Balti Chicken

Balti Chicken is a modern British recipe (from Birmingham) based on a Pakistani original for a classic dish of chicken pieces cooked quickly in a spiced tomato gravy. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: Balti Chicken.

prep time

15 minutes

cook time

30 minutes

Total Time:

45 minutes

Serves:

Rating:

Tags : Curry BIR Curries Chilli Recipes Spice Recipes Chicken Recipes British Recipes

I’ve had quite a few baltis in my time, but never really managed to track down a proper ‘authentic’ recipe. A balti or bāltī gosht (Urdu: بالٹی گوشت, Hindi: बाल्टी गोश्त) is a type of curry served in a thin, pressed-steel wok called a 'balti bowl' or ‘balti dish’. It’s also a true Fusion style of cookery the origins of the word can be traced to the area of Baltistan, in the northern part of the region of Kashmir, where a cast-iron wok, similar to the Chinese wok, is used for cooking. Baltistan shares a border with China. Indeed, rather than being slow-cooked like a curry, baltis are cooked quickly using vegetable oil rather than ghee, over high heat in the manner of a stir-fry, and any meat is used off the bone. The food seems to have arrived in England in Birmingham in 1971; sources suggest that it might have originated from Baltistan in the northern part of the region of Pakistan, but the exact origin is still unclear. As well as Canada, Australia and New Zealand balti dishes seem to have recently arrived in South Africa and balti dishes are now commonly available there.

Ingredients:

80ml (1/3 cup) cooking oil
1kg (2 ½ lbs) boneless chicken
150g (1/3 lb) onions, cut into thin slices
10 garlic cloves, finely chopped
5cm (2 in) piece of ginger, finely chopped
250g (1/2 lb) tomatoes, cut into thin slices
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp hot chilli powder
1 tbsp parika
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp ground Coriander seeds
1 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp dried fenugreek leaves
120ml (1/2 cup) water
3 Green chillies, chopped
½ bunch coriander (cilantro) leaves

Method:

Take your balti dish or wok and place over medium heat. Add the oil and once hot stir in the sliced onions and let them cook for about 8 minutes, or until golden. At this point add the garlic, ginger and salt. Stir-fry everything for 1 minute, until aromatic.

Add all the spices and stir-fry briefly to combine before adding the tomato pieces. Increase the heat to high, cover and cook for 5 minutes.

At this point add the diced chicken, reduce the heat to medium and stir-fry everything together for 5 minutes before stirring in the chillies and the water. Bring to a simmer, cover the dish then reduce the heat to low and cook for 20 minutes.

Once the chicken is cooked through and tender and the sauce has thickened to your liking serve the balti accompanied by rice and/or naan bread.