In the microwave eh? interesting.

Thanks for that tip  ;D

Sunshine is a problem though 

Bobby Bhuna. Sprinke on? That is madness  ;D

The methi needs blasted in the oil to get the flavours out  

My method.

Heat up full.

Add oil.

Add whole spices.

Add Garlic and Ginger to oil while it is still heating. This allows it to flavour the oil before it starts really cooking.

Add Watered tomato paste and chopped onion - cooking with high heat still so there should be smoke and steam blasting everywhere.

Add spice paste of choice (including chile powder) - blasting with heat super style again making sure not to burn.

Add the methi if using - blast the flavours out.

Add pre cooked meat.

Add some base and lower the heat just a touch.

Add base as and when required.

Add coriander if using.

Delicious...  

Not much flavour in there IMHO.

I love the Pat Chapman balti masala

Onion Seeds, Lovage Seeds, Cumin Seeds, Coriander Seeds, Mustard Seeds, Fennel Seeds, Fenugreek Seeds, Casia, and more.... delicious 

I really need to start quoting posts lol.

I grew coriander seeds and there wasnt many coriander leaves.... and then loads of flowers bloomed out.

Another batch had lots of wee beasties in the soil - it was fresh compost which I potted indoors and away from the outside - where did they come from?

I had to throw it out.

I grew some from my seeds last summer and there was very little leaves and then it bloomed into flowers  :-[

Quote from: Secret Santa on February 17, 2008, 09:49 AM

Quote from: Chris303 on February 16, 2008, 10:42 PM
Anytime I heat one of my cast iron baltis up till they are smoking hot and I pour my just cooked curry in and everything is sizzling and smoking ---- I get the SMELL and when I taste the curry I just poured in -- i get the TASTE.

That may be the case but it doesn't really explain where the "tatse" and "smell" come from as you get that if you have your curry in a takeaway plastic or foil container.

Because the restaurants and take aways reach these searing sizzling hot heats in their normal cooking pans, but on a home stove the white hot cast iron on contact with the food gives me the *exact* and I mean EXACT smell and taste.

Quote from: haldi on February 17, 2008, 08:59 AM

Quote from: Chris303 on February 16, 2008, 10:42 PM
Anytime I heat one of my cast iron baltis up till they are smoking hot and I pour my just cooked curry in and everything is sizzling and smoking ---- I get the SMELL and when I taste the curry I just poured in -- i get the TASTE.
There is no secret ingredient... Its is all bout high tempratures, smoking and sizzling.

I've got to try that
Somebody bought me some balti bowls for a present
Unfortunately they got those awful stainless steel ones
They can't be heated the same
I'll have to get some cast iron baltis
Where did you get yours from?

http://www.spicesofindia.co.uk/

Balti is a style of Indian cooking usually using Cast Iron woks called Baltis (or Karahi in Urdu). There is a lot of myth about the word Balti with the most common being that it means "Bucket" this is what the Hindi word Balti translates as but has been pretty much debunked as Balti cooking was brought to the UK by Kashmiri/Pakistani chefs/familes and there is no relation to the Hindi language - just a coincidence and misconception. Baltistan is an area of Kashmir which borders with China and that is where the Cast Iron wok type cooking was picked up.

Quote from: smokenspices on December 24, 2007, 07:25 PM

Quote from: adriandavidb on December 11, 2007, 12:44 PM

The closed thing that comes close to the rich aroma wafting from your local curry house is, I believe, as lot of people here have already suggested, fengreek leaf.  I add ground dried methi leaf to many of my curry dishes, and although it produces results nearly as savory as my local, it is 90% 'there' but not quite!

Could it be that as we, as 'chefs', are exposed to the cooking smells, it's never going to taste quite right?  I cook a mean Sunday morning 'fry-up', but it always tastes better if someone else has done the cooking!!

I agree with you. It's because our smell and taste senses are linked.

I love that curry aroma wafting down the street. However, it soon disappears once you step inside the restaurant and you certainly can't smell it AFTER you've had a curry.

If you're actually cooking curry, you wouldn't notice that gorgeous aroma that we're so familiar with. Only way to check to see if that authentic smell is being produced is to get someone else (a curry head preferably) to walk past your kitchen door when you're cooking ... or even ask the down-wind neighbours, I'm sure they'll soon comment on the smell wafting around outside!

Again your absolutely right... when you have been spending hours making base sauces, grinding fresh spices, pre cooking meat, and cooking up a curry your senses are completely dulled to your final dish --- in part because you *know* what you have just put in it etc.

When I serve my curries sizzling in baltis to my friends and family they swear blind that they are eating restaurant quality.

Quote from: lorrydoo on December 12, 2007, 06:41 PM
I definitely believe there are secrets in BIR cooking.  It could be in the technique or  the ingredients or both.  Either way there has to be some secret to it because if there wasnt, then someone would have recreated it, even on a small scale at home.  The food industry is renowned for keeping secrets, look at Coca Cola for instance.   

That is completely different though. The Coca Cola syrup spicing is known only by 3 I believe people within the full company.

For a secret to be kept by so many thousands of restaurants is a crazy concept. Even crappy local kebab shops who can fire out currys with the BIR taste. And if the magic circle has tough you anything - there is always someone willing to sell out secrets for more money than they would get using the secret.