Love the smell of coriander seeds being gently toasted in a frying pan, reminds me of popcorn

I thought blanching was to close the pores. Like searing meat in a frying pan on both sides before letting it fry,. that way the meat remains sealed and it makes the meat juicer, also the meat doesnt stew in it own juices which can make it very tough.

My best guess is the marinaded and/or cooked with turmeric and paprika technique, bet it tastes pretty good with that much flavour inside?

Our Chilli-head champ would have to be DarthPhall, rumour has it he brushes with habonero toothpaste! 

My friend has come up with this address:

C&S Home Store
133 Soho Road
Handsworth
Birmingham

for balti pans, they have a large selection including cast iron ones

I can get it, but through a friend and that will take a few weeks if he gets a move on

I can probably give you the name of the 3 shops on the Soho rd in handsworth where i bought my pans from..
they sell the thick iron balti pans for a reasonable price, i guess you could always contact them and ask them to post them
to you if you send them a check or something.
but the post would add alot to the cost.
Ill ask my friend who lives there if he can write down the names of the places

also came across an interesting link here while searching
http://www.rousette.org.uk/blog/archives/2004/11/24/balti/

I think carrots add a slight sweetness to the gravy and celery is like mono sodium glutamate (so ive read) which just means it will enhance flavours, ie make the flavours stronger in taste, cant say i know if this really works or not, but carrot definately gives a sweeter more rounded taste, maybe its the starches turning to sugar? Has carrot much starch? Its great to experiment with, without risking the final taste unless youre putting them in by the bucket load. gl

The place i bought mine also had a large variety of pans and dishes including iron balti pans of various sizes, they were just too heavy to carry back homefor me but some of the pots there were 3-4 ft wide and maybe 2-3 ft deep. My friend told me they were used for the temples and in Handsworth there are plenty of them

They look the real deal Ray, I paid about the same for my from birmingham. But they are unfortuatly alot thinner. one of the disadvangtages of carrying loads of weight back from the U.K to Sweden.

Hehe, yepp, I guessed you were kidding but you never can tell on the internet;)
As for BIR?s, nope i dont get over to the UK much, maybe once a year and but usually make it over to atleast one restaurant.
Last year (2005) I got to sample Tescos "takeaway" curries, and to be honest i was really surprised, they were better than
alot of curries ive eaten at  restaurants in Sweden and the UK. The nans werent though, but the Vindaloo and Vegetable curry was
pretty damn good for supermarket food. Just goes to show how far the UK has come with Indian food!

The other place I visited was in Brum and it was an Indian restaurant which served a buff? (trad) for about 10 quid, eat as much as you can, it was excellent, and i came away with only that feeling you get when you know you have had really good and way too much. Needless to say i wasnt Hungry for about 24 hrs afterwards.