Nice homemade balti recipe anyone?

[mummybookworm]

My local does an awesome mushroom and spinach balti and I would like to try and recreate it at home. Does anyone have a good recipe to share? Preferably without bought pastes as I don't like them. Thanks

Hi

Yes, here goes...

Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a Karahi pan or wok, add two tablespoons of cumin seeds until they brown and you can smell them and then add two chopped onions. You can dice or slice long ways depends on your preference. Cook a little until onions are clear then add 4-5 crushed cloves of garlic and 1-2 inches of ginger and 2-3 birds eye green chillies (it's best to do the ginger, garlic and chillies in a food processor so it like a thick paste). Cook until the onions are brown and add 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of turmeric and 1 teaspoon of garam masala (can be bought from an Indian food shop). Stir through for about a minute then add half a tin of chopped tomatoes. Cover and simmer for a minute.

Then add sliced mushrooms and fresh spinach leaves (chopped) or any veg of your choice. Cauliflower and potatoes work well. At this point you could also make this into a chicken dish.

Cook the veg through on a high heat and then throw in a small bunch of chopped fresh coriander. Cook for a minute and serve topped with sliced red onion

If you want a recipe for garam masala:
2-3 cloves
2-3 black cardamoms
4-5 green cardamoms
5cm stick of cinnamon
2tbsp cumin seeds
2tbsp coriander seeds

Grind to a fine powder. I use an electric coffee grinder that I keep just for spices.

If you add 1 tsp of this mixture, 1 tsp chilli powder and 3 heaped tsp of ground coriander this is the mix I use for a curry together with 5 cloves of garlic and a good inch of root ginger. The spices all mixed together smell just like curry powder I remember from being little. I do use less salt, though. Generally get away with a pinch or two.

Yum, thanks both. Will give those a try.