Every Brummie knows that their much loved local dish was created in Birmingham and that the real thing is fast cooked in vegetable oil over a high flame and served up in the same pressed steel dish (a sort of flat bottomed wok) in which it is cooked.
A balti contains half the fat of the same slow cooked curry cooked in ghee
Now scientific research commissioned by Andy Munro, author of 'Going for a Balti' compared a Balti authentically cooked in one of our Jewellery Quarter made bowls with a typical pan fried curry. The research revealed unique health and taste properties which include:-
- the fat content of a balti cooked in vegetable oil (which the high flame helps to burn off) is half that of a typical curry with identical ingredients but slower cooked in ghee.
- the level of health giving iron transferred from the pressed-steel balti bowl to a balti curry is twice the amount of a curry cooked in a frying pan and transferred to a separate serving dish.
- Incidentally, it is a myth that a pint of Guinness gives the most significant contribution to iron intake as a pint provides just 0.3mg or less so you would need to drink about 25 pints to gain the same benefit as a balti!
- the method of cooking a genuine balti also seasons the cooking pan giving it natural non stick properties which compares favourably to manufactured non stick cookware where recent research suggests that much of that available may be carcogenic in use when used at high temperatures.
- the sweeter caramelised taste unique in a balti is thought to be caused by the Maillard reaction, a chemical reaction between amino acids and reducing sugars triggered by cooking at high temperatures...A REACTION PRIZED BY MANY TOP CHEFS
The research shows Balti is not only a totally delicious curry, which needs no scientific evidence! But is also unique in health giving properties when cooked authentically, making it an excellent choice for a healthy curry option at home or a restaurant.
Read more on Andy's site, dedicated to Balti;
http://balti-birmingham.co.uk/2019/02/24/the-benefit-of-a-balti/