Hi Mark J,

You are correct,  I have the recipe for the balti base sauce, the Chicken meat sauce, the Restaurant Masalla or Kushi spice as they call it , and the instructions on how to combine all three to produce the final Balti.

For everyone else,  I seem to be repeating myself here, but on the second attempt, I created an exact copy of the food they serve in this particular restaurant.  As I have said before, I do not have a great deal of experience of "Real" Balti restaurants, but only of BIRs that put the curry in a Balti dish and call it a balti.  I am thinking that maybe you are all thinking that this Balti food may be the same as a standard BIR, but because of the method being so different from what we all seemed to be doing on this site, I am not sure that it is the same,

Hope you understand,

Blondie

Hi all,

A couple of points come to mind.  One is that I don't know how much experience we collectively have of authentic restaurant Balti curries as opposed to BIRs that simply put thier usual curries in a Balti dish and sizzle them, but, this book from the Kushi is dealing with authentic Balti dishes.  The only experience I have had prior to the Kushi, is in the BIRs sticking the curry in a Balti dish.  The methods used at the Kushi and hence in this book, may be, the way it is done in other authentic Balti houses.  Maybe worth finding one of these and finding out more, or, maybe these methods may take us away from our primary goal.

The other better news is, that when I spoke to the writers of the book on Thursday, they were hopeful that the book MAY be ready in less than 10 weeks, and also the price MAY actually be a bit less than ?10,

hope this helps,

Blondie

Quote from: DARTHPHALL on July 07, 2005, 10:04 AM
Although you have agreed to not indulge the recipes Blondie Would you say that this book has brought to light a few new ingredients & methods that may end our quest or at least bring us closer to Curry Heaven ?

Hi Darth,

The base sauce is achieved in a way that has been talked about here and the way in which many people would like to go for health reasons, with very small amount of oil.

The main difference between this approach and any other that i have read here, or anywhere else for that matter, lies in the producing of a second curry which is different for differing main ingredients. ?This is where the main flavour and introduction of the floating red oil happens.

The base sauce is very simillar to others I have tried but this is not where the magic lies. ?There is only one ingredient in the base which I don't think I have seen in a base before, but I do not think that this makes very much difference anyway. ?There is no chicken stock or jelly in the curries at all, except for what comes from the actual chicken used in chicken dishes.

As I have said more than once the "secret" lies in the production of the secondary curry sauce that the main ingredients are cooked in.

Please do not think that I am trying to be difficult but I think that it would be wrong of me to give away any more than this,

Keep The Faith,

Blondie

Hi George,

I wouldn't worry about it mate.
If you don't buy the book you will have to wait until others here post what they think of it.
But if we all did that, we would never advance our collective cause would we?

Cheers,

Blondie

Hi all,

To back-up my claim that the book may be all we require to produce food as cooked at the Kushi balti House, can I say that the estimated cost of the book is approximately ?10 and it does contain many very good photographs taken at each step of the process of the base sauce, the main ingredient "meat base sauce" and the final dish.

Also the book is hoped to be available in about 10 weeks.

I am going to the Kushi again tomorrow (Thursday 7th June), so if there are any questions you would like asking, post them, but I think you will find if you e-mail them from there web site they will answer any questions you might have.

Hope this helps,

Blondie

Hi Grimmo,

Excuse me for butting in on a question directed at someone else.  I have had an advance copy of a small part of the book to "beta test" for the writers. I have been to the restaurant, eaten there and met both the chef and his co-writer.

I made the base sauce and a chicken balti. On only the second attempt at the finished dish it tasted to myself and my partner exactly like the one that I had eaten in the restaurant.  I say that this book WILL guide you to produce baltis exactly as they taste at the kushi Balti House. I therefore suggest that lessons won't be needed,

Hope this helps,

Blondie

Hi Darth,

I was told salt, but haven't we all.  I don't want to get into the secret ingredient thing again but I suspect msg may be used by many places.  Bearing in mind they may just call it flavour enhancer as this is what Rajah (spice brand) and the like choose to call it.

cheers,

Blondie

Hi Darth,

No paprika as far as I know and differing amounts of salt depending on the main ingredient.

Cheers,

Blondie

Hi all,

Here are links to some of Rezas recipes.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/lambpasanda_74035.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/fishkebabswithcucumb_74039.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/masourpulaolayeredmi_74823.shtml

Blondie

Hi all,

Yes Darth it is a simple curry made from the usual garlic ginger onions tomatoes and as you say a restaurant specific masala, which as we know can be a mix of the usual spices in equal quantities.

Cheers all,

Blondie