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How To Make Chicken Balti from Scratch

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You can make this chicken balti from scratch in no time!

As you can see from the publication date of this chicken Balti recipe, I wrote it quite a few years ago. I recently revisited the recipe as I often do.

I’ve learned a lot over the years messing about in my kitchen and wanted to give you my updated version.

chicken balti

So easy to make and delicious too!

This chicken Balti was actually one of the first curry house/Balti house recipes I learned while doing recipe research. 

I remember very well walking into the restaurant kitchen in Birmingham’s Balti triangle to see how it was done and being a bit disappointed. 

 

This is how chicken baltis were first made.

Not that I didn’t like the chicken Balti that was served to me that day! I loved it. So perhaps I should explain…

The chef that day decided to show me his balti recipe from scratch. Although he used a base sauce for his baltis and added pre-cooked tandoori chicken to the baltis that he served in the restaurant, he thought he should break it down for me.

In hindsight, this was a great idea.

I wanted to learn the actual chicken balti recipe from the restaurant but he assumed I didn’t know what that ‘secret’ base sauce recipe was all about.

He also thought that many of my readers would not want to make a base sauce before starting cooking.

He was right there!

The base sauce…

The curry house base sauce was developed for speed and economy. The thing is, it also makes the curry delicious.

Rather than frying up a large amount of onion and tomatoes and adding water as is done in the following recipe, base sauce is added instead.

This is not only faster but also gives the chicken balti and completely different flavour and a smoother texture.

Many people prefer this chicken balti cooked from scratch. There is a lot less prep work to do and it does taste amazing.

What exactly is a Balti?

Balti curries first became popular in the 70s and 80s.

At the time, many Pakistani run restaurants were finding it difficult to compete with the Bangladeshi run restaurants across town.

These Pakistani restaurants were serving their own neighbourhoods but few others. 

The Bangladeshi restaurant chefs were dishing up delicious chicken tikka masalas, Madras and vindaloo curries but the authentic Pakistani curries served at Pakistani restaurants needed forward planning and took a lot longer to get out to the table. 

The idea of using small stainless steel pans (Balti Bowls) instead of the more authentic cast iron karahis changed all this. Special Balti bowls were produced the first time.

The hot Balti curries were cooked over high heat and served in the same bowls they were cooked in. The stainless steel pans heated up much faster than cast iron so service was much faster too.

Unfortunately, the company that produced all those Balti bowls went out of business and the manufacture of the bowls was sourced out to India and China.

These imported Balti bowls were inferior in quality and eventually, the Balti craze and the pans became far less popular.

The good news is, the original Balti pans are now, once again produced in the UK and the popularity of authentic Baltis is again on the increase.  A true Balti needs to be cooked in a stainless steel Balti pan and served in it, sizzling hot too!

Nowadays, most restaurant chefs cook their ‘Baltis’ in a normal frying pan and then serve them in an ornamental balti bowl but this, thankfully is changing. 

Why should you try this chicken Balti recipe?

The original recipe on this page wasn’t cooked in a balti bowl so it really wasn’t a Balti. It also served 4 which again, just isn’t what Balti cooking is all about.

Here I have downsized the recipe and shown it cooked in an authentic stainless steel Balti bowl. I hope you give it a try but if you would like to make a Balti using the base sauce and pre-cooked meat, you should do that too.

If you would like to try an authentic Balti using a base curry sauce, pre-cooked marinated meat and special spices just like those at the best Balti houses, try my much more recent chicken, mushroom, chickpea, chilli and garlic Balti recipe here. 

I think you’ll love them both. 

Step by Step Photos

 

Add oil to the hot pan. About 2 – 3 tbsp should do.

Adding onions to the Balti bowl

Add the chopped onions and fry for a few minutes until soft and translucent.

 

Stirring in the chopped garlic and ginger

Add the garlic and ginger to the pan and stir well to combine. Cook for about 30 seconds.

 

Stirring in the remaining vegetable

Add the remaining veggies and chillies.

 

Adding tomato puree to the pan

Add the tomato puree. Add more if you want a redder colour.

When you stir all these ingredients together, you have what is called a base masala. 

That is the base of your sauce. It is what you do instead of adding base sauce. Adding base sauce, if you have it is a quicker option. It is also my preferred way to cook a Balti. 

Here is the same Balti recipe but using a base sauce. 

Stirring in the spices

By adding the spices, you are taking that base masala and making it into the curry it is.

 

Adding chicken and water

Now add the chicken and water to cover. This is a dry curry so you just want to add enough water to cook it.

 

chicken balti from scratch

Be sure to cook the sauce down until it is quite thick. Perfect for dipping your naans into.

 

balti with chicken

Dig in!

Balti cooking tips

When you first start cooking baltis, you should cook over medium high heat. That is until you get used to cooking in the small stainless steel Balti bowl which gets really hot fast. 

After you’ve made a few Baltis, you can and should turn the heat up. The sauce will caramelise around the edges of the bowl which adds amazing flavour. 

Scrape the caramelised sauce back in for flavour. 

Never fill your Balti bowl more than 2/3 of the way up. The curry will cook better if your pan isn’t full to the rim. 

Plus, this is a curry to serve one to two people so filling it to the rim would be a bit much. 

Any more advice?

Yes. Have a kitchen towel nearby.

The balti pan will get very hot. Too hot to handle. 

I have seen Baltis on fire when Balti chefs cook. How and why is that done?

Many chefs say they do this to burn off the excess oil. Personally, I think it is more for show. 

If you want to do that, it usually happens when the garlic and ginger paste are added to the oil. There is moisture in the paste that flares up when it hits the flaming hot oil.

