Topic: Shababs Balti chicken

[Kashmiri Bob]

Misty's base and recipe, with one or two refinements.  And pre-cooked chicken strip.



Rob

[Kashmiri Bob]

A few more photos from this session.

New skewer holders with cobbled together dispo BBQ setup





Part of the neighbour's Japanese garden





Leftover Balti chicken with Asda's egg fried rice



Balti chicken (spinach)



With Daawat extra long basmati



Rob

[Onions]

Fantastic photos Rob, mouthwatering. Except the Japanese garden perhaps   

Was that last one the balti/spinach chicken too? - the saucet looks a bit darker.

[Kashmiri Bob]

Was that last one the balti/spinach chicken too? - the sauce looks a bit darker.

Yes, same one.  Out of the fridge.  Reheated (micro) and tipped off the excess oil/balti juice.  Very nice. Yum, yum!

Next time I make Misty's will post the refinements.  Realised that the Shabab's balti is essentially a methi chicken/ghost, etc.  BIR style, Kasoori methi and mustard.  Lots of methi and lots of mustard though. Consequently, the base needs to be pretty sweet. No surprises on how to achieve this.  Find it fairly easy to make with darker (more expensive) mustard oil, but less so with the lighter varieties (e.g KTC), so have been finalising a combination of light oil/mustard powder (paste).  There should also be faint notes of mint leaf in the finished dish.

Rob

[Secret Santa]

Lots of methi and lots of mustard though.

Never had a bought curry with mustard in it or mustard oil. Is that a balti thing?

[Peripatetic Phil]

Never had a bought curry with mustard in it or mustard oil.

Are you sure, Santa ?  Mustard oil is a standard ingredient in (e.g.,) Bassar curry masala, so if ever you have eaten a Pakistani curry (as opposed to, say, a Bangladeshi one), you would almost certainly have consumed mustard oil.
--
** Phil.

[Secret Santa]

Never had a bought curry with mustard in it or mustard oil.

Are you sure, Santa ?  Mustard oil is a standard ingredient in (e.g.,) Bassar curry masala, so if ever you have eaten a Pakistani curry (as opposed to, say, a Bangladeshi one), you would almost certainly have consumed mustard oil.
--
** Phil.

Ah yes. I do indeed make a vindaloo with bassar masala and insist on the "damp" kind that clearly has plenty of mustard oil in it. But really I don't think I've knowingly had a bought curry with it in. Unless it's so little that it's not that evident.

[Kashmiri Bob]

Lots of methi and lots of mustard though.

Never had a bought curry with mustard in it or mustard oil. Is that a balti thing?

I think It's more commonly used than previously thought.  Certainly for Pakistani and Bengali dishes.  Trad and some BIR.  Chef Moike used to put Coleman's in his Methi gosht and shashlik dishes  The acrid, somewhat unpleasant (imo) odour of the oil disappears when cooked.  I think I got up to 1 1/2 cs dark in a single balti.  Not really much chance of knowing it had been used, unless perhaps you knew it had.  Have read that some chefs heat the oil at the start of cooking, until it starts to smoke; this apparently removes the pungency.

Rob