Thanks Livo

Glad you enjoyed it!

Kind Regards

Mick

Thanks Onions  - thats great

Kind Regards

Mick

Hi George
Thanks for the positive comment. I look forward to reading your verdict. Just one thing: who is the moderator for this page as I would like to tweak my recipe slightly ie rounded tsp powdered spices and breaking up cassia into 1" max lengths ?

SS You're right about the muslim cloth, but I thought with the large amount of cassia used, it would be more practical to make the akhni stock instead of adding a muslim football to the pan.
Ground cassia - theres an idea. Can you buy it pre ground? I only have a mortar & pestle so washing an extra pan is less of a faff to me than bashing seven shades of s**t out with a m&p

Livo you are also correct - I am not a Vindaloo man A madras is about as much as I can handle- Im too much of a wimp to manage one. Anyway isnt a vindaloo simply a bog standard curry with a couple of pieces of spud in it, a slice of lemon and a shed load of chilli/naga paste etc?  Idk. Im sure that logically a vindaloo Balti is just a balti with the above additions? No need to worry about depth of flavour as the taste of the chilli would mask that out - well it would for me anyway as Id be too busy crying in the dunny etc. 

Thank goodness we are all different Ebony & Ivory peace & love etc
Oh by the way I dont class a Korma as a curry either so perhaps theres hope for me yet!!

Kind Regards

Mick

Thanks guys for giving it a go - I appreciate it!
I can take the criticism without getting all stroppy - after all its you lot who really know their stuff.

You need to do some pretty serious reducing when you make this curry so you extract as much flavour from the gravy that you can

A couple of things I am considering tweaking is:

1. Break the cassia up into pieces no longer than 1" to increase the infusion
2. mix g&g paste with chopped toms and water and add straight to onions without simmering. After all they are going to get fried to within an inch of their lives anyway!

In previous versions I have adjusted the powdered spices upwards and to be honest they just kill it stone dead.

Its more to do with the aromatics as SS says ie whole spices

I watched a little bit of the Shabab video with Rusty Meccano and  the chef says they blitz the whole spices into the gravy. I once did that by mistake many moons ago and it made the gravy unusable. Then again these pro guys use outboard motors for blitzing - not some crappy little toy from Argos like I use!

Thank you again Bob for your positive comments - to my taste it is exactly like the Baltis I have eaten.
Quite mild with a great depth of flavour. Too much chilli would mask all of that imo.

Its a completely different animal to a vindaloo for sure!

In fact its a completely different animal from any other curry any way

Kind Regards

Mick

Quote from: George on July 01, 2022, 09:00 PM
This recipe seems worth trying, thanks. To give it the best chance of producing a 100% clone, should I use level, rounded or heaped spoon measures?

Hi George

I use rounded tea spoon measures

Kind Regards

Mick

Quote from: Bengali Bob on June 29, 2022, 09:36 PM
Wow!  Didn't think I'd see the day.  The Birmingham Balti nailed.  10/10.  Depth of flavour is completely off the chart.

Thanks for giving it a try. 

Glad you enjoyed it 

Kind Regards

Mick

Quote from: Bengali Bob on June 22, 2022, 08:21 AM
Nice one Mick!  Like the sound of this recipe.  What is the Garam Masala you used?

Rob

Hi Rob

It was East End I think - not home made

Thanks

Regards

Mick

Quote from: Secret Santa on June 20, 2022, 02:04 PM

Quote from: mickdabass on June 19, 2022, 04:06 PMUnfortunately Al Frash is now long gone so...

Well I never had a balti from there so I wouldn't know the difference. But I'm tempted to try the base if only because of the mental amount of cassia in it. Are you sure you didn't drop a decimal point?

No The Cassia is the Key ingredient. It took me a long time to realise that my first Eureka moment a couple of months ago was down to accidentally overdosing the Kushi recipe with a massive piece of cassia. You could have made a canoe out of it lol.
Just trust me on this one

Quote from: Onions on June 20, 2022, 01:50 PM

Quote from: mickdabass on June 19, 2022, 04:06 PM
Yes SS it is. Its been a couple of three years since I ate there, and I have done so probably half a dozen times but the last time I went it was

pretty moody and we didnt feel at all safe, but I honestly believe it is a 100% clone.

Unfortunately Al Frash is now long gone so...

Regards

Mick

Wow, Mick, not feeling safe?! What happened?

It was a gang of lads singing a Beatles song that particularly unnerved me.

I didnt get it straight away.....

Perhaps Im just paranoid??

Never liked the Beatles anyway. 

Quote from: Peripatetic Phil on June 18, 2022, 11:52 AM
Thank you Mick.  The chicken bhuna masala from "Fatima cooks" is next on my list to try, having had three uniformly awful bhunas from three local BIRs, after which I will be trying your recipe.
--
** Phil.

Hi Phil

Thats a shame about the bhunas. I am struggling to find a decent restaurant locally. My favourite restaurant has gone seriously down hill in my estimations since lockdown.

Bhuna is one of my favourites too.

Please give my balti a try, and I look forward to your constructive comments

Regards

Mick