New Balti book

[livo]

It is copyright material so I'll send you a PM, rather than muddy the water.

[Madrasandy]

It is copyright material so I'll send you a PM, rather than muddy the water.

Thanks Livo, is the book worth owning in your opinion?

[livo]

It isn't bad for the cost but it is a very basic paperback on rough paper. $7.50 would only just buy 2 small coffees. The recipes are just a collection of restaurant fair but they seem ok. If I send you the Masala and gravy recipes you could pretty much wing it from there I'd say. The actual dishes are standard Balti house dishes so nothing miraculous will happen. If you can buy it for next to nothing, it is worth owning.

I PM'd you a link to a couple of scanned pages so you can decide if you want it or not?

[Madrasandy]

Thanks Livo, all received, thanks for sharing.
It is the balti masala mix powder I am most interested in, I normally use Mangal Balti masala, but I'm having trouble finding any these days

[livo]

I've just had immense difficulty finding the Mangal Kashmiri. 2 packs arrived from Melbourne yesterday.  How did you find their Balti Masala?

[JarvisMadras]

Just got this book today and looks interesting.

A question to anyone who has made the Garam and the Masala......Cassia bark 5 x 5cm pieces

the cassia bark I have looks quite hard and I wondered how it blends in a spice mill ?

I did wonder if they meant cinnamon sticks

Any thoughts ?

[Peripatetic Phil]

Cassia bark 5 x 5cm pieces   The cassia bark I have looks quite hard and I wondered how it blends in a spice mill ?

Unlikely to require real cinnamon.  Just break the cassia bark into small (1/4" x 1/2") pieces and any decent coffee grinder should be able to handle it after that.  You can always use a hammer for the initial breaking.

** Phil.

[JarvisMadras]

Cassia bark 5 x 5cm pieces   The cassia bark I have looks quite hard and I wondered how it blends in a spice mill ?

Unlikely to require real cinnamon.  Just break the cassia bark into small (1/4" x 1/2") pieces and any decent coffee grinder should be able to handle it after that.  You can always use a hammer for the initial breaking.

** Phil.

Thanks for that Phil.....was reluctant to put them in the spice grinder.......Will give it a go

[Unclefrank]

I still use some recipe from this book, the balti masala mix, balti garam masala mix, balti chicken tikka masala, chick pea balti, red lentil balti, aubergine balti, mushroom balti.
For me this book was a very interesting read, having tried many Balti's from different T/A's and Restaurants and have over time tweaked, tinkered, taken out ingredients, added ingredients and got the recipes very close indeed to my local curry houses and i did enjoy making the recipes from this book.

[livo]

I recently ran out of Cassia Bark and had to purchase a small pack from the Asian grocer while I waited for my closest Indian store to order in a larger bag. Most of the bark in the small pack was noticeably thinner than my previous stock, and the new pack from my Indian grocer.  The pack was also unusually labelled, (more on this here )

Even using the thinner bark,when I made these spice blends recently the bark was a little difficult to grind but I found that the hard lumps just spin around in the grinder and are unlikely to cause damage. I had to do some manual mortar and pestle grinding as well as sifting to get a good evenly ground Masala. However, my grinder is a KitchenAid coffee grinder and I can't get the spice grinder bowls and blades for it here in Australia. Surprise, surprise, and KA are not at all interested in helping. A decent spice grinder should have no problem.

Whenever I make a "powdered" masala using bark or pods I include a sifting at the end to remove larger particles. I just use a normal kitchen sieve. A fine tea strainer would be way too fine.   If there isn't a lot left over I just flick it in the bin.  If there is a fair bit I will resort to the Mortar and Pestle.