Balti Curry Sauce

Balti Curry Sauce

If you want a hot spicy sauce that’s made in minutes give this recipe a whirl. I found it in a small recipe book, that’s part of a collection that have recipes from different countries. This was the one for India.

abitmorveg

This is also an old twimii recipe as well as an abitmoreveg recipe. It’s one from a small recipe book – more of recipe booklet really – that features some Indian dishes and I add a couple of different spices to it – not so much in this recipe, just every time I cook it I add some more spices to it. It is great with lamb or turnip/swede/rutabaga and some greens if you want to make a vegetable curry. Very quick, very full on flavour and quite spicy – add some yoghurt or coconut milk if you want to cool it down.

balti-sauce
Two small jars of Balti Curry sauce. Good and hot.

This is one of the simplest sauces I’ve ever made. I found the recipe in a collection of small recipe books featuring recipes from different countries. This one is the from the Best of India booklet. I love it. It has virtually no fat but is packed full of flavour and all the different spices carry their own nutritional punch – as well as a lot of taste. It’s easiest to make this with a food mixer.

Last week I said that this reminded me of a harrissa that I bought. I have to admit that I haven’t made this in a while and when I tasted this batch I was left wondering how I thought they tasted so similar. They’re quite different really but I’m glad I had the wrong idea because I decided to make this sauce rather than seek out some dried chilies to make a harrissa – and I had forgotten how much I like this.

The original recipe uses a 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric. I upped this to a half teaspoon because I really like turmeric but also it’s very good for you (in moderation, as with everything else). Eating spicy food is said to be good for you too. Some say that it increases your metabolism and one thing it obviously does is act as a decongestant. If your feel a cold coming on a good curry can be as good as a hot drink. Or why not have both?

The other quantities I’ve used here are the same as in the book which is enough for one family-sized curry.  You can add the sauce to some fried veg to make a nice hot curry and you can cool it by stirring in some yoghurt or coconut milk. You can put it in jars and leave in the fridge until you’re ready to use it. It takes less than 10 minutes to make and it will stay good in the fridge for 3 – 5 days. You can also stir it into soups to add a nice bit of heat or mix some in with roasted tomatoes to make a simple, hot and sweet tomato salsa. It’s a handy little sauce.

This is also the sauce used in the old twimii recipe Quick & Easy Lamb Curry.

ingredients for balti curry sauce
Whole green (poblano) peppers, onions, tomato puree, coriander (fresh & ground) ground dried chilli, turmeric, lemon juice and salt – and the book where I first got the recipe.

Balti Curry Sauce

Balti Curry Sauce

Ingredients

  • 2 medium onion, chopped roughly
  • 2 whole green chillies
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice (about 1/2 lemon)
  • 2 generous tablespoons tomato puree
  • 3 tablespoon fresh coriander
  • 1 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1 teaspoon ground dried chilli
  • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • a little sunflower oil for frying

Instructions

  1. Place all the ingredients (minus the oil) in the food mixer and mix until you have an even consistency.
  2. Heat a little oil in a frying pan and fry the mix for about 5 minutes until it has thickened slightly.
  3. Either stir into fried vegetable and use right away or place in jars to use later.
http://twimii.com/recipes/balti-curry-sauce/

ingredients in processor
Add the ingredients to processor. You may want to slice the peppers first depending on how sharp your mixer’s blade is.
add spices to sauce as needed
Once you have cooked the sauce, taste it and see if you want to add any other spices. I added a little pinch of ground all spice and cumin to this. Other times I’ve added some cinnamon to it which worked surprisingly well.
balti veg curry
Vegetables in Balti curry sauce with rice.
Butternut squash soup with some added Balti curry heat.
Butternut squash soup with some added Balti curry heat.
balti-lamb-curry
The sauce here is the one used in the old twimii recipe Quick & Easy Lamb Curry. Just fry some pieces of lamb, add some sauce and fry for a minute or two more. Very quick, very easy. And if it’s too hot for you just add some yoghurt.
balti-sauce
A quick, easy and hot curry sauce.