BIRMINGHAM
Invented by a Pakistani chef in 1970s Birmingham, the balti (pictured above right) is as an east-meets-west dish where Pakistani culinary tradition fuses with western tastes. It caught like wildfire. In what is hands-down the UK’s curry capital, the balti blossomed into Birmingham’s very own endemic spice sensation. What makes this an only-in-Birmingham thing? The dish it is prepared in, for starters: a steel receptacle in which the balti is cooked and served to retain essential flavours, originally manufactured by just one city firm. True baltis also require vegetable oil, rather than ghee, dry spices, as well as fresh ginger and garlic, and meat on the bone, not off. Fire up your tastebuds by hitting the restaurant of the chef who created the dish: Adil’s, in Birmingham’s famous Balti Triangle. Much imitated outside the city, rarely equalled.
* The Balti Triangle, where the dish originated, is formed by Ladypool Road, Stratford Road and Stoney Lane. Check the menu at adilbalti.co.uk.