MDB’s Birmingham Balti Gravy 100% Clone Al Frash Balti Restaurant MKII

[livo]

Exactly, and this presents another of those areas of confusion as people of Indian background often / usually say cinnamon when they are obviously referring to and using cassia bark.  Imagine using 55 grams of true cinnamon in a base gravy, or putting cassia powder sugar mix on your buttered toast.   My local Indian grocers (both stores) tried to tell me they are the same and appeared very confused when I insisted that they are not.

I used to use actual cinnamon in every instance of the spice being mentioned in recipes.  I now have to question this and there is no real way to determine which is required unless the ingredients are illustrated, visually presented in video or clearly identified.

[Kashmiri Bob]

Exactly, and this presents another of those areas of confusion as people of Indian background often / usually say cinnamon when they are obviously referring to and using cassia bark.  Imagine using 55 grams of true cinnamon in a base gravy, or putting cassia powder sugar mix on your buttered toast.   My local Indian grocers (both stores) tried to tell me they are the same and appeared very confused when I insisted that they are not.

Yep, and it's got past Sainburys here too. Bought both bags from one of their larger stores.  Looks like they are ditching the Cofresh (poor) Asian brand for Fudco.  Only used two of their products so far.  The left bag, cassia; excellent.  Their Black Pepper Poppadoms are also very good, imo.  It is disappointing they are not up to speed on the Birmingham Balti.

For me, ignore what the "cassia, etc." labelling says.  Just pick the dark, rough outer, semi-circles.  As Mick said, ...you could make a canoe out of it.  Above all, if in doubt, trust your hooter.

Rob 

[Secret Santa]

So, to be clear, for MDB's balti sauce we should be using cassia, right?

I've just bought a kilo of true Ceylon cinnamon so have plenty to go around if that's what should be used instead, though I doubt it should be used here.

[livo]

Correct. Cassia Bark.  A kg of true Ceylon Cinnamon will last you quite a while SS.

I've just watched 2 videos for a pre-cooked chicken & a Garam Masala and the word Cinnamon is used when the spice actually shown is clearly Cassia Bark.

[Robbo141]

I used Mick's base again yesterday with a couple of variations.
1. Cooked at lunchtime to let the curry rest for 7 hours or so till dinner, rather than the full overnight.
2. Used some meat from a rotisserie chicken from Costco rather than raw or BIR pre-cooked.

I cooked with a few spices, ginger garlic paste and some fresh Thai chillies, as per my heat preference.

Verdict:
OK but nowhere near as good as when using fresh chicken.
And next morning had improved a bit, but not as much as last time.
Lesson learned. Overnight is next trial, although cooking and then not eating is going to be tough.

This base is definitely going to be repeated.

Robbo

[mickdabass]

I found this article that might be of interest. It seems that the thicker the cassia bark/Chinese Cinnamon, the better/more expensive it is

https://www.superfoodevolution.com/chinese-cinnamon.html

I am not an expert in cassia bark but Ive noticed that the stuff Ive used of late has been very thin and probably not as potent.

Perhaps this would explain the variations in blandness??

Regards

Mick

[Kashmiri Bob]

Last night's go at a Balti Garlic Chicken using Mick's base.  The Al Frash menu described theirs as barbecued chicken infused with fresh herbs, chilli sauce and fresh coriander. 

Pan cooked and straight to balti bowl.  2 1/2 mins under a hot grill, to finish.  Have made a few along these lines recently.  The additions I did for this one were 3 cloves of garlic (chopped), 1 tsp kashmiri chilli powder, 2 tsp kasuri methi and a slosh of Sriracha hot chilli sauce.  Rotisserie chicken cut into strips.  Another min under the grill would have got the edges charred.







10/10.

Will be making this again.  Could try mixed herbs, but a goodly about of fresh methi is tempting.  I don't know if it is in season.  Balti Garlic Methi Chicken.  Mmm. 

Also, I was thinking last night how I would change it into a Balti Garlic Chilli Chicken.  Reckon just a couple of finely chopped fresh green chillies as a garnish would do it.  Recall back in the Rusholme days several of the curry houses served this way.  You used to get an extra little dish of them too, to top up, if required.

Looking forward to incorporating the kashmiri chilli into the base next time I make it, as per Mick's MKII recipe.  I have tried two brands so far.  TRS and some organic stuff from Amazon.  Early days but I think the latter is the best of the two.

Rob

[mickdabass]

That looks amazing Rob.

Thanks again for all of the positive feedback.

I feel very humbled

Regards

Mick

[livo]

Looks great Rob.  Chicken, garlic and methi.  mmmmm!!!  I don't see fresh methi out here, but I can get frozen cubes sometimes.  I probably should try to plant some seeds to see what happens.  Here's an interesting trick you might try though. I have a recipe for Indian scrambled eggs which I cook fairly regularly.  It says to use fresh methi, but it also advises if you can't get it to substitute chopped celery leaves.  I use it every time now as I have it growing all year round.

Mick, your base gravy is a hit.  Well done.

[Kashmiri Bob]

Looks great Rob.  Chicken, garlic and methi.  mmmmm!!!  I don't see fresh methi out here, but I can get frozen cubes sometimes.  I probably should try to plant some seeds to see what happens.

I think fresh would make a fancy balti.  I tried the frozen blocks once and we did not get on.  Here is a thread from yesteryear.  Methi Chicken (not balti).  Frozen block on the last page.

www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,11980.msg95738.html#msg95738

Rob