Curry Recipes Online
British Indian Restaurant Recipe Requests => British Indian Restaurant Recipe Requests => Topic started by: Kashmiri Bob on November 15, 2012, 02:45 PM
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Grateful for help/advice chaps. The recipe I am looking for is for a very dry chicken balti. No sauce as such, more paste-like. I had such a dish many times at a restaurant in Birmingham about 8 years ago. The place is no longer there. Served in a hot black iron karahi, the taste was divine! Heavy on roasted/caramelized garlic and a sweet aromatic spice blend. No idea what spices, but I have never eaten anything as good before or since. It wasn?t overly hot, pepper-wise, and used to come with a separate little bowl of fresh chopped green chilli. The balti dishes from everywhere now seem to be pretty much basic curries, served in a balti dish. I am convinced the balti I want is cooked partly (possibly completely) in an iron karahi, in an oven. Not got a copy of the Kushi book yet, but hoping something similar will be in it, or at least some info on technique. I did have a look at Kushis earlier this week, but it wasn?t open and didn?t fancy walking around the Lidl opposite for hours until 5.30. Hopefully will get back there on Sunday for the book and a takeaway, but really grateful if anyone has any ideas on this. I am currently restoring/seasoning a couple of fine looking old iron karahi dishes. The heat retention of these things is unbelievable! Cheers,
Rob :)
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Hi Rob,
Just double checking was it plain chicken or tikka?
Was it heavy on the onions, green ball pepper maybe a little red ball pepper
with some of the above caramelized on the bottom of the iron karahi and topped
with corriander leaves and served smoking hot?
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Hi,
Just double checking was it plain chicken or tikka ?
I always ordered plain chicken Graeme. They also did a plain lamb one, which was also great, but the chicken was the best by a long way. There was a lot of onions, finely chopped I think, not big pieces anyway. Can't place the peppers, could have been. The consistency was so thick though. One of those dishes that you just had to eat scooping it up with a piece of naan. The karahis were quite large and this gave the impression of a small portion. There was actually more than enough. It was garnished with plenty of coriander. Seriously mad hot pan temperature. When served you could feel the heat on your hands 6 inches away from the karahi. Had to wait a while before eating.
Rob
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I love a good Balti, you could try adding a splash of Kewra water into a Balti recipe say the Kushi Chicken Balti here
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=4297.0 (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=4297.0)
I try to get the Kushi Base a little bit thicker than normal then fry it until the dish becomes dry.
Also i use one of these the 16 inch one
http://dadibhais.com/index.php/kitchen/cookware/indian-oriental-woks/indian-karahi-woks/round-karahis.html (http://dadibhais.com/index.php/kitchen/cookware/indian-oriental-woks/indian-karahi-woks/round-karahis.html)
The next time i make a Balti will post pictures on here. Another thing quite a few restaurants nearly always serve their Balti with chunky pieces of green and red peppers along with chunky pieces of onion and tomato, so what i do is a Bhuna style recipe.
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I love a good Balti, you could try adding a splash of Kewra water into a Balti recipe say the Kushi Chicken Balti here
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=4297.0 (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=4297.0)
I try to get the Kushi Base a little bit thicker than normal then fry it until the dish becomes dry.
Also i use one of these the 16 inch one
http://dadibhais.com/index.php/kitchen/cookware/indian-oriental-woks/indian-karahi-woks/round-karahis.html (http://dadibhais.com/index.php/kitchen/cookware/indian-oriental-woks/indian-karahi-woks/round-karahis.html)
The next time i make a Balti will post pictures on here. Another thing quite a few restaurants nearly always serve their Balti with chunky pieces of green and red peppers along with chunky pieces of onion and tomato, so what i do is a Bhuna style recipe.
Thanks Unclefrank. Looks a good recipe, but I think there was more a lot more garlic. Can you get your balti sauce ingredients really well caramelized? Was thinking of making the balti in a pan on the hop and then transferring it to an iron karahi in the oven at high temp for half an hour, or so. Bet it is not as simple as that though. Will probably end up burning it!
Rob
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http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=2542.0 (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=2542.0)
dont know if that will help?
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I have cooked a Balti in a normal omelette pan http://dadibhais.com/index.php/kitchen/cookware/frying-omelette-pans/black-iron-omelette-pans-with-tubular-handles.html (http://dadibhais.com/index.php/kitchen/cookware/frying-omelette-pans/black-iron-omelette-pans-with-tubular-handles.html)
Try the recipe first then add what ever you think might transform it towards your desired dish, so if more garlic is needed or more green pepper or more or less red pepper.
What i do if i am making a dish from a restaurant somebody wants me to replicate is build the dish up in stages.
If you can tell me what else was in the dish would be a great help, if i can help i will.
So far one of my locals, Sanam Tandoori Restaurant, i have made 6 dishes from their menu.
