Bryony's vegetable Balti

Really can't claim it as my own but thought it sounded catchy!

I am cooking Balti for a second time. Last time Paul was cooking as well. He's naturally a good cook. Doesn't fuss with measurements and it always turns out nice. I like to follow a recipe. This time its me following the recipe and tweaking it here and there. Im going to attempt making onion bhajis/pakoras for the first time and Paul will make Potato bread.
One of my favourite foods is Indian curries. I wanted to be able to make one from scratch. The main thing to make Indian cooking easier is having a substantial pantry. So as an early birthday present Paul bought me a spice rack with plenty of spices.  Its brilliant. Its almost full and there are still spices we don't have! I love using herbs and spices in cooking. It adds such good flavours and lessens the need to add as much salt.

Ive also dabbled in a few thai recipes and made a good Pad Thai the other night!  Quite proud of myself really! Haha.

So, one of my favourite curries is Vegetable Balti. I looked up recipes and a lot of them suggest you buy the paste from the super market. But I wanted to make it from scratch so found a recipe for balti paste. The recipe I used I got from India Snacks.  I adapted it slightly.

I've doubled it today as we are having our brother in law over. Its an easy recipe to follow and tastes amazing!!

Paprika, tumeric, cumin, ground coriander, fresh chili, salt

Ingredients

6 tablespoon vegetable oil 

4 onions, chopped 

1 small piece of ginger, 

2 large garlic clove, crushed 

2 tomato, chopped 

2 tablespoon paprika 

1 teaspoon turmeric 

1 teaspoon cumin (ground) 

1 teaspoon ground coriander 

1 chopped fresh chili

1 salt to taste 

Directions: How to Cook Basic Balti Sauce

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over moderate heat. Fry the onions, ginger and garlic until the onions are translucent. Add the tomato and stir-fry, breaking it up with the spoon. Pour in 600ml water, and stir in the other ingredients. Bring to the boil. Lower heat, cover and simmer for 45 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Pour into a blender or food processor and liquidize.

The onions slightly transulecent, added tomatoes.

After added the spices and the water, now leaving it to cook down.

FOR THE REST OF THE CURRY:

2 carrots

1 large zucchini

A few florets of Cauliflower (how much you fancy)

1 small sweet potato 

Handful of green beans (topped and tailed)

Crushed garlic clove (never too much garlic)

The veggies chopped up. 

Place in a large wok and Stir fry the veggies until slightly soft.

Add the now pureed sauce to saucepan.

sauce added to vegetables. Cook down slightly. Take off heat.

Onion Bhajis:

I used the recipe from Jeenas kitchen blog and it was easy to follow. I will let you know what it tastes like after :)

Here's some pics from me making it.

Oven baked - more healthy?

Thoughts whilst making: The bhajis are in the oven. I don't think I made enough batter :( They are looking a bit feeble. As long as they are edible that all that matters. :-s


I cooked them double time. And only used two large onions. But there still wasn't enough batter? hmmmm.... will definitely adapt this recipe next time. Just had a quick taste and the taste is DELICIOUS! The weird thing is, i looked at her comments and none said there wasn't enough batter? is it just me???

My onion bhajis.

Paul is making potato bread from a recipe from "easy indian in minutes" - a book i bought.


Should turn out okay. :) Will add some more photos and we progress.


Om nom nom! looking forward to this feast!!

The potato bread tastes SO GOOD! Highly recommend!