding the links.  As for the traditionally cooked Pakistani balti with cream, there really isn't a lot. You could always leave it out. I linked it because of the similarity to the recent cook from scratch baltis.

I'll have to make more MDB gravy and try the Bassar. I still have some bassar and i also rate micks gravy, in the same way as you..  I've also still got some Herbies Kashmiri Masala (very similar to Bassar) and my own Ver Tikki.  These should all make good curry.

Just for interest, this is the Paprika I have that isn't paprika. It is chilli.

[Secret Santa]

Just for interest, this is the Paprika I have that isn't paprika. It is chilli.

Having a read around it seems there's no standard when it comes to paprika. It can vary from very mild to quite spicy as in your sample. So it probably is paprika, just not what you're used to. Over here we get East End, Rajah, and TRS as the common brands and I think they're all much of a muchness being pretty mild chilli-heat wise. But they're what the BIRs use as well so you need to get one of those brands to be sure you're making real BIR curries I think.

And I hear what you're saying about the black cardamom but I'm used to the flavour and, at least for the first go anyway, I think I'll include and blend them. 

[Kashmiri Bob]

Well I was going to make up another batch of MDB's balti base as I do rate it highly ... just as long as I don't use it for making a balti which to me is bland. With just a teaspoon, maybe a teaspoon and a half, of bassar masala though, what a difference! Different to a standard BIR curry but in a very good way. With the bassar masala, to me, it has just a hint of what I'm missing in the taste from the curries I used to get in the early eighties. Still not fully there though. If you haven't tried this livo have a go I think you'll like it.

Anyway, so I'm now debating whether to try MDB's base again or have a go at this one instead. I suppose I'll have to give this one a go though or I'll feel like I'm missing out.

Interested to hear how you get on with the Shababs base/curry recipe Santa.  For info I boiled the base for 1 1/2 hours, with the reduced water adjustment I mentioned. Bassar masala is a heavy duty and fine ingredient.  It's not required here though, imo. But if it's to your taste, all good.

Rob  

[Secret Santa]

Interested to hear how you get on with the Shababs base/curry recipe Santa.

Well it'll be a while yet because my freezer is packed to the rafters. I'm interested to see how different it is to MDB's base and I'll post what I think when I eventually get around to it.