Thought Cilantro was what americans call coriander? If you grow your own (and its really easy) then you can use the seeds you buy in the shop, but better still get quality seeds from a garden supply store, get a cheap plastic propagator, although at a stretch anything that will hold soil and a bit of clingfilm over will work. Ive even planted the seeds in the garden, walked away and left them and whoosh plants have come up (this method doesn?t work as well in the middle of a swedish winter, where in Stockholm it can get down to -20 ).

The nans were great, i only modified with fresh yeast but amazing, got them in the oven at 250+ degrees (basically) as hot as your oven can handle and they popped up quicker than a pair of Britneys jugs on a pop vid.

The mint raita was less pleasing, and there are only a few raitas ive tasted that are any good, maybe im too fussy!

Thats a great idea though, im just signing up Nice One!!

Okay, signed up and searched for a few books. I can see this being frustrating only getting part of the book to read
but its gonna be fun anyway. Might give me an excuse to buy some more books (like i need one)

Ive seen the book on amazon, but like so many other baliti books, i think it is out of print. Seems books regularly go out of print and only get another print if their is some kind of market.

Some books on e-bay are going for extortiate amounts of cash.

I also saw a second hand copy of 100 Best Balti Curries at my folks home town of Broadstairs when i was visiting the U.K in the summer. It costed only ?6 from the Albion Second Hand Book Shop on the high street.
Anyone interested can give them a ring or email them and they will send you the book through the post.

Im interested in the Balti Secrets Book though, any chance of a scan of some recipes?

Yes Ray!

A good tip for people buying spices is make sure that the spices are stored away from sunlight, if a shop has their spices in the shop window then you might expect them to deteriorate in taste and colour. I started buying powered Methi as the hassle of roasting (they can easily burn and become bitter) and grinding them (they are as hard as Mike Tyson) can be a problem. There seem to be different Coriander seeds too, some are completely useless and give a bland taste, others (slightly larger ones) smell fantastic when roasted.The best way iv? found is to fry them in a dry pan, on a low-medium heat, move them around slowly and check the colour, they should become slighly brown and start to smell a bit like popcorn. I know this is a hassle but the difference is worth it. Those who haven?t tried roasting and grinding, be careful because it takes only a few burnt spices to ruin a spice mixture, and as spices brown at different rates (cummin browns faster than coriander for example) then it just a matter of judgement and experience and patience. Don?t be tempted to shove all your spices in one pan and roast them together as some will be over browned, others medium and others under done, and the idea is to get them all at the starting line at the same time.

Btw, talking about Mace, i?m surprised that he uses it in his recipes.
mace   Notes:   This is the lacy wrapping that covers nutmeg when it's plucked from the tree.  Its flavor is similar to nutmeg, but slightly more bitter.  It's usually sold already ground, but you can sometimes find blades of mace that you can grind yourself.   Substitutes:  nutmeg (sweeter and milder than mace)

I?d suggest nutmeg instead.

I agree with Blondie, the authentic balti isn?t at all like the BIR, i think i also said that those looking for the BIR taste won?t find it in the book. Its a different style from BIR, trad or anything else resembling a curry you?ve had (if you haven?t had an authentic balti)

But if the dishes are  like they cook in the restaurant (as Blondie said) and they have enough customers to make it worth while that the chef  writes a book about his food, then there must be something wrong if you`re disappointed. If you don?t like authenic baltis, then fair enough, if you are looking for the BIR and don?t find it in the book then thats alright. But i think the book should be judged for what it is. Iv? ordered a copy from Amazon which unfortuantely arrive in Sweden after Christmas. Im hoping it will be a Birmingham balti recepe book, and Im sure if it doesn?t taste like one, youll hear plenty of comments from me.

Id suggest to those ppl trying to make it into a KD curry to give up. The flavours are subtler more aromatic, not so hot (generally) and they are cooked from scratch (more of less). The flavour comes from fresh ingrediences (fresher the better). I would suggest that ppl experiment with the qualities of the spices and the amount of oil used as usually cooks tend to be on the more conservative side when writing books.

In their book i know they suggest smaller amount of spices than some people prefer, my thought on this is, that restaurants probably have better spices to hand; so they taste better(and therefore need less), increasing the amount of spices in a curry doesn?t always make it better, it can change the consistency and taste pretty aweful, the browning of the  garlic has to be done carefully as the finished dish can easily be made bitter. BTW, Ive only found 1 place where you can by freshly ground spices(mix) in Sweden, and i would always recommend buying your own and carefully roasting them and grinding them yourself, play around a bit with the recipes and see what improvments can be made, GL.

I hope they make a sucess of the book as there might be a healthier version on the way, apparently they make healthier baltis at their restaurant, that would be another avenue to explore

Burnt spices also make curries bitter, make sure they dont stick to the bottom.

As the chef has opened up and written this book, i think you should ask him via the website or email to Mr Haydor then everyone can read his reply.
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One of the questions I?m interested in is: Are the recipes the Authentic ones that they cook in the restaurant or are they adapted to the home-user? Anyone know anything about that? (I dont own the book yet)

Also, if you planned to visit, are there any chances of seeing a balti made first hand. You can only try 
Maybe if enough peeps are interested, you could all meet up for a balti evening and make it a really good curry evening. Sounds cool huh?

You could even contact the local rag and tell them you (we or a group of us) like the book and plan to make a pilgrimage (from all over the country) to mr Haydors restaurant and cook the food, eat the food and talk about the food. Im sure it would be only great publicity for his book, and if you describe us as the best, most serious curry club there is on the net (only the truth), it might be cool expedition which yields results.

The balti places ive been to in Birmingham create a different type to the balti you will get in an indian restaurant, I think the point of the book is, to teach you how this chef at this particular restaurant makes his curries. There probably won?t be much new you don?t know already in one form or the other, as this site has pretty much nailed down the BIR curry.

I?m sure it will be worth "what it says it is", but "what it is" might necessarily be what you want.