Hi John and a warm welcome to cr0.
Ok, Chicken Balti. It's not surprising that you're struggling to get a recipe for this because the word 'Balti' throws up many many varied alternatives.
Some would have you believe that Balti's originated from Baltistan? Others believe that the Balti, is the actual dish that the curry is served in, and they're are others that believe that a Batli, is a bucket?
However, it does seem that whichever view you choose to go with, a proper Balti, is cooked in a wok type pan called a Karahi, and served in a sizzling balti bowl, along with a massive naan bread.
The Balti curry is usually dryer than other British Indian Restaurant (BIR) curries, which makes it easier to scoop up with chunk of naan bread or chapatti's. In a 'proper' Balti house, you will see familiar names on the menu such as Madras, Rogan Josh, Bhuna and so on, but they will all start with the word Balti. So a chicken Jal Frezi becomes 'Balti Chicken Jal Frezi' and so on.
It is also rumoured that a Balti curry use some of the more aromatic spices such as cloves, cassia bark, mace, cardamom and the like. These whole spices are infused in the base sauce to give the Balti it's familiar flavour.
So, by your own admission, you're don't describe yourself as a great cook, so I will provide you with three links to recipes to get you on your way.
Base Sauce. This is the foundation of all the curries that you will make, and is used in every curry, no matter which type. Here is the link
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=4283.0Spice mix. This is a combination of ground spices put together to form a standard restaurant masala. Like the Base sauce, it is used in every recipe on the menu although, the amounts used, will alter the flavour of the dish
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=1547.0Precooked chicken This is chicken cooked prior to a busy night service in the restaurant. It's just a way of speeding things up when the order comes in. Now some people will tell you that you don't need to precook your chicken at home, as speed is not important and I would agree upto a point. The recipe I'm going to provide cooks the chicken in a little tomatoey sauce. When you add this to your curry/Balti you should also include a spoonful of this sauce too, as it adds another bit of flavour to the dish. Here is the link
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=4293.0It is also Worth getting hold of some garlic and ginger pastes. You can easily obtain these from your local asian supermarket. As you become more proficient in you cooking, I would advise making your own garlic and ginger paste but the jarred stuff with do fine for starters.
Ok, now you have got them basics knocked up you can easily have you Balti curry on the table within minutes.
Here is a very simple one to get you started but you can use any recipe from the site, just replace the suggested base sauce or spice mix with the ones that I have given you above. Remember, a Balti dish is usually dryer than a BIR dish, so if a recipe asks for 300ml of base sauce or base gravy, I would suggest only using half of that.
Here's the recipe
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=4339.0You will notice that some of the above recipes will have a link to the 'Authentic Balti Curry cookbook, if you wish to make more of these recipes, I would recommend purchasing the book. It cost's 10.00GBP.
Good luck John, and if you need a hand, give us a shout mate.
Ray
