The World of Computer Software/The World of Computer Software.iso/rec754.zip/REC763

Text File | 1993-01-18 | 5KB | 184 lines

Newsgroups: rec.food.recipes
Distribution: world
From: " (Marcus Jenkins)" <[e-mail]>
Subject: MEAT: Balti
Summary: orig. subject: CHICKEN: Balti Chicken
Archive-Name: recipes/meat/balti
Keywords: recipe meat balti
Followup-To: rec.food.cooking
Organization: ?
Approved: [e-mail]


At last I have found a Balti recipe.  I think the world should know
about this marvellous food.  As an extra added bonus, I have included
the Lamb and "meat" variants.  The sauce is the secret.

Thanks to Steve Pearce ([e-mail]) for this one.

Basic Curry Sauce.

For approximately 8 main course dishes.

Preparation and cooking time. 1hr 30mins.

2lb cooking onions
2oz green ginger
2oz garlic
2 1/4 pint water
1 tsp salt
8oz tin tomatoes
4 tbs vegetable oil
1 tsp tomato puree
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp paprika

Stage 1

Peel, rinse and roughly chop the onions, ginger and garlic.

Put the ginger and garlic in a blender with about 1/2 pint water and blend
until smooth.

In a large saucepan place the onions, the blended mixture and the rest of
the water. Add the salt and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to very low
and simmer, covered, for 40-45 minutes. Leave to cool.

Stage 2.

Once cooled, pour about half of the boiled onion mixture into a blender
and blend until perfectly smooth. Absolute smoothness is essential. To be
sure, blend for at least 2 minutes. Pour the blended mixture into a clean
pan and repeat with the rest of the mixture.

Freezing. Freezing is best done at this stage.

Stage 3.

Open the can of tomatoes, pour into a blender, and blend. Again, for at least
2 minutes.

Into a clean saucepan put the oil, tomato puree, turmeric and paprika. Add
the blended tomatoes and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and cook for 10
minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the onion mixture and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat so that the
sauce simmers. At this stage a froth starts to rise to the surface, and this
should be skimmed off. Simmer and skim for 20-25 minutes, stirring now and
again to keep the bottom of the saucepan clean.

Use immediately or cool and refigerate for up to 4 days.

Meat Preparation.

Chicken.

5 large chicken breasts (about 2lb)
6 tbs vegetable oil
1 tsp turmeric
4 tbs curry sauce

Chop each chicken breast into 8 pieces.

Put remaining ingredients into large saucepan and mix. Cook on medium
heat stirring continuously until sauce darkens. (4-5 minutes)

Add chicken and stir to coat pieces with sauce.

Reduce heat and cook, covered, for 15-20 minutes until chicken is tender,
stirring frequently.

Remove chicken (leave sediment behind) and use or refrigerate for up to
4 days. Freeze for up to 2 months.

(This isn't used in the balti chicken but I thought I'd include it anyway)

Lamb.

The lamb is cooked in the same way as the chicken, but with 2 tbs more oil
and its cooked for 30-40 minutes until tender.

Balti Chicken

Serves 2-3
Prep and cooking time. 20-25 minutes.

3 chicken fillets
4 tbs veg oil
3/4 pint curry sauce
red food colouring (optional)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 medium onion
1 green capsicum
1 1/2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tbs finely chopped green coriander

Cut each chicken into 4 strips. Heat the oil in a large deep pan and saute
the chicken pieces for 4-5 minutes on a medium heat.

Add the curry sauce and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium. Add the
food colouring, salt and chilli powder. Simmer for 12-15 minutes stirring
occasionally.

Roughly cut and chop the onion and the capsicum. Deep fry the onion and
capsicum for 2-3 minutes until the onion is starting to brown. Remove and
dry on kitchen paper.

When the chicken has been simmering for 12 minutes add the onion and capsicum.

Cook for 5 more minutes until the sauce thickens. Add the garam masala and
cumin and turn the heat down low. The oil will begin to rise to the surface
and can be skimmed off.

Sprinkle with coriander and serve.

Balti Meat.

Same as for the chicken, with 1lb of cooked lamb (see above). The saute
stage is not needed.


The book says that the balti tins should be heated on the stove and
the food poured into them to get the characteristic sizzling, but we
cooked the meal in them, and while it didnt sizzle, it worked just
as well.

I found that although it looks a bit long winded, as long as you make
the described amount of sauce, you can freeze a lot of it, and the
meal after that is quite quick to make.

===

The book mentioned was:

The Curry Secret, Indian Restaurant Cookery at Home. Kris Dillon.
Published by a company called Paperfronts.

Publishers address.

Elliot Right Way Books,
Kingswood,
Surrey.
U.K.

There are three parts to the balti as described in the book. First is
the basic curry sauce, then the meat preparation, then these are used
in the actual dish. The curry sauce is used in every dish in the book,
with various spices added during the cooking, and with this, none of
the dishes take more than about 20 minutes.

Having tried it, the recipes are quite close to what you get in a restaurant.
The author says that all the dishes are made in this way, and the different
colours are achieved by adding cream, yoghurt or food colouring.

===

Again, thank you, thank you, thank you, Steve.

Enjoy...

Marcus