Hi, just an observation from someone who has been cooking baltis for 30 years and is indeed from Birmingham. The presentation dish is fine to cook in, the authentic balti dish is just marketing tool for a birmingham manufacturer. You need to cook down the onions until they are golden brown, the chicken needs to be seared or else it will lack flavour. A curry needs natural spices, these are all powders. This dish will take 10 minutes for chicken that is already cooked not uncooked chicken. Timings differ depending on the cut of meat. With the corainder always add stalks first for flavour and the leaves at the last second just for garnish.
Thanks for good guidance, don't have special kitchen and pots, but with the ingredients and high heat just takes a bit longer but the outcome 👌 is delicious!
Made the base sauce today and my naan bread dough hopefully going to make a proper balti tonight. Tried so many times and failed to get the restaurant taste! 🤞 just found your channel.
Hey just found your channel hun and I’m from Birmingham England 🏴 the home of the balti and well done yours looks delicious 😋 I’m so hungry now 🤣🤣❤️
Excellent. Cooked in and eaten from a wok, not a Balti pan sadly. They're on the wish list. Just like being back in Brum except they usually have a couple of wedges of tomato added just before the end to warm them through.
Thank you very much for purchasing my book. I really appreciate it. Hope you enjoy the book and recipes. I'll be making lots of recipes from the book on my channel. :-)
Hia Dan, I came across your work a few years back after researching various recipes from different regions of India. I've been a chef for 14 years here in the west Midlands Birmingham, Staffordshire but I've not had any experience like yourself of working in Indian restaurants only French and English michelin / rosette so it was a real inspiration when I came across your recipes And cooked your pasanda and korma recipes. I've just brought your first book and the researching and attention to detail is outstanding a real eye opener even for myself. Ime going to take a look over at your Facebook so I'll be in touch Dan. 🙂
A little late adding salt? Gonna try this today, along with the base gravy recipe and will let you know how it tastes. (been making homemade curries for 40 years)
One of my favourite dishes Dan and of course I have your red book along with Pat Chapmans 80s stylie. One observation is that in the South East the Balti is far darker often almost deep brown so I'm wondering what's different? Also another tip for avoiding pre cooked chicking is to cook it in the base gravy simultaneously, I probably leant that from you! Great video and thanks.
Just bought the book £6.00 from amazon, also got the Kindle edition included Free. I've got a good feeling here. Your book, Als Kitchen and your channel should have old friends queueing at the door!
Hi Dan, another great looking dish from your good self, balti's take some beating. I noticed from your Base gravy video you were using an io shen knife. I purchased an ioshen chefs knife from my local Lawsons a while back and have to say the balance and feel coupled with the performance is second to none. I also bought a knife wizard sharpener too which keep your knives razor sharp. Take care my friend and I look forward to seeing you cooking some more fantastic dishes.
The "presentation balti dish" looks like one that's meant for cooking with! Not sure what size it is? Bigger balti dishes are good when trying to limit the mess from the sauce spluttering out
Ah, can't find how to send a message! Anyway, I just wanted to say the constant zooming and panning of the camera is very distracting. It would be better to have a static view of you talking to camera and another one of action on the table and cooker, and edit them together. It's a bit more work but a more professional result. Just my 2 penn'orth, best of luck!
Thank you Keef! We've recorded a few already but I'll suggest that to the guy who is doing the filming. I think he should be able to sort it for me. Much appreciated.
Hi Dan, thanks for some great recipes. Both on you blog and in your book. I imagine I've seen your base sauce go from pretty thick to pretty thin (as in this video). Have you changed ur recipe or am I just imagining? When im cooking at home it always ends up alot thicker then in this video.
Hi Tobias - Thank you! You're not imagining anything. My recipe has changed a lot over the years. Especially while I was doing the research for my cookbook. Most base sauces are bland and very thin. They should be about the same consistency as full fat milk.
I make the sauce thicker to start with and add equal amount of water. I don’t have a saucepan big enough to make the full quantity and it saves space in the freezer!
I made the curry last night in a wok, and it tasted so good!! Now i have to buy a balti pan. Im hooked. Fantastic recipe and wonderful book. Highly recommend it :-)
Dan whenever I cook chicken directly into the sauce it usually goes tough. I do allow the chicken to be a room temperature before adding. Any tips, like is there a maximum time to cook the chicken before it goes tough.
Try to avoid cheapest supermarket chicken.... Comes from old birds (egg laying battery hens).. Get the better stuff and follow this process - wash your chicken breasts under a running cold tap.. Drain and pat dry with paper towel.. Then puncture the breast meat with a fork... The more the better.. As much as you can... Then cut up into pieces to either marinate or directly use in your curry... Also chicken goujons are usually quite tender to begin with.. If you can get them, and you can put directly into the curry without bothering with the process I've just described. Best of luck 🤞
Hi Dan love your video’s, just have one question....or actually my girlfriend has one....what’s the difference between the baltipan and a wok? And can you get the same taste with a wok?
Hi John - Balti pans are a lot smaller. You can serve one to two people from them. They also have a flat bottom. You can get an authentic tasting balti using a wok though. Thank you.
I find that whenever I put my garlic and ginger paste into the hot oil, (I freeze mine in ice cube trays), it spits and sputters uncontrollably all over the kitchen , (and me). Is there a way to stop this?
the water in the ice rapidly heats and turns into steam, which makes it splutter and spit - defrosting your pastes first will sort this, or just use freshly chopped!
You’re not waiting for the maillard affect to take place here at all to achieve real BIR. You’re not cooking adding layers of flavour by cooking the base gravy out.
In this video you're right. I also wouldn't normally use raw chicken in a BIR curry. I have cooked BIR for a very long time though and I bet you couldn't tell the difference.Of course if you can, you could use the ingredients and do it your way. There's nothing wrong with that. At the end of the day, you have to do it the way it's right for you.
Hmm, not sure this is an authentic balti!!! When I was frequenting the balti houses back in the late 70s, early 80s, they were very simple, quite runny without any chunks of onion, pepper, etc, not particularly spicy but very enjoyable with a family nan, and for not much money either!! This dish is just like most of the dishes currently served up in BIRs, they're all fairly similar I find.
Well, I made this recipe, including the base gravy (with ghee) and was sorely disappointed. I hate to say it, but this was nothing close to an authentic chicken balti. Yes, it was spicy and had hints of a curry, but all in all if this had been served to me in a restaurant I wouldn't be returning. I've tasted baltis from Birmingham to Bradford and there have been variations, but always a distinct depth of flavours that were missing from this recipe. I should have known really when watching and seeing the finished dish on the video. Yes, there's the balti chef's big spoon selecting of different spices which looks the part of an expert balti chef, but that's where the resemblance ends. Sorry, but though the finished dish was tasty in a spicy way, this was nothing like an authentic balti recipe or dish, just a typical Englishman's version.
Not gonna lie, you lost me as a presenter when you cross-contaminated your spice bowls. I guess if it was just for the video and you're throwing the excess away afterwards...
