Calum Franklin’s balti paratha pie with spicy green chutney. Photograph: Yuki Sugiura/The Guardian. Food and prop styling: Aya Nishimura. Food styling assistant: Alex Jorge. View image in fullscreen Calum Franklin’s balti paratha pie with spicy green chutney. Photograph: Yuki Sugiura/The Guardian. Food and prop styling: Aya Nishimura. Food styling assistant: Alex Jorge. Indian food and drink Calum Franklin’s recipes for balti paratha pie with spicy green chutney A pleasingly proper curry-filled pie with a zingy chutney to go with it
Prefer the Guardian on Google T his is one of my all-time favourite pies, pie born out of the Midlands. While studying at University College Birmingham, the now head of department at the college of food there, Lewis Walker, and I were in digs together and regularly ended up in very late-night balti houses after big nights out. These pies remind me of that really special time. It wasn’t much before my university days when balti cooking emerged in 1970s Birmingham, apparently created as a way to appease the British palate of the time. Its roots are in Pakistani-Kashmiri cooking and the base of the curry always has to contain tomatoes, onions, peppers and chillies, although variations can be built on those foundations. They’re a wonderful celebration of multicultural Britain.
Enjoyed on football terraces across the nation, the first balti pie is thought to have been served at Walsall football club in 1997, and they are now sold at more than 70 football grounds throughout the UK. There is a version of the balti pie that not many know (or have even considered) outside the UK, but it is the stuff of dreams: the balti pie barm , or whole balti pie inside a soft bread roll. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. You will need a nonstick 12-hole muffin tray.
Prep 15 min Chill 15 min Cook 2 hr Serves 4
6 chicken thighs on the bone Fine table salt 1 tsp medium curry powder 1 tsp garam masala ½ tsp ground turmeric ½ tsp chilli powder ½ tsp ground cumin ½ tsp ground cinnamon 70g butter 1 red onion , peeled and finely chopped 1 green pepper , deseeded and cut into small cubes 1 garlic clove , peeled and chopped 2cm piece ginger , peeled and chopped 400g tin chopped tomatoes 1 tsp tomato pur ee 200ml chicken stock 1 heaped tbsp cornflour Zest and juice of 1 lime 10g fresh coriander , roughly chopped 16 frozen roti paratha 1 egg yolk , strained and beaten with 1 tsp water, for egg washing 1 pinch each nigella seeds and fennel seeds , for topping
Heat the oven to 210C (190C fan)//415F/gas 6½. Put the chicken thighs in a roasting tray, season with a pinch of salt, and roast for 25 minutes, until cooked through. Leave to cool.
Lower the oven to 205C (185C fan)//gas 6. Scatter all the ground spices over a sheet of foil, then put the foil in the oven and toast the spices for 10 minutes. Turn off the oven.
Meanwhile, melt 50g of the butter in a wide-based pan. Add the red onion, green pepper, garlic and ginger, and cook on a low heat until softened.
Add the toasted spices, cook for a minute, then add the chopped tomatoes, tomato puree and stock. Bring everything to a simmer on a medium heat, then reduce the sauce by half and turn off the heat.
When cool enough to handle, strip the meat off the chicken bones and chop it into small nuggets.
In a small bowl, mix a tablespoon of cold water into the cornflour to make a slurry, then stir that into the sauce. Stirring continuously, bring the sauce gently back to a simmer. Add t…