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Cheers guys. Made quite a bit of progress tonight. Did a Lamb Karahi. Been planning to do the recipe for some time. Very pleased with the result. I?d doubled up, so started experimenting to see how it would behave in a cast iron karahi. Had been expecting to need really high oven temp. Not needed. 280-300 degrees C burns stuff. Should have twigged this already, as this is the temp I have been using to polymerize seasoning (lard) on to the karahi bowls! Dropped the temp to 230 for 20 mins or so. Well pleased with the outcome. Learned a lot. Probably 60 per cent towards what I am looking for. Reckon the meat needs to go in later in the cooking process; it falls apart at higher temperatures (tastes amazing, but I want chunks of meat in the finished dish). Also, no where near enough sweetness, caramelized onion, roast garlic taste. The latter was getting there. Conclude that more work is needed at the hob stage. I need to get my arse into gear with a bunjarra of some description. That will sort it and give the depth of taste that was also missing. Adding sugar may also be worth a go. That is the plan anyway!
Rob
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Sounds as though there'll be a good curry coming out of your work Rob. Look forward to the final recipe with pics once you think you're there :D
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I do add a little sugar towards end of cooking, like you say, it just lifts the dish a little, don't forget you can also add jaggery instead of the sugar.
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I have devised a strategy in my quest for the balti. Taking on board unclefranks advice on building it up in stages. Reckon to work on three main areas; taste, texture and consistency. Taste is key so simplistically if I can get the taste right, I should then be able to play about with the other two until everything matches what I want. This is the plan anyway. Start by getting the flavours and sweetness right in a basic balti sauce/dish. I loved my recent kushi chicken balti and that is the first aim. I have got the book now and will soon prepare the base. An advantage here is a tangible comparator. That is, I can go to the kushi and get one of their chicken baltis and compare with mine, side-by-side. Then I can focus on the other layers, roasted garlic etc. I have also booked myself on one of the kushi cooking courses (starts mid January). Looking forward to it immensely.
Rob :)
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I would say go easy on the mace as it nearly ruined it for me when I made this base.
Paul
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I second that PaulP mace is a very powerful spice.
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getonthegarabi,
i love my balti's from brum. i've never been able to get anywhere close.
they taste so simple and appear to have very few obvious ingredients. having tried a good few of the recipes on the site and having a reasonable feel of ingredient tastes/effects i think the difference can only be in the base.
am certainly up for helping out in anyway i can. even if you don't get close the experience in trying to master something like this is well worth the effort.
the onlyway for me would be to get some inside leads. my gut feeling is that it's down to the whole spice.
i have a decent balti book but even that's not got me to where i want. razor's balti has got me closest.
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Again, be carefull with the amount of mace from me.
At first I thought it was the Cassia Bark that was overpowering in the kushi recipe, but now know its the mace.
Good luck and please post up your success stories as I love a good balti and have not yet been ablt to replicate one successfully.
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Cheers guys. Will update on any progress. Already encountered a problem. Just looking through my copy of Authentic Balti Curry for the first time and the printers have block stamped six pages with the instruction, Replace With Colour Insert, covering much of the text, including the base recipe. I might be able to decipher it. Reckon someone at Amazon doesnt like me.
Rob :)
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getonthegarabi,
i love my balti's from brum. i've never been able to get anywhere close.
they taste so simple and appear to have very few obvious ingredients. having tried a good few of the recipes on the site and having a reasonable feel of ingredient tastes/effects i think the difference can only be in the base.
am certainly up for helping out in anyway i can. even if you don't get close the experience in trying to master something like this is well worth the effort.
the onlyway for me would be to get some inside leads. my gut feeling is that it's down to the whole spice.
i have a decent balti book but even that's not got me to where i want. razor's balti has got me closest.
Got to be the hardest curry to replicate. Im going to keep a close eye on this thread. Baltis are my favourite curry by far so best of luck Getonthegarabi
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Cheers guys. Will update on any progress. Already encountered a problem. Just looking through my copy of Authentic Balti Curry for the first time and the printers have block stamped six pages with the instruction, Replace With Colour Insert, covering much of the text, including the base recipe. I might be able to decipher it. Reckon someone at Amazon doesnt like me.
Rob :)
Base recipe is already posted on cr0 here:
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=4283.0 (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=4283.0)
Paul
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Getonthegarabi i have PM'd you, check your messages at the top right of the page.
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Getonthegarabi i have PM'd you, check your messages at the top right of the page.
Received. Many thanks.
Rob :)
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Well then. Can't believe it, but very nearly hit nail directly on head for this dish (I've longed for) tonight, by accident! A few tweaks and 5 or 6 more cloves of garlic and it's there. It's a karahi, no base gravy, cooked balti style, i.e fast, and popped in the oven. Will post some pics soon. It ain't pretty, but I don't care.
Rob :)
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This is the pre-cook, "base", for the King's Balti.
(http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/b31b797ed006b681e8b76126eb1a8ae8.jpg)
Pre-cooked chicken thigh mince, with special Pakistani spices. Oh yeah! All that is needed now is shed loads of caramelised onion and garlic, and green chilli. Oh yeah! I'm so excited, I almost pm'ed myself!
Rob :)
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Tonight's effort. Just needs the onions, garlic and chilli, and chicken.
(http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/7216ee8f1e8fc382bc7bd42100c5068b.jpg)
Happy days!
