A Balti good time!

Have you ever had an authentic curry straight out of the dish it was cooked in? With flavours so fresh and enticing that you end up finishing the dish within no time without feeling any signs of bloating?

My first Balti experience in Birmingham changed the way I look at curries in the UK, and here’s how I discovered this long-lost gem.  

Having moved to the UK from the Indian subcontinent, I’d been eager to explore the country’s desi food culture. Some repetitive bhajis and several tikka masalas later, I stumbled upon a dish that hails from Pakistan but was born in Birmingham, the Balti. The Balti was all the rage across the UK in the 80s and 90s, but where does it stand now? After a four-hour coach journey from Cardiff, I reached Birmingham and made my way to Birmingham’s Balti Triangle to find out. 

I’d been looking for a new city to visit in the U.K. for a while and asked my friends for some suggestions, but nobody mentioned Birmingham to me. In fact, when I came up with the idea of travelling there, almost everyone believed that there was not much for me to do there and I should instead go somewhere else.  

I thought to myself, apart from the beautiful museums and Cadbury World, there had to be something about Birmingham that’s not being talked about enough. I spent some time researching the city’s culture, and that’s when my eyes fell upon this iconic gem that many people don’t know enough about.  

The Balti triangle has its roots in the 1950s and 1960s when immigrants from the Indian Subcontinent settled in Birmingham. One of the few places in the Balti Triangle still serving genuine Baltis is Shababs Balti Restaurant on Ladypool Road. The Balti is the name of the carbon steel dish in which the food is cooked and served. It gets its name from the Urdu word "balti," which means "bucket" in English. 

Opened in the late 1980s, Zafar (Zaf) Hussain currently runs and owns the establishment, formerly run by his father and older brother. Upon my visit, Zaf, a Master Balti Chef himself, invited me to the kitchen and cooked their signature Chicken Balti in front of me, within just six minutes. His kitchen staff also prepared a peshwari naan, in a tandoor made of steel to accompany the curry. 

"An authentic Balti is cooked over high heat, which speeds up the cooking process and allows the excess oil to be burned off, making this a good option for those who are health conscious" said Zaf. Unlike most South Asian curries prepared in ghee (clarified butter), the Balti is cooked in vegetable oil. 

The dish's origins and the spices used give the Balti a distinct flavour. Zaf uses a combination of spices created by his family, along with other common ingredients such as chilli, cumin, fenugreek, coriander, and turmeric – plus onion, garlic, fresh tomatoes and chicken, all intuitively measured by hand. He paused cooking to inquire about how spicy I preferred my Balti to be, and when I said, 'medium-hot', he knew what I meant as he chucked in a few green chillies. 

Initially, Zaf's family would cook chicken curries in one great big pot, using meat on the bone. "My father and brother found that we must adapt and change that because most westerners preferred to eat off the bone, with reduced spices. So that’s where the idea of Balti came from for us," said Zaf.

Zaf talked about the origins of how the meal came to be while we sat across each other at one of the tables in the restaurant and enjoyed the freshly prepared Chicken Balti with Naan. In the past, when remote villages in the subcontinent had about 8-9 families living together in a close-knit community, one person, on a rotatory basis, would cook for the community in a great big Kadhai (wok). The cooking process would begin at eight in the morning and end late evening. “This is a scaled-down version of that, for one person. So, rather than waiting 10 hours, you’re just waiting for 10 minutes,” said Zaf.

While we ate and chatted, what caught my attention were the glass-top tables, which surprisingly had a story to it. During the initial years, menus in Shababs were handwritten and slid beneath the glass top. Over the years, the menus have expanded, and they're now printed instead of being written by hand. However, they've kept their old tradition intact by simply replacing the handwritten menus with these printed versions beneath the glass tops. This gave me an idea of how it must've been to be in a Balti House 40 years ago. 

According to Balti guru Andy Munro, the dish was so popular that instead of talking about the weather, people often asked each other about their favourite Balti dish. Presently, Zaf recounts that they cook about 500-600 Baltis over the weekends, while weekdays call for about 150-200. So you better get your spot booked in advance!  

Zaf mentions that even though the dish originated in Kashmir, the same place his family hails from, the nation itself is unaware of the Balti and its popularity in the UK, making it a truly Birmingham cuisine. In fact, Zaf himself was born and raised in Birmingham, but due to his love for the dish, he has carried on the family legacy. 

It was a midweek afternoon, when we finished eating. Lunch services had started at Shababs, and with customers flocking for their Balti fix, Zaf returned to his duties.

This was my first time trying a Balti curry, and having tried curries in different places I’ve travelled to in the U.K; this has been extremely special.  

Hailing from India, I’ve always believed the best way to savour certain dishes, especially those from the subcontinent, is to eat with your hands. Having been able to do that here just added a cherry on top of this culinary experience. So please don’t be shy and give it a try!  

Interestingly, my friend who accompanied me to the restaurant is a chef himself, and I’ve rarely heard him praise and relish a dish the way he did after having the Balti with me. My four-hour coach journey from Cardiff to Birmingham just to try a Balti was worth it.  

The Balti has come a long way from local neighbours who would comment about the aromas of garlic and spices being cooked next door to being crowned as the city’s beloved prized jewel. Shababs are certainly carrying the torch for the Birmingham Balti. 

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