Doing this would be difficult with this recipe but if you want to give it a try, you should try my authentic balti with base sauce here. 

 

Yield: 1 - 2

Chicken Balti from Scratch

chicken balti from scratch
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp rapeseed (canola) oil or ghee
  • 1/2 large onion finely chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic - finely chopped
  • 1/2 inch piece of ginger - grated and finely chopped
  • 2 fresh green bird's eye chilli peppers
  • 1/2 large green or red pepper roughly chopped
  • 1 tomato - diced
  • 2 - 4 tbsp tomato puree
  • 2 tbs tandoori masala - good quality store bought or homemade
  • 2 tsp Madras curry powder
  • 225g (1/2 lb) - skinned and cut into 1 inch (2.5cm) chunks
  • 1 tbsp cider vinegar
  • 2 tbsp chopped coriander
  • Juice of 1/2 lime
  • Salt to taste

Instructions

  1. Heat the ghee or oil in a large frying pan or balti pan over high heat.
  2. Toss in the chopped onion and allow to fry for about 5 minutes or until the onion is beginning to turn soft and translucent.
  3. Add the garlic and ginger and stir to combine. About 30 seconds should do the job. You just want to cook off the rawness.
  4. Spoon in the tandoori masala and curry powder.
  5. Now add the green chillies, bell peppers, chopped tomatoes and tomato puree. Give this all a good stir to combine.
  6. Throw in the chicken pieces and brown this in the onion mixture. Stir continuously to brown the chicken evenly.
  7. Now add about (1/2 cup) 125ml of water. You can add more to assist in cooking the chicken but Baltis are dry curries so try not to add too much.
  8. Simmer for about 8 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
  9. Add the cider vinegar and simmer for another minute.
  10. Just before serving, sprinkle the coriander into the curry and season with salt and pepper to taste and then add the lime juice.

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© Dan Toombs
Cuisine: Balti
I hope you enjoyed the chicken Balti recipe. If you do try it, please don’t be a stranger. Let me know in the comments. 

Comments

  1. badger1010 says

    I tried this last night (the non-smoky version) and was looking forward to a stunning chicken balti.

    I have to say I was a bit disappointed with the end result and having looked into it a bit deeper, it seems that the recipe above suggests using two tablespoons of balti masala whereas the balti masala recipe recommends 1 tablespoon per person.

    Also, the method says to “add the sliced pepper, chili pepper,” however there is no mention of chili pepper on the ingredient list and so I didn’t have any to add.

    Anyway, I’m not going to be deterred, I’ll give it another go and see if the missing ingredients give it the extra something that I thought it lacked.

    Looking forward to trying the smoky version.

    Reply

    • Dan Toombs says

      Hi Paul

      Thanks for your comment. I did actually leave the chilli pepper out of the ingredients list. Thanks for noticing. I also use one more tablespoon of garam masala. All amended now.

      To be honest, I use more chilli and also more balti masala when cooking this recipe. The problem is I used to get a lot of people writing to me saying that my recipes were too spicy and that they couldn’t eat them. I have now reduced the spices in my recipes knowing that people can always add more to taste.

      I hope you get a chance to try the smoky version. You can always add more spice at the end of cooking to make it perfect for your taste.

      Thanks
      Dan

      Reply

  3. Paul says

    Hi, is it balti masala or tandoori masala you use in this recipe?

    I’ve been trying to make a really good BIR curry for ages but no recipe never seems like the real thing 🙁

    Reply

  4. Pat says

    Hi Dan.

    Thank you for this recipe which I have made several time so far. I don’t eat curry, but my hubby loves it and loves this recipe, although I have to say, I have amended it to what I think he would like, and that seems to work. I have tried it out on dinner guests and they love it too.

    I love baking and cooking, and rarely stick rigidly to recipes, even if I stick to the recipe the first time, then I adjust to suit our palates.

    I should also say that I have made your lime pickle, but I mix limes and lemons, and again have adjusted the recipe (and again this is something I don’t eat but Jon loves). Anyhow, thank you for sharing

    Reply

  6. Don says

    Looking at this recipe and the comments, I think I am going to try it. However, with all curries and the like I think that sometimes it is about personal taste. I personally am a chili head, and would add more hot peppers to this. Whereas my dad would probably add another teaspoon of Garam Masala. The best thing about curries, and this comes from someone who has been to India, the U.K and has talked to a lot of Indian moms and grandmas, is that each house like a Masala, is different. Cheers to all the great ideas, and a great website.

    Reply

    • Dan Toombs says

      Thanks Don

      That’s what got me started cooking curries. It’s nice to be able to alter them to your own personal tastes. Thanks for stopping by.

      Dan

      Reply

  7. Emma? says

    Wow amazing dish. I might not be that old but I love a real spicy curry. My dad makes tham almost every Saturday and I would suggest a dish. I would help him do preparations and everything! Really all the credit goes to me?But back to my dad, I wouldn’t of had this exceptional dish without him. Lovely recipe to eat every now and then ( but not all the time) thanks for the awesome recipe!❤️????

    The young Emma who loves food!?????

    Bye bye!?

    Reply

    • Dan Toombs says

      Hi Gurdeep

      Thank you for getting in touch. Just cook it until it is completely cooked through. The time will vary depending on how big your chicken pieces are but mine usually takes about 8 mins.

      Thanks,
      Dan

      Reply

  9. Josphin Silva says

    Hi,
    I tried cooking Veg Balti ..All I can say amazing..really nice turn out. That was something new for my visitors.

    Thanks & Regards,
    Josh Silva

    Reply

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