Birmingham Balti History Established 1977

Balti was the biggest culinary development on the UK curry scene since Chicken Tikka Masala became a British Indian restaurant curry staple.  A method of one pot cooking, Balti was the brainchild of a Birmingham restauranteur 'Mohammed Arif' of 'Adil's' Stoney Lane, Sparkbrook, Birmingham, over 40 years ago. Mohammed wanted to attract more customers beyond those from the local Pakistani community and using a combination of spices, cooked in vegetable oil rather than ghee and meat off the bone, Balti offered a lighter tasting, cafe style curry that was fast cooked. The balti restaurants offered a casual, dining experience, quite different to the British Indian restaurants familiar at the time. No white table cloths, hot towels or leather bound menus; Balti itself was the theatre-served sizzling in a blackened bowl with handles too hot to touch and a wonderful flame infused flavour. Often delivered straight onto a glass topped table with a simple menu underneath. The specially designed Birmingham made Balti pan became the essence of the dish.

The traditional accompaniment to a Birmingham Balti is a fluffy naan, made in a giant tandoor. The naan is used as a scoop in place of any cutlery and balti purists side step the rice and chutneys, keeping it simple.  

In Birmingham the dish captured the hearts and stomachs of the City's curry lovers so much so that 'Balti'  became hugely popular beyond the 'Balti Triangle' to reach across the larger West Midlands and nationwide- though through this popularity the very thing that made it so brilliant (cooking and serving in the special carbon steel balti pan) became convoluted and 'balti' outside of the West Midlands is rarely cooked the Mohammed Arif way. The word 'balti' came to mean any British Indian Restaurant style curry served in bowls with handles- usually of the shiny stainless steel variety, designed for serving and definitely not being cooked and served in the same carbon steel blackened pan, sizzling and charred around the edges. You'll find 'balti' all over the UK and even in a jar sauce, but there is no relation to the real deal.

We're on a mission to right the wrongs and shout about how brilliant Birmingham Balti is and why this delicious dish deserves to be recognised as intangible cultural heritage to the city of Birmingham. 

The Birmingham Balti Bowl Company started as a passion project by Andy Munro to continue the manufacture of the bowls in Birmingham and by doing so helping to maintain the integrity of this special culinary dish, which is unique to Birmingham. 

For further reading visit Balti Birmingham, a site dedicated to Balti.

The book 'Going For A Balti' written by Andy Munro, documents the history from the 70's to present day.