It is believed that the chicken balti as we know it in the UK has it’s origins in Birmingham where it enjoyed rapid growth in popularity during the 1980s. The word “balti” is actually the name of the cooking pot and serving dish rather than an actual recipe, but anyway, let’s not get carried away with the technicalities. Below is one of my favourite chicken breast recipes – a fantastic chicken balti curry.
Serves 4. Ready in 1 hour, 15 minutes.
Curry Sauce Ingredients: Olive oil, 1 onion, 4 cloves garlic, 4cm piece of ginger, 2 green chillies, teaspoon turmeric powder, teaspoon cumin seed, teaspoon coriander seed, 1 teaspoon tomato puree
The Chicken Balti Ingredients 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, olive oil, 2 green peppers, 2 red peppers, 2 onions, 3 green chillies, 2 red chillies, 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, 1 teaspoons paprika powder, 1 teaspoons tumeric powder, teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon tomato puree, 1 teaspoon garam masala, salt.
For ease of preparing I have split the method in two – the first stream for the preparing of the curry sauce, and then the second for preparing the meat and the main body of the curry. I hope this works for you.
The Curry Sauce:
1. Add a little olive oil into a saucepan and place over a high heat. Peel the onion, dice it into small pieces and add to the pan. Stir for a couple of minutes allowing the onion to soften.
2. Next slice the green chilli into small chunks, (remove the seeds) and add to the onion. Crush in the garlic cloves and then grate 4-5cm of ginger into the pan.
3. Lower the heat and continue to stir for another 15 minutes.
4. Add the turmeric powder, cumin seed and coriander seed, and stir for a further 4 minutes.
5. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the contents to cool. Once cooled add the mixture to a blender and add 125ml of cold water, and the tomato puree. Blend well until you have a really smooth paste.
6. Tip the paste back into the saucepan and turn the heat to low. Now, you’re ready to start preparing the main part of the meal, but as you do ensure you stir this sauce occassionally. It should turn a dark orange colour as it slowly heats.
The Balti:
1. Prepare the vegetables – peel and roughly chop the onion, wash and chop the peppers and remove the seeds from the chillies and slice.
2. Cut the meat into handy mouthful sized cubes.
3. Add some oil into a wok and put it over a high heat. Put the peppers into the oil and stir fry for some minutes. Just as they begin to turn brown around the edges remove them and set aside for later.
4. Add a little more oil to the wok and throw in the chicken breasts, along with some seasoning of salt and pepper if you wish. Stir fry the meat for several minutes until you are confident that the chicken has cooked through. Then remove these too and set aside.
5. Turn the heat to medium and add a couple more tablespoons of oil to the wok. Throw in the chopped onion, chillies and cumin seeds and fry until the onion is soft – you shouldn’t let the onion begin to burn or turn brown.
6. Once the onion is tender add the paprika, turmeric and cinnamon and continue to stir the mixture for another thirty seconds or so.
7. Now you can pour the sauce you’ve been tending to for the last 30 minutes or so into the wok. Also add some tomato puree, and the cooked chicken cubes.
8. Bring the curry to the boil before lowering the heat and leaving it to cook for 15 minutes, stirring occassionally.
9. After 15 minutes or so add the peppers and garam masala into the curry and stir.
10. Leave over the heat for another 15 minutes, adding hot water to the curry if the sauce is becoming too thick.
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