Rob :)
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So happy for you Rob ;)
send me a portion for a second opinion ;D
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That 100 book is it for me. Am currently putting recipes into a spreadsheet so I can take a better view. Also done same for front of book bases.
Had missed out the other bases ie kings and now realise big mistake. Thanks for info.
On technique I'm sure the ovens not right.
I've tried hot fry but did not like and now cooking on kitchen hob 1 kw. I then transfer to pre heated balti dish (heavy cast iron). Not perfected yet was pre heating to 300C but hit and miss burning. Thanks to maillard now thinking 200C but continue with the heat on. This condenses the sauce very much and caramelises around the edge. I can't decide if stirring is good idea.
It's all good stuff even though we don't know enough we are defo moving in right direction.
Might have to drop no 3 madras and vindaloo. A curry in karahi just calls me.
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Sorry I'm muddling things up Jerry. This is not a balti, as such. There used to be a curry house near Aston Uni called King's Balti (could actually have been Queen's Balti, not sure). Late '90s. No longer there. But they did this ultra-dry balti/karahi. The lads at the Adil remembered the place. Definitely Pakistani and they recalled the dish. This is what I made. :)
Very pleased Michael. Dead ringer for the dish I was after from King's Balti. No sauce. Dry as a bear's bum. Can't believe my luck. The thigh mince was left over from another project I'm messing about with (rubberised Pakistani sheekh kebab). Had way too much and thought might as well pre-cook it for a keema or two later. Fairly standard pre-cook, green cardo/mace etc, but no tej pata (ran out). Got a bit bored last night and decided to do a bit more seasoning of my latest "authentic" balti pan. Then realised I was a bit peckish, so out came the pre-cook. A bit of this and a bit of that and it was done. Bingo! Maximum taste, and maximum calories. No wonder I put weight on when I used to visit the place. Needs the fat though, or it would have just crusted up. Very special Birmingham karahi.
Also trialling this stuff. Oh yeah! Taste. 79 p.
(http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/63326167cc42efe443380252b6632f7e.jpg)
(http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/03c668c0f733cdf0e49ce5f737b107be.jpg)
Rob :)
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On technique I'm sure the ovens not right.
I've tried hot fry but did not like and now cooking on kitchen hob 1 kw. I then transfer to pre heated balti dish (heavy cast iron). Not perfected yet was pre heating to 300C but hit and miss burning. Thanks to maillard now thinking 200C but continue with the heat on. This condenses the sauce very much and caramelises around the edge. I can't decide if stirring is good idea.
It's all good stuff even though we don't know enough we are defo moving in right direction.
Might have to drop no 3 madras and vindaloo. A curry in karahi just calls me.
Can't wait to get in a balti kitchen Jerry. My money's still on the pressed steel. According to Ali at the Kushi these authentic pans are no longer available. As they wear out the restaurants are unable to replace them. I've searched high and low. I got a couple some time ago but the rims were sharp, not right. The one in my pic earlier however is pretty much spot on. Started out life teflon-coated. I fixed that with caustic soda ;D. Blue steel underneath. Looks good and it has the right balti ring/sound to it. The heat transfer is mental, but controllable.
Rob :)
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Have to say I am surprised and somewhat disappointed that my lovely Lacha paratha has been overlooked. :( ;D
However, onwards, tonight I'll be serving naan with the King karahi (madras strength). Proper. Side serving of chopped fresh green chilli. Ice-cold Cobra too. Yum!
Rob :)
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Have to say I am surprised and somewhat disappointed that my lovely Lacha paratha has been overlooked. :( ;D
However, onwards, tonight I'll be serving naan with the King karahi (madras strength). Proper. Side serving of chopped fresh green chilli. Ice-cold Cobra too. Yum!
Rob :)
I did notice it though but it got over shadowed by your balti pan. I'm thinking pressed blue steel non-stick wok from Poundland or B & M's :)
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Thank you for noticing my paratha Gav. Got the pan from an Asian supermarket. It is (was) a 10 inch non-stick karahi. I'll check the Poundland wok. If it's the same I've been done; paid
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Thank you for noticing my paratha Gav. Got the pan from an Asian supermarket. It is (was) a 10 inch non-stick karahi. I'll check the Poundland wok. If it's the same I've been done; paid
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Looking forward to this evening. Reckon I'll start of with plenty chopped onions, G/G paste and a bulb of garlic. The pan is good for sloshing so there will be flames. Minimal spicing; the "base" is fully loaded, except for chilli powder. Probably go with about 2 tsp. Chopped mixed peppers for more sweetness, although the base contains plenty. Sugar perhaps. Not sure how to go with the tomatoes. Think I'll blend the base first, just a little. GM and liberal chopped chilli/coriander to finish. Hoping to upgrade my phone soon to a Sony Z1 and do a video, or two. Plan to start with tarka dhal and shashlik. Just to get my eye in. All good fun.
Rob :)
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You shouls make yourself one of these Rob. :)
(http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/7d6143f251df780ac0198c9014496800.jpg)
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,6301.msg65533.html#msg65533 (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,6301.msg65533.html#msg65533)