Yesterday I made another batch of Mick's excellent Balti base.  Made the missis the standard balti, nothing added, and for me, a few enhancements, Thai chillies, extra garlic, few spices and was delicious.

When I made the base this time though, I put it through a chinois (oooh, look at me, a chinois sounds posh to this northern working class lad).


I'm pretty sure I read a very old ChewyTikka post where he'd put base through a food mill to remove some fibrous material, so I thought I'd give that a go.
And lo and behold, look how much stuff I got out.  Tomato skin, pepper skin, fresh ginger fibers made quite a haul.


Did I notice a difference in the finished curry? All silk smooth and luscious? No.
When I make the base, I do stick blend it for a good amount of time, but that chinois (yes, I said it again) certainly did strain some material out.
But, as with every other time I've cooked with Mick's base, the results were very good.
A strong recommend for base from my point of view.

Robbo

Can't go wrong for 8 quid Phil. Get your freezer stocked.

Robbo

Oh nice. We just picked up some lovely lamb chops. Will have to give that a try. Love along marinade...

Robbo

I made a dish with fresh methi once and it's a bit too bitter for my taste. The guy in my local Indian grocer says it's good for your digestive health, but I wasn't keen. I read an old post yesterday while trying to see if any of my posts were still up (nope), that had the base sieved or put through a food mill to remove any fibrous solids from the cabbage / other veg. I've not tried that but may give that a go.

Robbo

As a lot of previous posts seem to have been lost, unfortunately I can't simply look up old recipes I had success with.  One being the Instant Pot / pressure cooker base.
Phil - there is this one still up there though, not mine, that you could use.  I've never put coconut in a base myself.
https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=13939.0

The only base recipe I'd saved in Word is this one.  Right now, I'm only using Mick's Balti base (pressure cooked) as it gives me excellent results, but here's one I used 'pre-Mick'.  (No idea where the addition of potato and red lentils came from, must've read it somewhere).  Actually, while I remember, I'm going to copy and paste Mick's recipe into Word, just in case of future data issues on the forum.

Akhni Stock
700 ml water
3 bay leaves
7 green cardamom
4 cloves
2 tsp black mustard seeds
2 tsp fennel seeds
2 tsp coriander seeds
2 tsp cumin seeds
½ star anise
1 cinnamon stick

Bring to boil, simmer 15 mins.


Base
6 medium onions – peeled weight 2 lb
100 ml vegetable oil
All veg roughly chopped
1 carrot
1 small potato
1 stick celery      
¼ head of cabbage
½ green pepper
3" ginger, chopped
6-8 cloves garlic
1 TBSP salt
40 g red lentils
1 TBSP mix powder – Syed's works very well
1 ½ tsp turmeric
2 TBSP tomato paste double concentrate
3 asian bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick
1 black cardamom
½ bunch fresh coriander

Method
1. Flavor the oil
Turn Instant Pot on to Saute function set to 'normal'.
Add the oil and heat a few secs, then add bay leaves, black cardamom, cinnamon stick
Saute 5 mins to flavor the oil then remove the whole spices

2. Saute the veg
Add chopped veg, garlic cloves, ginger, salt, mix powder and turmeric and saute 10 mins.  Stir regularly
Press Cancel to turn off saute function.

3. Pressure cook the onions
Add onions, fresh coriander, lentils and tomato paste, strain the akhni stock in and enough boiling water to almost cover the onions.
Put lid on and pressure cook 45 mins.
Let the pressure vent naturally when finished.

4. Blend
Allow to cool a little then blend with stick blender.
Add more boiling water to about 3 liter mark if needed.

5. Final pressure cook
Put the lid back on and pressure cook 8 mins.
Let pressure vent naturally when finished.
Makes 7 portions of curry base.

Robbo

Looks like that covers all the bases (sic) Livo.
I'll give that a bash, maybe Sunday. Tonight we're having the family over but it's Italian fare so zero input from me.

Robbo

Yes, I used a couple pieces cassia, each 3" long and the correct Indian bay and the result was very good, with no cinnamon dominance at all.  Will definitely be making more of this paste.  I did add an extra tablespoon of oil as the paste was a bit dry, but it came together in the end.  The curry I cooked was based on the Instant Pot butter chicken method I've had some success with. Very simple, and probably very repeatable.  Will find out later this week when I have another bash.  The 2-ingredient simple marinade also worked out well on the goat. Have to try that on chicken.

Robbo

We usually buy our basmati from Costco but on my last visit to a local supermarket I picked up this aged basmati.  A little more expensive, but what a difference it makes. So much more aromatic, even when just done plain.  I think this was the only thing worth taking from my old Pat Chapman book from the 80's or 90's.
Put oven proof dish with lid in oven and preheat to 175F (80C)
Rinse rice in cold water a few times till water is clear.
Bring to boil and simmer for 6 minutes.
Drain immediately and put in oven proof dish.
Add a few dabs of butter around the perimeter.  A couple lines of food coloring is nice but optional.
Finish in the oven 30 mins then fluff gently and serve.


I thought rice was rice, but this aged, extra long stuff is markedly better to me.

Robbo

Yesterday I made this paste, thank you Livo.
https://www.kidspot.com.au/kitchen/recipes/balti-paste-scratch/n805h9rv

To my nose, the paste seemed very cinnamon heavy. I was a bit concerned my curry would turn out like a spicy Xmas pud, but in for a penny...
I did this in my Instant Pot (IP) electric pressure cooker but could easily be adapted to simple fry then cook meat till tender over longer period.

Marinate 1lb goat stew meat in 1 cup yoghurt, 1 TBSP ginger garlic paste for 4 hours. Would probably be OK overnight but I didn't have the time.

Turn IP to sauté mode. Add 1 chef spoon oil. When hot, add 1 chopped onion and sauté 5 mins till golden.

Add 1 TBSP ginger garlic paste and 1 tsp salt and fry a minute or so.
Add 2-3 TBSP balti paste and fry 2-3 mins, adding a little water to loosen things up and prevent sticking. Inhale deeply, it smells amazing.
Turn off IP and add a can of diced tomatoes, stir to mix.
Add the marinated goat and mix well.
Pressure cook on high pressure for 30 mins. Natural pressure release 10 mins then manual vent.
Remove the meat and stick blend the sauce before adding back the meat.  I was expecting to need to add cream to thicken the sauce, as I do with the IP butter chicken recipe, but this didn't need it. I think it must be the combination of cooking the onions down first and the yoghurt marinade, but it was certainly thick enough.
Add chopped fresh coriander and serve over basmati rice with garlic naan.



This is a mild dish but very tasty. While the rice was finishing in the oven, I put a few Thai chillies in a pan with a little oil, added my portion of the curry and heated through and it was very good.  A simple dish to cook and I'm looking forward to trying this paste with Mick's balti base too. Bound to be good.

Robbo

Cheers Livo, how do you use that paste with Mick's base?  I'm thinking of adding to the initial onion fry stage early on.

Robbo