Topic: Three baltis

[meggeth]

Hey Bob!

As the resident balti triangle expert - are there any open during lunch time that you can recommend? The ones mentioned above seem to open at 5pm.

I am in Bham with family at times, but only during the day - wouldnt mind trying a good balti for lunch if you can recommend one. Cheers.

[Kashmiri Bob]

The Adil is open Sat-Sun lunchtime from 12 noon.  Only place I know of so far meggeth.  There are several Lahori karahi type outlets open all day in the triangle, but I had to bin the last lot of tandoori lamb chops from one of them, not good, and no baltis either.

Just looking at the Adil menu and they open at 4 pm Mon-Fri apparently.  Late lunch 

Rob 

[Invisible Mike]

I finally broke my duck Wednesday and took my good lady to Adil's. There was one other couple who were just paying their bill and then it was just the two of us and the guy sat behind the counter eating his supper.
Okay, granted it was midweek but nevertheless thought it being this quiet wasn't really a positive sign. Anyway still full of hope and expectation we proceeded to order. We both had onion bhajis to start. I was very surprised that they were not round balls like most takeaways but actually perfectly circular flat patties. I really enjoyed those. They were perfectly spiced and I couldn't decide whether it was gram flour or potato in them or indeed a mixture of the two but again, very agreeable they were.
For main I had the chicken and mushroom balti, the missus had the chicken and prawn balti, pilau rice and a medium garlic naan to share.
I was looking forward to this bit as I had never had a 'proper' balti so was very excited when they came out. First impression was the colour. A lot deeper red than a 'TA' balti as if to suggest tomato puree. Secondly the strangely uniform 'strands' of dark meat rather than chunks of breast which I then recalled reading about earlier on in the thread. Never had this before at a restaurant but I enjoyed it all the same. Then for the first taste. I tore a piece of naan which by the way I thought was like biting into a crispy cloud it was so light. (Yes I am aware I'm beginning to sound like a dodgey Guardian food critic but it was superb and by far the best I'd ever had!) Then for the curry itself. A tad on the salty side and yes 'different' to anything else I'd been sold as a balti. It had a flavour in the background that I knew but couldn't put my finger on. Maybe ajwain, maybe not. Apart from that I didn't really analyze it too much. All I can honestly say was that it was a nice curry but not the best I'd ever had. I am probably a curry philistine to say this but I thought my local TA's offering was more to my taste with richer, more complex flavours going on which is made even worse by the fact they could well be using Patak's! My other half kept telling me that my curry made from the Kushi book was a lot tastier and I had to agree.
Anyway, I payed the bill and the guy brought us a questionaire which we filled in. He said his gaffer had given him a target of getting 30 filled in but he still had a lot left which went to show how quiet they had been. Anyway, we had a nose up the Ladypool Road for a bit then headed home.
It was a shame the experience wasn't amazing but being the optimist that I am I'll just try somewhere else in the triangle next time. I think next stop Al Frash and then maybe Kushi but I am put off going there after Goncarlo's write up. Might try the Khyber though at some point.

Mike

[JerryM]

MushroomMike,

loved the report and well pleased you made the effort.

i can understand you comment on your local's offering - some BIR have made real inroads and really produce un beatable dishes.

[JerryM]

Gav Iscon's pic (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,12276.msg104455.html#msg104455) inspired me to get back onto this balti. also having the adey video to hand gave that little extra bit of help.

LHS Adey adil RHS jerrym basic adil


its was a real eye opener. the adey recipe calling for ginger, lots of tandoori masala and methi normally set big alarm bells off for me.

i felt the adey recipe to be closer to the pukka adil than my own. i did add into the adey recipe lemon dressing, garlic powder and f.coriander from my own recipe.

the adey recipe is not balanced though and needs some fine tuning - those spoon amounts in the video suggest to me that perhaps 2 portions were being cooked at once. the crushed red chilli is not a crucial ingredient just ups the heat.

the adey recipe is well crafted though - the ginger sat well and could not be detected. i don't know which ingredient it is but one or more must balance out the methi so it too does not overpower the dish.

the key point is that i'm now sold on NOT adding tom puree. i was using it to get the red colour but if i can get the tandoori masala balance this will be enough.

i cooked on my domestic hob and found it really hard going - the home bargains garlic and ginger pastes spit all over the place in the hot oil on the 1st dish. i then adopted my norm of adding as the oil heats up and was sorted.

i also tried out a balti dish for doing a tarka like in the Dalpuri nottingham video. i like the extra taste the garlic gave but did not get that hint of smokey that i was after. going to up the oil from 1 tbsp.



having real good fun though. i feel i'm a real novice on this balti stuff and really hard to keep what i know on BIR out of use.

[JerryM]

the penny has now dropped on the Adey video - the spoons change during the video. for me it looks like an eating teaspoon is used to measure out the spice.

if it is an eating teaspoon then the amounts used per portion are:
1) tandoori masala 12.5 ml
2) gm 2.5 ml
3) methi 10 ml

going to give these a go on my next try (last time used, 15ml, 5ml, 5 ml). it may seem very small changes but fine tuning can make huge differences.

[DalPuri]

Hi Jerry, just had another watch of the Ade video and noticed another ommission that nobody has picked up on yet...Mustard oil. 

[Gav Iscon]

The second measuring spoonful just looks like an ordinary dessert spoon to me and the g/g looks a lot sloppier than mine.

[JerryM]

Dalpuri, Gav Iscon,

not noticed the mustard oil either. easy to try it out on my next go.

i'm pretty happy with the amounts. i cooked 3 more with slight variation and settling on: 2 tsp tandoori, 1 tsp gm, 2 tsp methi. i can't decide if the methi is better going in at the start or with the spice as per video.

on next go need to try the balti dish without the garlic ie just a plain oil tarka. i liked the garlic result (just like Az method produces) but it's not used by the adil for sure.

had 1 off top notch result on the balti dish tarka - almost comparable to my burner output. i don't feel the adil pukka dish is cooked at high heat though. i used my 1 kw domestic hob to cook the curry and my 3 kw hob to heat the balti dish. i got easily to 220C and 250 quite often and 1 off to 300C. i actually got flame at the 300C go (wife not impressed).

i left out the crushed chilli but liked the green pepper and ginger addition - adopted. i still find the adil method quite a hard method to follow as you're frying no substance early on and very little heat is needed whereas the video show lots. if i used same it would kill the dish. i can only put it down to the speed the chef goes at which is much quicker than myself.

Adil_adey pukka Bottom left, best dish top, bottom right got re fried down to poor cooking on 1st go (quite amazing but top and right dish have same ingredients)

[chewytikka]

Hi JM
Well done, your bottom left attempt looks the closest in colour and texture, to what their eating in the video.



I watched the video a couple of times, and wrote a guide for myself.
There